Digital Concepts Portable Lighting Studio

     With the growing amount of picture taking I do for the Club and other pastimes like Ebay, my wife thought my photography skills might need a little help.  And lets face it, we all have struggled to get an image to look good for a digital photo at some point right?  Enter the Digital Concepts Portable Photo Studio, portable and even better cheap!  But can it help overcome the lack of good lighting in the new office?  Lets find out.

     This first picture not only shows off the box, it also illustrates the outstanding lighting in the new office at about 9:30 PM, or not.  As you can see from the picture the studio sets up to a modest 16 x16 x16 inch diffuser with two different backgrounds.  Not bad for most smaller items I end up shooting for the site and such.  My wife bought this directly from SkyMall but the instructions suggest it was made by Sakar International.

SkyMall text:

     The box opens to reveal the entire kit folded neatly into a handy carry case.  With a depth of about 5 inches for the pockets, this should stash away in a closet easily when not in use.  The case is made from a fairly heavy vinyl and the extra Velcro double back you see here shows how much thought was given to keeping things compact when traveling.

     Here's a look at what's included; two high output 20 Watt lamps with power switches and retractable legs, one mini tripod, and the case doubles as both the light box with two back drops and as the carrying case.  An optional black and white sided background is offered for $9.95 plus $3.00 for shipping and handling.

     Here's a picture of the setup with the grey back drop chosen.  The back drop is held on by Velcro for an easy swap or simple cleaning.  Each of the lights has a rod to help keep the lighting at a safe distance from the light box cloth.

     Here's another shot with the included tripod.  The tripod is small but welcome for stability when shooting smaller objects.  It just fits on my two drawer but some tweaking may be needed to get the tripod more use.

     This is my first attempt at shooting an Ultra review product.  The annoying plastic was left on to show how the glare looks with the lights turned in.  After this shot I decided the blue complemented the packaging better and removed the plastic from the box.

     Now here is attempt two.  Lights adjusted to remove glare and the more friendly blue background.  I have cropped a bit wide to show the blue backdrop to you as well.  Not bad for my first attempts with no camera tweaks at all.  With some extra practice I am sure the colors and lighting will be even better.

Conclusion:

     You just have to love SkyMall for gathering so many useless gadgets together in one place for their captive audience!  This product actually ships from Hammacher Schlemmer (item #73033) and like so many of their products its really useful only to a few of us, but I find it a great idea at a reasonable price.  The product also mentions a 3 year warranty and the included instructions offer a toll free support phone number and replacement parts ordering information.  Take a look and see if this Portable Photo Studio would help you take better pictures too.