EZ Cube Question - DPChallenge Forums

Olympus 7-14mm f/4.0 Zuiko Digital Zoom

09/28/2008 05:59:06 PM · #1

If you were going to buy a light tent (instead of make one), which one do you think is the best one to get? I want to photograph jewelry, maybe flowers & also other small items. I've been trying to research on the internet and came across the EZ Cube light tents. Do you think these are the best for the money or is there another brand that better (ease of use, more or better things that come with it, etc.).

EZ Cube

one2one

Olympus E-5

09/28/2008 06:19:10 PM · #2

If I were to buy another one, it would be bigger than the 20 inch model I have. It's fine for small items but the door is too small to fiddle around with stuff in there. Sometimes when you don't want to move anything, a slight nudge of the tent and your setup is out of whack. A bigger one is also better for shiny objects like chrome on toasters, kettles, large jewelry, etc.

I have to say that I don't even use it anymore for anything at all. I rather use a softbox hung overhead and use reflectors to handle fill light.

sabphoto

Samsung Galaxy S8/S8+

09/28/2008 09:26:59 PM · #3

I'd love to get a tent sometime but really haven't gotten the need for it yet. I'm not sure what specific things to look at but I saw a couple times that some WalMart stores carry photo tents now. I think for about $99.00...Probably not as cool as the ones you have posted. Just wanted to pass that on.

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

09/28/2008 10:32:02 PM · #4

Yeah, I did wonder if the 30" would be better than the 20". I'll check & see what Walmart has too. I was thinking about asking for one for Christmas. :)

fldave

Pentax K5II

09/28/2008 10:40:01 PM · #5

How about a $10 DIY macro studio? I found it here.

MikeJ

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/28/2008 11:12:01 PM · #6

I have had a large EZ-Cube for a number of years. I have found it to be worth the money I paid for and have done glass, metal, flowers, wood, tile and a number of other things in it. I've also used home made and jerry rigged light tents and they do work, but it's sure hard to beat the ease of one made with a flex steel frame that folds into a small package and snaps open and ready to go in just a couple of minutes.

Most of the problems people have with light tents is the lights they use. Many use strong work lights with very narrow light patterns. This just blasts the light through the nylon, causing reflections and un-wanted specular highlights. I've used mine mostly with softboxes to give that added bit of diffusion to my strobes. When I've used tungsten lights in large reflectors, I've usually put a Photoflex translucent Lite Disc in between the lights and light tent. Or I use very subdued light just bright enought to get me the results I wanted.

They aren't hard to make but sometimes going commercial just makes it a bit easier. :D

Mike

Message edited by author 2008-09-28 23:12:11.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/29/2008 09:06:31 AM · #7

I had thought about making one but I liked the idea of being able to fold it up and put it away when I didn't need it. I also don't have any of the lights and you can get the lights with these. I also like the ezclips that you can use to hang things and the jewelry kit. Of course, there may be other ways to do this too. I also saw this one on ebay that looked interesting. In this one you get:

1x 30" (76cm) soft light tent
1x 14" (35cm) soft light tent
12x high quality backgrounds
3x 48w studio mushroom light bulbs
3x 9" lamp shades
3x light stands
2x carrying case for tent

So, there is the advantage of getting two tents with this one.

ebay light tent

And finally, I found this one:

2nd ebay one

It also looks nice and you get two tents.

Of the three (the EZcube included), which do you think would be the best to get? I keep going back and forth between them. Since I've never used one before, I wanted to hear what you guys think. :)

Message edited by author 2008-09-29 09:23:16.

MikeJ

Canon EOS-1D Mark II

09/29/2008 06:57:49 PM · #8

Well, the 2nd Ebay set has a snazzy talking voice (I hate un-expected speaking web pages) that talks about all the great things you get. The one thing that caught my attention is he talked about the Real light reflectors that weren't those mini reflectors. To me they look like small desk lamp reflectors. The ones in the first ebay set looks like bigger reflectors, which are 9" across (the 2nd one didn't even give their size), although getting a couple of 32" umbrellas would work even better. The lights are not going to be the brightest, but as long as you can increase your exposure time and the lights are set up to show your object the best, weaker lights is not that bad of a thing. I'm not sure if the tripod on the 2nd one is that good of an inticement, unless you don't have a tripod right now anyway.

I can see why it's a tough call for you. If I had to chose, I'd probably go with the first one, just because the 2nd one seems to be trying to hard to sell his products and being surprised by a voice annoys me. :D

Mike