Hi,

I am thinking of buying a light tent so that I can photograph my models at any time.
There are a lot of these portable photo studios complete with lamps, stands and camera monopod, on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mini-Photo-Light-studio-Tent-Lights-Stands-Bag-in-UK_W0QQitemZ360092305476QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item360092305476&_trkparms=72%3A1300|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Has anyone used or got one?
Are they any good?
Should I buy one?

Any comments, opinions etc will be valued.

Regards
Mike

Please remove xxx from my email address.

For small AFV's in 1/35th scale, the 43cm size is large enough. Anything larger, and you start to see the edges in the photos. if you are photographing 1/48 scale (gasp) aircraft, and I do, then the tent is way to small.

Below are a few photos taken using the tent:







I am asking my local Hobby Shops so get in the Tamiya photo both. It's much larger and can fit a 1/48th scale jet fighter with ease. It doesn't have the lights and tripod like the one you listed has, but I prefer to carefully chose my tripods and lights seperately from the tent.

http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM74079

I currently use two pieces of foam core for my background, an Ottlight and a Veblon 30" tripod.

Hope this helps.

Val

Hi Val,

Your pics really do tell a story.
Many thanks!

Regards
Mike

Please remove xxx from my email address.

As Val said its too small. I find it great for small items but I went back to using a peice of card stock on a table for most things (I build mainly 35th scale armor).

I also don't think the lights that come in the box are very good I wasn't able to find any light setting on my Nikon that was happy with the color temperature but I am a novice when it comes to photography.

It's made of Legos! :D



3 lamps from IKEA with Philips blue light (day light). The good thing about lego's is that you can change its size any time.

Result...



If you don't have Legos, just pick up a card box and design something like this...



Don't forget to use that transparent paper used on cooking (don't know the right term). You need it to diffuse the light.

it's not very pretty :p

Kind regards,

Rui

And it's expandable to any size, breaks down easily, and is modular so it can be built to any shape.

Forget the Tamiya photobox, I'm going out to get a Lego set!

Thanks for posting!

Val

Join the "Lego" side! You must! =P

Only tangentially related to the original topic as it is not portable, but interesting nonetheless:

http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent/

Keith

there are a lot of solutions for this problem.

I also tried this one...its a Ikea "clothes for wash" bag.



but I was not really satisfied with the results...maybe for smaller scales like 1/72, but 1/35 forget it.

I have one of the Wal-Mart fold away photo cubes.

Comes with the 2 lamps, and a little mini-tripod for your camera.

I got it for Xmas, and really for the price, its not too bad.

The lights leave a bit to be desired and cast a very yellow light on your subject. Thankfully I have a couple of real light, lights that I use for modeling, and decided to use these with the photo cube. They work great and give you an authentic light....only thing better I find is bright sunlight.

The tripod I have never used, opting to use my full size one instead.

Here are a couple of pics taken with the booth. It comes with a reversible back drop, blue on one side, grey on the other. However it would be easy as pie to do other colors, as it is just a piece of material (need ironed mind you) with a strip of Velcro at the top to hold it in place.







Its great for 1/35 and smaller armor, 1/48 and smaller aircraft (depending on the aircraft), and 1/25-1/24 cars, as well as Sci-fi, figures and such. Anything bigger and you are better off just using a piece of Bristol board or something.

http://strobist.blogspot.com/

This is kind of the gold standard for small lighting kits and stuff.
Poke around "Lighting 101" and see if there's anything that helps.
Some things aren't too expensive if you want to try some DIY.
Cheers
Bill Inglee