Mimic the effect of the Profoto Hardbox and save 994 Euros

If you like to mimic intense sunlight using artificial light sources and look for a suitable way to do this you might have come across the “Profoto Hardbox”.

While this is a nifty tool to achieve your goal its outrageously
expensive. Lets face it … paying 1000 Euros for a black plastic box
with a hole in it is … well not what everyone wants to do.

I do not want to rant about Profoto’s pricing here but sometimes its simply irrational even if they see it differently.

Another thing one needs to consider in addition to the insensible price is
that this will not normally work with D1 or B1 strobes of the same vendor if you
do not have a dome bulb cover attached to those heads which will add
another 160 Euros to your bill.

What you can do instead and with the same effect is simply attaching a black piece of Cardboard or Plastic in front of your head and vary the distance to the target.

Because the only thing the Hardbox does is in fact limiting the size of the light firing at your target and eliminating stray light from the bulb …

Thanks to Oleg Ti for this cool tip.

Works like a charm 🙂