You recently had the chance to use the new Litemotiv 190: overall, what was your first impression?

*The first thing that struck me was just how rock solid this equipment was. I heard myself thinking how tough these boxes were! The Litemotiv take up very little room once folded but become enormous once you open them up! I mean, really enormous! It’s almost intimidating at the start and you start wondering how on earth you are going to put all that together... But in the end, once you’ve got to grips with the assembly logic and the different color coded pieces, it’s both quick and easy. It really becomes so simple to set up them up that you stop thinking about it, plus you can have a real go at it without worrying about breaking anything. It's tough yet portable, the perfect compromise.

What can you tell us about the light from the Litemotiv?

For this shoot, we needed to light up a girl who was walking down a staircase, for a fairly wide-angled shot. That meant that we needed a lot of light and my default choice could have been the Rotalux Octa 175 cm. However, the problem is that it lights a wide area: it’s soft, but wide, too wide. 

I really needed a soft light that I could precisely position. A stronger light, for instance a beauty dish, wouldn’t have worked either because I didn’t want to give too much of the impression of sunlight. So my dilemma was figuring out how to combine soft lighting with a clear sense of direction, and the Litemotiv allowed me to do exactly that.

Surprisingly, there’s no need for a too powerful flash unit for the larger Litemotiv 190, because the light concentration and diffusion work so well. Another major difference is the bracket, which is quite simply stunning. I really do mean that, because the major weak point of all these large softboxes is the link between the tripod and the flash. That’s where you often notice their weaknesses, sometimes the unit progressively slides towards the base under its own weight. That's not the case with Litemotiv. The center of gravity is so perfectly placed that it’s really easy to move it up or down, yet once it’s locked in place, it doesn’t move one inch. You get a real sense of solidity and effectiveness, while the color-coded fitting system is a silly little change that works perfectly.

As a photographer who does a lot of shooting in the fashion world, does the quality of fabric  in a softbox matter?

Absolutely, when you set up this softbox, you feel the quality of the fabric immediately. In fact, it’s the first thing you notice. My first impression was that you’d have to leave the softbox in the studio once you’d put it together, but in fact that’s not the case at all: I can easily carry it to an external location without worrying about putting it back together, and that’s one of the details that I really appreciated. When it’s stored away, it barely takes any place, the fabric folds incredibly well and there are no creases when it’s unfolded. You could say that it always looks like it’s just been pressed. In terms of lighting power, you can sense that this fabric offers more output compared to the Rotalux fabric, which is further proof of the importance of the fabric.

Finally, what is your favourite thing about the Litemotiv?

It’s matter of personal preference for each photographer, but as far as I’m concerned, it's a combination of favourites: The internal diffuser with the central circle to prevent hotspot which is detachable, the size for great illumination, the soft yet contrasty light and finally the super functionnal and robust bracket. I just love this light!