Walmart Softbox

[Leehman]

Living in Hartwell, a small town in NE Georgia we do not have a camera shop in our community. Headed to Walmart to buy charcoal for the grill after viewing the great food photos from the last post. To my pleasent surprise Walmart is now selling softbox light kits for e-bay traders. Fifty bucks gets two lights, box several background colors and a small tripod. Now what isle has the 1DS111 ?

[Killjoy]

Curious. We don't have a photo store locally anymore either (unless you count Wolf Camera). It seems they could not compete with the competition (the internet).
I did a search on the Walmart Web Site, and looked for softbox. The only thing I came up with was a book.
Do you have a brand and model for those lights? Just out of curiosity more than anything else.
Thanks

[Dean Johnson]

More info would be greatly appreciated!

[PGX]

I think this is a new low.

[Leehman]

For those wanting more information. I will be going into town this evening, town is 18 miles from the house. Be glad to write down the model # and post later this evening.

Who knows maybe the blue light will be on

[Leehman]

Shopped the local walmart after dinner. Is this a great country or what? Anyway.
Portable Lighting Studio That is the product name.
Includes 16x16x16 box two lights (no information as to power) two different color backgrounds one white one black. Small tripod. Sk #064000030035
Price was 48.88
None on display that were open. Hard to say what they really look like other then the pictures on the box.
Hopes this helps for anyone wanting to venture into entry level lighting..........

[PGX]

Portable Lighting Studio Kit, PS-101 - Wal-Mart

There it is...

[dgs]

Is this link the same item?

[Naturalist]

I see this advertised in magazines for $79 or more so WalMart's $48 is a good deal.

[Freezframe_2]

69.95 in Canada. How bad can it be ?? Everything got it's limitations.....I sure some one will make it work.....

Brady

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by Naturalist

I see this advertised in magazines for $79 or more so WalMart's $48 is a good deal.

Yeah, but Amazon has it for only $41. Take that Wal-Mart....

(see DGS post for Amazon link)

[Brooks]

Originally Posted by Freezframe_2

69.95 in Canada. How bad can it be ?? Everything got it's limitations.....I sure some one will make it work.....

Brady

Really, how bad CAN it be? Let's see.....

Looking at the specs, it's a 16" x 16" square softbox. Too small for anything except macro subjects. The point of a softbox is to provide soft light by diffusion and relative size. The generally accepted size to accomplish that is a softbox 2.5 times the size of the subject. Perhaps with a 6" subject and the softbox positioned as close as possible to that subject there might be some use for a softbox that small.

But wait...there's more....

The lights are 20 watts. How bright is 20 watts ? It's hard to even find a lightbulb rated as low as 20 watts. You'll need a dark room just to be able to see if these lights are turned on.

Save your money if you want to buy lighting equipment that you can actually use.

[Dean Johnson]

I couldn't find any info on the light wattage, but according to brook they're 20 watts.
Quite worthless really. A couple $4 flashlights would be about the same.....

[Naturalist]

Really, how bad CAN it be? Let's see.....

Looking at the specs, it's a 16" x 16" square softbox. Too small for anything except macro subjects. The point of a softbox is to provide soft light by diffusion and relative size. The generally accepted size to accomplish that is a softbox 2.5 times the size of the subject. Perhaps with a 6" subject and the softbox positioned as close as possible to that subject there might be some use for a softbox that small.

But wait...there's more....

The lights are 20 watts. How bright is 20 watts ? It's hard to even find a lightbulb rated as low as 20 watts. You'll need a dark room just to be able to see if these lights are turned on.

Save your money if you want to buy lighting equipment that you can actually use.

I know what you mean Brooks. I built my own set-up using foam core posterboard and 2 500-watt lamps from the WalMart hardware section. Total Cost: $30

Works well, too!

[Freezframe_2]

Originally Posted by Naturalist

I know what you mean Brooks. I built my own set-up using foam core posterboard and 2 500-watt lamps from the WalMart hardware section. Total Cost: $30

Works well, too!

Are you willing to share the construction of your homemade softbox??

Please :Brady

[Tom Swaman]

Hey Guys,
Just think, with 20 watt lights you will not need to air-condition the studio!

Tom

[Brooks]

20 watts is not a lot of heat but unfortunately it's even less light.

[Naturalist]

An idea I gleaned from another site. Just open box with sides cut out, transluscent sheets on the sides (I used white tissue paper) and one 500 watt yellow bench top halogen work light ($9.99 ea.) on each side shining through.

[Freezframe_2]

I would think with that much light you would look away and see spots.....Thats a great idea...Thanx for sharing .....

Brady

[ee50ok]

Originally Posted by Dean Johnson

I couldn't find any info on the light wattage, but according to brook they're 20 watts.
Quite worthless really. A couple $4 flashlights would be about the same.....

Maybe, but if the lights are the fluorescent type, 20W is near equal in light output to a 100W filament light. That would be plenty bright enough for such a small box.