my brolly boxes came today

[i speak in math]

Ordered some umbrella softboxes the other day from oeccamera on ebay. Lots of good stuff for cheap. I plan on doing a shoot and showing the difference in lighting on here in the next few days. It will be nice to be able to control the light a lot more than I currently can. Now I just need a couple of lp160's and I'll be all set.

review:

build/construction:
Overall, these 43" umbrella softboxes feel well made. The umbrella material is thick and doesn't feel like it will rip easily. When folded down, they fit into a 2 foot black bag. The white diffuser material is connected to the tips of the umbrella and when folded down, hangs over and below the "handle". The shaft of the umbrella seems a little weak. I expect I will put a dent in it by turning the screw of the umbrella swivel a little to hard. But @ 2 for $35, they can be considered disposable.

light:
In side the umbrella is a soft reflective silver. I'm not sure if a hard silver would improve the light output much. With my lumopro lp120 at 1/4 power, I took a few test shots to see the light distribution.

Camera settings:
Model: PENTAX K20D
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/160 sec
Focal Length: 28mm

Aperture: 4.5

You can see that at f/4.5, the light appear nicely distributed. If you are shooting around this aperture, which I tend to use a bit, the light will be very even and soft.

Aperture: 8.0

By f/8, the umbrella is showing that it has a hotspot in the middle. The light will be getting less soft as the size of the light source decreases.

Aperture: 11.0

At f/11, the hotspot is well defined. The light will be a lot less soft.

Here's the first sample shot taken with the new modifier. This is one light at 1/4 power, camera right and barely above the subject. You can see the light is soft and even.

Model: PENTAX K20D
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/160 sec
Aperture: 4.5
Focal Length: 75mm

The darkness in the hair seems a little too dark for me. With a typical umbrella, the light would have bounced around the room and added some fill light to the other side. While nice for that effect, it makes creative control of the light a nightmare. A reflector on the left of another light, 2 stops down for fill, would fix this. Due to time constraints, I didn't have time to set this up. Out of frame, the spill into the room is well controlled, lighting the wall behind the subject but not the room behind the umbrella. The light from the umbrella softbox is much more directional and controlled than a shoot through.

[i speak in math]

updated OP with some info and images.