Portable Light Studio

[frankykeno]

Robin, Mike finally had a chance to get on the floor at work and get me the information on that portable light studio I mentioned in a post awhile back.

I cannot find it actually on the Walmart.com site so here's a link to another vendor of it. They are listing it for $68.00 (down from $99.00 retail) but WalMart has it for $49.99 at the store Mike works at. Looks like kind of a neat thing. I think I'm going to ask for it for Christmas LOL.

http://www.newworldvideodirect.com/p...productid=1572

[lord jackel]

I didn't realize it included the lights...this might be a good deal after all (vs. building your own). I am going to look at it today...but based on what I read seems like a good Xmas present.

BTW...did you decide on a camera yet or is that too a Xmas present?

Of course you realize with all these photo toys we won't except any more bad pictures...LOL

[monk90222]

I have that portable light studio...it works well, its just hard to keep the snakes still in the "light box"...
I bought it at
http://www.tigerdirect.com

[slartibartfast]

My boyfriend has that one at his work, and I wasn't very happy with it for snakes. It may work well for small static objects, but wasn't really big enough to contain any of my larger balls without them pressing up against the walls, at which point the fabric seams showed and it was just unnatractive. Also, the lamps are quite tiny and were not very effective at lighting a large enough area. For very tiny things that don't move and can be effectively centered in the device, it would probably work well (he photographs dental drill bits with it).
I'm planning on one of the home-made setups instead...

[lord jackel]

My boyfriend has that one at his work, and I wasn't very happy with it for snakes. It may work well for small static objects, but wasn't really big enough to contain any of my larger balls without them pressing up against the walls, at which point the fabric seams showed and it was just unnatractive. Also, the lamps are quite tiny and were not very effective at lighting a large enough area. For very tiny things that don't move and can be effectively centered in the device, it would probably work well (he photographs dental drill bits with it).
I'm planning on one of the home-made setups instead...

I agree. I just got back from Wally World and checked it out (I am sure they hated the fact that I opened it up in the store )

My overall impression was that it is really really cheap (being an importer) I can tell you it has about $8 in total costs (but yet they are selling it for $50!!!)

The lights are tungston (which isn't a white light so you will need to photoshop the pics) - they are also hot and not very bright (I plugged the store one in and within minutes it was hot to touch) - and did I mention cheap.

The light hood its self is built like a pop-up with the case with very weak arms holding it up...any accidental pressure and I felt they would break. I also agree it is very small about 12" across so no room for a snake to stretch out. The bottom and back are one piece that slopes toward the front so front to back space is only about 6-8" at most or else you are out of the box.

I think it would work well for an eBay of small nick nacks but for snakes I can't see it working well.

It comes with a small cheap tripod (but from all my trips to China I can tell you they sell them for $2 on the streets there and they don't last long)

This was just my first impression, from looking at it in the store (not actually using it). Personally I would pass and build your own...it should be a lot cheaper and much better made.

Hope this helps,
Sean