Wal-mart Portable Studio Kit

Has anybody seen that Portable Studio Kit they are selling at Walmart? It comes

with little lights, and a little backdrop. I almost bought one just so I could

review it, but I stopped myself. After all, I needed wiper blades!

 

Seriously, anybody else seen it, or bought one? I'd love to see what the little

lights actually were, but my better judgement prevents me from buying one. I'm

guessing flashlights...

Oooh, I found it on the internet!

 

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5030889

 

Note the flashlight like lighting, and the giant DIGITAL in the corner. DIGITAL is marketing English for QUALITY.

They look like little halogen lights to me. Probably quite hot. Don't get them close to the fabric sides of the "tent".

Looking at those lamps they look to be small halogen lamps - possibly from overhead projectors. It looks like something faster, cheaper and easier to cobble together out of an old cardboard box, tracing paper and a sheet of coloured cardboard and put some table lamps in on each side for illumination.

Yeah, Joshua, I've seen it, and have gone back to look at it closer 3x!. I did finally ask to open the box, and they did! It was surprisingly almost not so bad--for the $49 price tag. At my photography store, they wanted to sell me pretty much the same thing--different company--for $100 The only obvious difference was the color of the 'backdrop'. I, too, would be very interested in hearing from someone who purchased and used it. I almost bought it, but like you, stopped short of doing so (I actually took it as far as the ck-out!). Why didn't I? Not sure, perhaps just thought because "It's Walmart!"...

Well, the "tent" isn't a bad idea for a cheap prefab solution. The lights are what bug me.

Same thing at Adorama

 

http://www.adorama.com/VRDSB16.html

Thanks Bob!

 

Since it is identically priced and looks identical, I assume they are probably made by the same company.

 

I like the little tent more and more when I look at it. But those little lights went from being cheap looking, to flammable looking.

I bought one and took it back, the lights have no power! They won't register on a light meter!

Was the little tent useful, Bob Bernardo?

Or you could buy a couple of flex-arm lights, 5000K CF bulbs and some PVC pipe and make one yourself.

<p>

<a href="http://rtope.com/light_tent/">http://rtope.com/light_tent/</a>

<p>

The bulbs, setup and sample shots.

<p>

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/rtope/face_off">http://www.pbase.com/rtope/face_off</a>

<p>

Total investment not much more than $50 and a lot better than the Wal-Mart/Adorama kit.

I bought it and returned it. The bulb burned out after 30 minutes of continuous use .. and while the light tent is well made, the lamps and stands are not very stable and got quite hot. I felt myself desiring something more powerful so I could back off the light stands and get brightly diffused lighting, but as such I found I needed to keep the lights closer to the tent than I wanted.

 

After the bulb burned out, I went to grab the stand and knocked it over .. it is not a very stable stand .. and while it probably will work for small things .. it is not the quality I desire.

I have one, just like everyone has said, lights too hot, I can get more results with a flash light. My advice don't waste your money.

This obviously isn't a "studio" by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a little light tent with some underpowered lamps. Real photo stores sell several variations, including ones with more powerful lamps. I like Dick's homemade version but would probably build it with actual toughspun and use real lights, but his version got great results for next to nothing.