Following the success of its Firefly Beauty Box, Aurora Lite Bank now offers Firefly Strip Box, a rectangular shaped version of its octagonal predecessor. The design of the strip box version is very similar to the original one with the main difference in the dimensions. (Firefly Strip Box measures 10" x 24"/ 25 cm x 61 cm.)
Because of the shape of Firefly Strip Box, the manufacturer made it rotatable around its axis, so you can easily set it up vertically or horizontally depending on your needs for the shot.
Obviously, Firefly Strip Box features only four stretchers instead of eight. These stretchers are longer, therefore the included carrying bag is slightly bigger.
Like with Beauty Box, the front diffuser of the strip box version has a reflective piece in the middle to eliminate the hot spot.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
It is important to remember that, because of the shape of the Firefly Strip Box, the flash lights it up differently, depending on the orientation. Our tests show that if you position this strip box vertically, the best results (most even light) are achieved by using the wide-angle diffusing panel of your flash. Using Firefly Strip Box horizontally is more "forgiving" and the even illumination of the front diffuser can be achieved at 24mm flash zoom position, as well. The images below demonstrate this statement. The first row of images is taken with flash zoom set to 14mm (wide-angle diffusing panel). The bottom two images are shot with the flash zoom set to 24mm. The power of the flash in all images was manually set to the same value.
 |
 |
 |
 |
Our recommendation is to always use the wide-angle panel or adapter of your flash when shooting with Firefly Strip Box. If your flash lacks one, it is a good idea to use something like Sto-Fen Omni-Bounce or even a diffusing panel of Demb Flash Diffuser (basically, anything that would help to spread the light wider inside the Firefly).
The following images show the difference in light quality between Firefly Strip Box and Firefly Beauty Box. First two images are taken against a white wall. The diffusers were positioned about 3 feet (1 meter) from the wall. Flash power was identical. The second two images are a portrait-like test. The diffusers were placed in the same spot about 3 feet (1 meter) away from the subject. The background was about 4 feet (1.2 meters) behind the subject.
 |
 |
 |
 |
You can see that, by their nature, Beauty Box delivers a more wrapping light (left image) while Strip Box is more focused vertically (right image) and has less spill onto the background.
To conclude, Firefly Strip Box is another great product from Aurora. It is compact, portable, and easy to setup, like its octagonal counterpart. The important thing to remember is to set your flash to the widest zoom position in order to get even lighting from this diffuser.