CN112780907B

CN112780907B - Soft box mounting piece

Info

Publication number: CN112780907B
Application number: CN202011247050.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 斯蒂芬·卡尔
Original assignee: Si DifenKaer
Current assignee: Si DifenKaer
Priority date: 2019-11-11
Filing date: 2020-11-10
Publication date: 2023-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2040-11-10
Also published as: DE102020124286B4; CN112780907A; KR102446730B1; DE102020124286A1; KR20210056920A

Abstract

A soft box mount comprising a receiver block for receiving an extender strut of a soft box, wherein the receiver block comprises, in order, an inward portion, a transverse pivot axis, and an outward portion, the outward portion of the receiver block configured to receive a proximal end of the extender strut; and a bar block configured to be movable between a first, non-use position in which an inward portion of the receiver block may encroach into a recessed portion of the bar block, and a second, use position; in the second use position, the non-recessed portion of the bar block urges the inward portion of the receiver block from the light source side to a position radially inward of the pivot axis of the receiver block, thereby urging the outward portion of the receiver block to a position radially outward of the pivot axis of the receiver block.

Description

Soft box mounting piece

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an optical reflector used for photography and the like.

Background

Light reflectors, particularly those called "light shapers" (or simply "soft boxes"), are widely used in the fields of photography and the like because of their extremely uniform light diffusibility. Such a light reflector is shown, for example, in EP0964291B 1.

In soft-box light shapers, an armature (usually ring-shaped) is adapted to surround the light source to which it is fixed. The soft box itself typically has a plurality of ribs, the proximal ends of which are mounted on a transverse shaft which is pivotally secured to the armature. Thus, the ribs can be rotated from a use position, in which they extend more or less radially of the armature, thereby expanding the soft cartridge to or from a non-use position, in which they extend more or less parallel to the axis of the armature, thereby collapsing the soft cartridge.

The cloth of the soft box can thus unfold like an umbrella and be held in this position in some way to prevent the rib from returning to its non-use position. According to EP0964291B1, this is provided by a longitudinally movable sheath around each proximal end of the rib. The sheath, biased by the coil spring, may engage the radial bore and another bore at 90 ° to the radial bore. To move the sheath from one aperture to another, it must be moved away from the armature, against the force of the spring, to another position other than 90 °, and then slid into the other aperture under the force of the spring.

According to US 6,709,121B1, a similarly configured rotatable block is locked in the position of use, in which the ribs extend more or less radially by means of the latch lever. To fold the soft box according to this document, the latch lever is rotated towards the rear side of the soft box, i.e. towards the armature, releasing the rotatable block that holds the ribs.

It has been found that neither of these mechanisms is particularly convenient to use. The former construction requires each sheath to be easily accessible and easily moved outwardly; both of these conditions are often not met or require restrictions on the design of the soft box, making its use inconvenient. The latter arrangement requires the latching lever to be turned towards the armature where space is already crowded, again requiring restrictions on the design of the soft box or armature.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a soft box mount which alleviates or overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

This object is solved by a soft box mount, a soft box, a method of expanding or folding a soft box and the use of a soft box mount according to the appended independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the invention, the soft box mount comprises a receiver block for receiving an extender post of the soft box, wherein the receiver block comprises an inward portion, a transverse pivot axis, and an outward portion in sequential arrangement, the outward portion of the receiver block configured to receive a proximal end of the extender post; and a bar block configured to be movable between a first non-use position (in which an inward portion of the receiver block may intrude into a recessed portion of the bar block) and a second use position (in which the non-recessed portion of the bar block pushes an inward portion of the receiver block from the light source side to reach a position radially inward of a pivot axis of the receiver block), thereby pushing the outward portion of the receiver block to reach a position radially outward of the pivot axis of the receiver block, thereby expanding the soft box. The soft box mount may further comprise a spring biasing the bar block radially outwardly to a use position. The soft box mount may further comprise a radially directed button configured to allow a user to compress the spring, thereby allowing the bar to move to its non-use position.

According to another aspect, a soft cartridge mount apparatus includes one or more such soft cartridge mounts, and a mounting ring securing the one or more soft cartridge mounts, wherein the button extends through the mounting ring. Alternatively, the ring may extend substantially in a plane and the one or more soft box mountings are secured to the ring from one side. The movement of the bar, with or without the button, is substantially parallel to the plane of the ring of the soft box mount arrangement. In this variation, the soft box mount is modular and may be separately secured to the mounting ring with screws, bolts, adhesive or otherwise to enhance design flexibility. According to another aspect, a soft box comprises one or more soft box mounts or a soft box mount arrangement as described above, a plurality of extender struts and at least partially light reflecting sheets that are extended in use by the extender struts. In use, light emitted from the light source will be partially incident on the sheet that at least partially reflects the light, and the reflected portion will be directed towards the scene to be photographed or filmed (as the case may be). The soft box may also comprise partially transparent light diffuser means located, in use, between the spreader struts, as known from document DE 10 2013 004 665A1 of the present invention, which is incorporated herein by reference, where diffusers are concerned. The soft box may alternatively or additionally comprise a light-guiding grid mounted in use between the distal ends of the expander struts, as is known for example from document DE20 2009 010 094U1 of the present invention, which is incorporated herein by reference where a light-guiding grid is concerned. Furthermore, fastening means may be provided near the distal end of the outward part of the receptor block, for example screw holes for inserting screws for fixing the spreader strut in the axial hole of the outer part.

According to a further aspect, the method of expanding a soft box described above includes rotating the expander struts outwardly upon receipt in their respective receiver blocks, thereby pushing the inward portions of the respective receiver blocks out of the respective grooves of the respective bar blocks, and moving the respective bar blocks to their use positions; the method of folding the soft box described above comprises moving the bar blocks to their non-use positions, thereby allowing the inward portions of the respective receptor blocks to intrude into the corresponding grooves of the bar blocks and rotate outward; and the soft box mount or soft box mount arrangement for expanding or collapsing the soft box, respectively, comprises moving the respective bar of the soft box mount from its non-use position to its use position, or vice versa, respectively.

The soft box typically includes three or more expander struts, and one soft box mount. In particular, the soft box may comprise an even number (e.g. 4, 6 or 8) of soft box mounts of the type described above. These may, but need not, or all may be arranged in a radial manner with respect to the light source. However, a radial orientation is preferred over other non-radial orientations.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a general view of a soft box mounted in front of a light source according to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a soft box mount according to another prior art;

3a-3c are side views of three stages of movement of an embodiment of the present invention between a non-use position and a use position; and

4a-4c are perspective views of the soft box mount assembly of the present invention in the non-use, intermediate and use positions of the single soft box mount shown;

FIG. 5 is another embodiment of the soft box mount secured to the ring; and

fig. 6 is a detail of the outer part of the receiver block.

Detailed Description

In the conventional soft box 20 shown in fig. 1, four cloth-covered rods 8 extending from the soft box are inserted into holes 17 of the block 10, and the block 10 is in turn fixed in position on the spot light source 2 by the frame 6. The frame 6 is formed by a sheet metal strip 24 and is fixed to the support 4. The light emitting aperture of the spotlight source 2 is surrounded by a mounting ring 22, and the frame 6 is releasably attached to the mounting ring 22. The light emitting aperture 21 of the soft box comprises a translucent cover 23 for receiving the rod 8 and a receptacle 19. The block 10 is tiltable to allow the bar 8 to fold (position 20' of the soft box); in its outwardly inclined position, is retained by a respective latch lever (not shown). It should be noted that the cloth may be metallized on the inner portion of the soft box.

A conventional ring armature 10 is assembled from two

rings

11 and 12 in a facing state to each other as shown in a cross section in fig. 2. Disc 13 is rotatably mounted in a slot 14 in ring 12 and is held in place by the assembly of

rings

11 and 12. The disc 13 carries the sleeve 9 which passes through the

rings

11 and 12 and extends beyond the ring 12. The proximal end 3 of each of the ribs 2 (corresponding to the stem 8 of figure 1) is removably inserted into a socket 29, said socket 29 being mounted on a flat arm 30 formed at the end of a cylindrical portion 31 connected to the bottom 32 of the socket 29. A locking assembly 36 is mounted on each socket 29 for locking it in a first position, in this case radially with respect to the ring armature, and a second position parallel to the axis of the ring armature 10. The locking assembly 36 comprises a sleeve 37 mounted on the socket 29 and its cylindrical portion 31 for reciprocal movement on the socket 29. The end of the sleeve 37 opposite the socket 29 has a reduced diameter portion 38 which allows it to pass along the arms 30 and the cylindrical portion 31 of the socket 29, and the free end of which is inserted along a portion of the groove 33 in a peripheral radial hole 39 formed in the

rings

11 and 12. A spring 40 is mounted in the sleeve 37 between the bottom 32 of the socket 29 and the reduced diameter portion 38. The outer surface of sleeve 37 is rotated at 42 by the engine for ease of operation. The function of this structure is as follows: the reduced diameter portion 38 of the sleeve 37 is inserted into the peripheral radial bore 39 of the armature 10 under the bias of the spring 40, ensuring that the socket 39 is locked in its first position (dotted lines). Unlocking is achieved by pulling on the sleeve 37 to remove the reduced diameter portion from the peripheral radial hole 29 against the bias of the spring 40, so that the socket 29 and its locking assembly 36 can be rotated in the second position (solid lines) in which the free end of the reduced diameter portion abuts against the outer surface of the ring 11. Intermediate positions between the first and second positions are also indicated by dotted lines.

The inner surface portion is specularly reflective. In this case, the ideal specular reflection would be that of an ideal mirror, which means that each illuminating ray is reflected in only one direction symmetrically opposite to the illuminating ray. In practice, the inner surface of the surrounding cloth has a certain reflectivity, like the cone of light emitted from the illumination point is more diffuse than an ideal diffuse mirror (which follows the angular intensity distribution of a cosine function, e.g. I (α) = I ₀ Cos (α), as narrow as the normal intensity I and angle α). Functions narrower than the cosine function can be modeled as functions cos ^k (α)，k>1; or conversely, can be modeled as a function cos ^1/q (α), q =1/k, and 0<q<1. Therefore, the smaller q, the higher the reflection, and when q is close to 0, the ideal specular reflection is approached. In general, the angle of incidence is very different from the normal, and the resulting formula becomes asymmetric for the two angles involved. For the purposes of this application, it is sufficient to consider that the actual reflection is neither ideally diffuse reflection nor ideally specular reflection, but rather a suitable intermediate state between the two. If there is a diffuser inside the soft box (or in the outer plane), this will further smooth the angular intensity distribution measured outside the soft box; if a light grid is installed at the light emitting hole of the soft box, the above-mentioned index k of the emitted light cone is increased.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the soft box mount 100 comprises a receiver block 102 for receiving an extender post of a soft box (not shown), wherein the receiver block 102 comprises, in order, an inward portion 102' of the receiver, a hole for the transverse pivot axis 104, and an outward portion 102", the outward portion 120" of the receiver block 102 being configured to receive a proximal end of the extender post (not shown); and a bar block 106 configured to be movable between a first non-use position (as shown in fig. 3 a) in which the inward portion 102' of the receiver block 102 may encroach into the recessed portion 106' of the bar block 106, and a second use position (as shown in fig. 3 c) in which the non-recessed portion 106 "of the bar block 106 pushes the inward portion 102' of the receiver block 102 from the light source side to a position radially inward of the pivot 104 of the receiver block 102, thereby urging the outward portion 102" of the receiver block 102 to a position radially outward of the pivot 104 of the receiver block 102. Figure 3b shows the intermediate temporary position. It should be noted that the receiving block 102 has structure at its distal end that allows it to receive the expander strut; such as an axial bore, in which case the spreader struts may be steel rods sufficiently thin to be resilient to allow some bending of the soft box when in the in-use position, thereby tensioning the soft box to avoid slack.

At the radially inner end of bar 106 may be a biasing spring 110; the same function may be provided by an elastic pad separating an outer ring on the button 112 from the support ring 114 or by some other elastic means. The outer end of the inward portion 102' of the receiver block 102 may be chamfered 116 to stabilize its position in the second use position, as shown in fig. 3c.

The soft box mount assembly is depicted in fig. 4a-4c, with only one mounting bar shown for simplicity. The reference numerals correspond to fig. 3a-3c. In this embodiment there are a total of eight soft box mounts 100 evenly distributed around the mounting ring 114, but for simplicity only one soft box mount is shown and there are no biasing springs. In this embodiment, the distal end of the receptor block has an axial bore 118 for receiving the spreader strut. Of course, there are additional holes for other soft box mount buttons. It is not strictly required that the spacing between the soft box mounts be the same anywhere on the circumference; the present invention is also not limited to exactly eight soft box mounts. On the contrary, any number greater than 2, in particular an even number, is suitable. Furthermore, the orientation of the soft box mount need not all be perfectly radial; rather, any other orientation is possible as long as the soft box is allowed to fold without using the lever position. It is noted that in this embodiment the mounting ring has the shape of a hollow cylinder, which is very short compared to its diameter.

Another embodiment of the soft box mount 200 and soft box mount arrangement is shown in fig. 5. Here, the entire module 214 including the receiver block 202 and the bar block 206 is secured (blind screw holes 220, threaded through holes 222; or bolted, glued, or otherwise) to a planar mounting ring 218. This allows for a fairly flexible positioning of the soft box mount module on the circumference. This variant also allows the formation of guide grooves and/or rails on the mounting ring, and corresponding guide rails and/or grooves on the modules, for slidably coupling the latter. Incidentally, the other components corresponding to those of the first embodiment are given the following reference numerals: 202 'inward portion of the receiver block, 202 "outward portion of the receiver block, 204 pivot, 206' and 206" bar block, 210 spring, 212 button, 216 chamfer.

Fig. 6 shows a detail of the outward portion of the receptor block 102, in which a screw hole 122 is formed near its distal end, so that the extender post 120 inserted therein can be fixed in place by a screw 124 inserted into the screw hole, pressing the proximal end of the extender post 120 from the side, thereby increasing friction and inhibiting it from sliding out of the distal receiving opening 118.

The present invention has been described by way of examples, which, however, should not be construed as limiting the invention, and all variations and modifications within the spirit of the invention are to be regarded as being included therein.

Claims

1. A soft box mount comprising:

a receiver block for receiving an extender post of a soft box, wherein the receiver block comprises, in order, an inward portion, a transverse pivot axis, and an outward portion, the outward portion of the receiver block configured to receive a proximal end of the extender post; and

a bar block configured to be movable between a first non-use position in which an inward portion of the receiver block can intrude into a recessed portion of the bar block and a second use position in which the non-recessed portion of the bar block pushes the inward portion of the receiver block from the light source side to a position radially inward of a pivot axis of the receiver block, thereby urging the outward portion of the receiver block to a position radially outward of the pivot axis of the receiver block;

the spring is used for biasing the bar block to the use position towards the radial outer side;

also included is a radially disposed button configured to allow a user to compress the spring, thereby allowing the bar to move to its non-use position.

2. The soft box mount of claim 1, further comprising at least one other similar soft box mount, and a mounting ring for securing the one and at least one other soft box mounts to form a soft box mount arrangement, wherein the button extends through the mounting ring.

3. The soft box mount of claim 1, further comprising at least one other similar soft box mount, and a mounting ring for securing the one and at least one other soft box mounts to form a soft box mount arrangement, wherein the mounting ring extends substantially in a plane, and the one and at least one other soft box mounts are secured to the mounting ring from one side of the mounting ring.

4. A soft box comprising a soft box mount or soft box mount arrangement according to claim 2, a plurality of spreader struts and at least partially light-reflecting sheet material spread by the spreader struts in use.

5. The flexible pouch of claim 4, further comprising a partially transparent light diffuser means located, in use, between the spreader legs.

6. The soft box of claim 5, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal end of the spreader strut to the receiver block.

7. The soft box of claim 4, further comprising a light guiding grid mounted, in use, between the distal ends of the spreader struts.

8. The soft box of claim 7, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal end of the spreader strut to the receiver block.

9. The soft box of claim 4, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal ends of the spreader struts to the receiver block.

10. A soft box comprising a soft box mount or soft box mount arrangement according to claim 3, a plurality of spreader struts and at least partially light-reflecting sheet material spread by the spreader struts in use.

11. The flexible pouch of claim 10, further comprising a partially transparent light diffuser means located, in use, between the spreader struts.

12. The soft box of claim 11, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal end of the spreader strut to the receiver block.

13. The soft box of claim 10, further comprising a light guiding grid mounted, in use, between the distal ends of the spreader struts.

14. The soft box of claim 13, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal end of the spreader strut to the receiver block.

15. The soft box of claim 10, wherein fastening means, such as screw holes for inserting screws therein, are formed near the distal end of the outward portion of the receiver block to secure the distal end of the spreader strut to the receiver block.