A portable studio….
Posted by: Rich in Digital Cameras, Digital Photography, Photo of the Day
Ok, the second post of today…… This one is for Tom (links are included). 
Recently I placed a very small order to BHPhotovideo.com. If you’re not familiar with the site you probably don’t own a digital camera. I’d gotten a cool gift certificate to BH (from points unknown), and I didn’t know what to do with it.
Fortunately BH included their latest catalog with the gift card. I always get their catalogs as I’ve spent way too much with them, but I hadn’t seen the newest in months. So, I went through page by page to see what I’d like.
In the end, when I totaled what I liked I’d reached well over $18,000. Clearly the gift card wouldn’t cover it!
It’s at this point I’d like to send a plea to the universe and all the readers….. You now know the exact gift card amount I require….let’s get cracking!
Anyhow, I started parsing it down. What one item would “work” for the moment. That’s when I took a second look at “portable studios”. The first, which I really got into, was a little too much. Beyond that, it was too big and bulky to be a portable table studio in an Airstream. Ah, two strikes……didn’t even wait for the third.
So, I was left with one option. I’d already purchased a white background from BH. I used it for a few shots of computers and such for the new edition of my book (The Digital RV….there’s a link at the top of the site….I suggest you buy at least 5 copies….it’s rather informative…..wait til you see the next book….it’s in process for publishing). Well, the same manufacturer offered a new package….and it caught my attention.
The new portable desktop studio came in at under $100. Background board, two lights, and that’s about it. But here’s the deal…..I already had the white board. Now I have a black background too! And it’s pretty slick for upclose shots. It also packs away neatly in the space of less than one Airstream cabinet…..so slick! And it works. Take a look at today’s “photo of the day”, and you might think it works too….
Oh, and the shot of the setup was taken with my SD 550, not an SLR. I did it at an angle to be cool….and to hide the messy couch area that’s going on today…Apologies for my messy couch!
And yes, both shots were taken by me. The first, SD550. The second with my 30D.
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Ooooh, looks pretty good! And you definitely can’t beat the size of it! One of these days I will get a real digital camera.
Your couch has been messier! I love those portable/tabletop studios! Beats having to haul around 200+pounds of equipment!
A GC from points unknown? How intriguing…Methinks that you will have to get more affluent friends so you can buy all the fun photo accessories you need too…Until then, I am so impressed with the photo of the new lens! I think Cannon should contact you about taking product photos for them…
Tom,
The kit is pretty simple, but it is effective. I wish the backdrop was a little more manageable though, but it will work out more in time (came rolled up, so keeps wanting to re-roll).
What do you shoot with now??? You know, E-bay is always out there and I’ve seen some good deals on camera bodies. It’s the lenses that’ll kill the wallet you know!
Rich
Currently I shoot with a Canon SD800is handheld(Photos Seen Here). We bought my wife an Olympus E-500 DSLR, but my problem with it is that it is just so BIG. My Canon may not take as nice of photos, but I can take it with me everywhere I go (it easily fits in a cargo pocket, with a case and extra battery).
The reason I want to get a DSLR is mostly just for the control you have over everything. The SD800 is a fine little camera with lots of good controls, but you can’t adjust the aperture, the longest you can keep the shutter open is 16″, and you can’t manual focus with it.
One of these days I will just dive into the deep end and lay down the dough, and learn to carry the big thing around.
Have you seen the new G9 from Canon. All the SLR features, 12MP shots, but in a smaller body. The drawback, no interchangeable lenses.
The link I provided is to Steves-Digicams.com. Best camera review site I’ve ever found. He does a great job, so give a read. If you don’t want to read the whole review (super long) skip to his conclusions section.
By the way, I own the SD550 and I love it. My other two cameras are the Canon 10D & 30D. Lenses get expensive, and they’re heavy!!! Just carry my camera bag for a while and you’ll ask, “Why haven’t you bought a G9 yet?”
Everything about that G9 looks real nice (i’m not a huge fan of carting around lenses anyway)! I especially like the larger CCD size (1/1.7″ vs. the 1/2.5″ sensor in my SD800), which would be really nice for high-ISO shooting. Woe is me though; having purchased my SD800 only a few months ago! I just can’t justify another camera purchase right now.
And you would definitely need a big memory card. I imagine shooting 12MP RAW files fills up memory fast!
I’m in love with Canon cameras. I started out with a SD100 and have been working my way up every few years. I’ve played with friend’s Casio, Olympus, Pentax, and Nikon hand-helds, and the only one that came close to being as nice was the Nikon.
Now that you mention it though… the wife has been wanting a hand-held camera, maybe we’ll check one out in the near future….
Yeah, check it out. I’m really jazzed about it personally. The 12MP is unnecessary, but all the other features are plain wonderful!