Glow Reflector Panel and Sun Scrim Kit

Before I started to use lights of any kind I would proudly (and arrogantly) say to anyone who would listen, “I only shoot with natural light.” I pontificated that only ‘pure photography’ was created in natural light. Truth was I didn’t know shit about using anything other than available light. Sure I had used speed lights ‘some’ but as I look back on my images I thought were great back then, well…… they are pure shit in my view today!

So during a dinner conversation with a longtime friend who knew I liked taking photos asked, “Hey do you know who Greg Gorman is? My brother Seth works with him and you may want to talk to Seth about seeing if you can take one of Greg’s classes.” After picking my jaw up off of the ground I responded “WTF you mean THE Greg Gorman? The fucking guy who has shot about every fucking celebrity I can name? Your brother KNOWS him?”

So after contacting Seth he conveyed to me that later in the year he was teaching alongside Greg during one of his classes. So I signed up. The course was one full week in Albion, CA where Greg has a residence and a studio. I won’t go into the whole thing, but suffice it to say that I owe quite a bit of my success as a photographer to what I learned from him about light during that week.

His whole objective was to teach us (four students) how to see and use light. And for the first two days we used ‘natural light’ meaning the sun along with reflectors and scrims, specifically Sunbounce gear. Because of Greg introducing me to those items along with my real life experience of all the Sunbounce gear I used and have since purchased (way too many to list) I am not only a loyal Sunbounce consumer, but have found that for on location gigs nothing beats them.

I received a Glow Panel which is 39″ x 62″ right between the sizes of the Sunbounce Mini and Pro panels I own and use. The Mini is 3×4 feet and the Pro is 4×6 feet. I have many of the Sunbounce fabrics, 1/3, 2/3 stop scrims, silver/white reflective fabric and some gold/silver combo fabric. I find that I seldom use the gold/silver since I’d rather add warmth in post if needed. And the other fabric I use all of the time is the black. I learned from Greg just how valuable a light detractor is in sculpting light. I’m not certain if Adorama plans to offer a black fabric for this device.

Prior to using Sunbounce stuff, I like others used those pop out type reflectors or white foam core. The issue I’ve always had with those pop up type reflectors is they are crap in moderate wind. One of the things I look for in any reflector is its ability to keep a tight fabric surface. Trying to feather the right amount of light onto talent is hard enough. Having to wrestle with a flexing reflector is ridiculous. And foam core, uh OK it’s cheap but a pain to transport and it never lasted too long in my hands.

The Glow Reflector/Scrim kit comes with both a 2/3rds scrim and silver/white reflector reversible fabric. The frame of the unit is hinged and fully connected via smart hinges. There is a bar that attaches to the frame which holds the unit on a light stand. It’s nice that they include a grip to attach the unit to a light stand. Unless you purchase the Sunbounce Kit, no grip is included.

The fabric is attached via Velcro and is well done and keeps the fabric nice and tight. But I do NOT like to use Velcro to attached fabric to reflector frames. Why? It’s a personal preference, but I have found that when I am shooting on location the time it takes to attach fabric via Velcro to a frame is time consuming. I had tried Photoflex framed scrims and reflectors. They used shock cord to assemble the frames, much like a tent. And the fabric was attached via strong elastic bands at each corner. Convenient to put on and off, but not very tight in holding the fabric tight and easily blown off in wind.

One issue I found with the Glow unit is when placing or removing the cross bar onto the frame, the entire end mounting pieces must be completely disassembled to attach the units onto the bars of the frame. Again more time than I’m accustomed to.

The hinges in the middle of the frame can pivot in two different ways. Only one of those ways is the way it’s intended to pivot in order to fold the frame in half to fit into the carry bag. The other pivot method simply places the frame into a 90 degree angle with the opposing side of the frame. Frustrating….

Now for the good news. If I were to keep this Panel in a studio environment and not have to assemble and disassemble the frame/fabric I’d have opted for the Glow Panels over my Sunbounce units in a second. Why? Well the fabrics are of high quality and the units present a much better value for studio work. At 99.00 which INCLUDES the light stand mounting grip, a scrim and a reversible white/silver fabric, versus a Sunbounce Mini at 378.00 PLUS and additional 153.00 for a 2/3 stop scrim you’re looking at a whopping 531.00! The performance of the scrim/reflector material is equal to the Sunbounce fabrics. But if you need to assemble and disassemble the frame on a regular basis (like I do) there’s no competition with Sunbounce. And as far as those pop up reflectors, I really don’t like their performance in the conditions in which I shoot. Sure they’re damn convenient to ‘pop up’ but their use in wind or in keeping a uniform surface has not been good in my experience. The Glow framed reflector is a much better choice.