Light tents
 

Can anyone recommend a light tent for photographing small items? About 50cm on each side. The EZCube is rather pricey but probably well made. There are similar ones on ebay going for much much less i.e. £30 down to about £4 + P&P. But of course the concern is that they might be rubbish. I know from experience that much of the cheap Chinese made stuff on ebay is tat.

Kind of depends on your requirements Leif. I seem to remember Wolfie posting a DIY job made from a collapsible mini laundry bin. It has stuck in my mind each time I've seen one.

So the starter question is really, off the shelf, or DIY.

Don

Hello Don. Well I could buy a transparent plastic container, and line it with translucent material at little cost. But I'd like something that folds up. The ones I have seen are a cube and fold into a flat pack. I have a Lastolite light tent that is like a teepee when unfolded, but it's a nightmare to use. It cost £70 too. Grrrr.

Leif

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Leif,

Plastic is not the best material. I will search for Harry's post before going further.

Don

No need to search Don. What I use most of the time is the wife's dirty linen basket (well it's mine now).
Actually it's not a basket, but a wooden frame that supports a canvas bag. Somehow the bag got lost.
what I do is drape a white sheet over it and hey-presto a light tent.

Recently (two weeks ago) I purchased a "Portable soft lighting studio" £13 from Maplins http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?...2m12&source=15

This folds down flat with a carrying handle. I'm highly delighted with it, although it doesn't totally replace the "Linen Basket"

This is the one and only photo, that I've taken using the "Portable soft lighting studio"
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...ynextyear1.jpg

Well there you go Harry. Saved me time doing a search so I can spend it looking at another of your crackers.

Don

Thanks Don.

The only problem I see with the Maplins "studio" is the slightly larger "Grain" of the material used, which gives the effect of "noise" especially when using a very small aperture.

Just as point of interest is noise apparent on the flower shot? or is it just my imagination.

Harry

That's a very nicely lit image Wolfie. What lighting did you use? BTW I see no 'noise' in the image. There is a slight large scale variation of the background which makes it looks like you photographed against a sky.

Harry I do not see noise but at a close look I think the background is a bit close to coming into focus. A good example to add coarseness of material into the equation. This was something I noticed with the newer Lastolite reflectors. Mine is 20 years old and is not as fine a material as Foxys.

Not sure of Leifs application, but if you have shots where you have used different materials it may be worth a post of side by side.

Don

Don.

Yes it's certainly to do with the coarseness of the material, coupled with the small f/stop, as you know I'm viewing on a 1600 x 1200 res. LCD. Maybe that's why I tend to see the grain of the fabric which then makes the image look a little noisy.

Leif.

The lighting. well actually quite a lot :)
My Canon twin light macro flash, with the Sigma Super and two Jessops mini-cells as slaves + 2 halogen desk lamps.

Will take a photo of the set-up to show how the lights where arranged, this I will upload a little later in the day.

The two desk lamps where placed behind the "Maplins Light Studio" The heads where angled at approx 70 deg to give a gradation from darker at the bottom to lighter at the top.

This was an attempt to give the impression that the photo was taken outside. I then selected the blue channel in levels to achieve the shade of blue that we would get on a beautiful sunny day.

Harry