My husband is going to school for photography and the list of stuff that it is required for him to buy, is really long and super expensive. This kit here knocks off most of what was on his list. We could not wait for it to arrive.
When it did arrive, I could not believe how big this case was and it was packed full of all kind of goodies, most of that I had no idea what they were for, so I chose to wait till my husband to get home, before I played with his new toys. Once he arrived, we started bringing out everything that was in the box.
The first thing I noticed was the bag that it came in. It was massive. It is well made with handles that wrap all the way across the bottom. The stitching was amazing. I did not find any lose threads or missing stitches. The handles have a Velcro strap that locked them together. The zipper was flawless, it zipped and unzipped with ease, opening up the whole bag, to show you what was inside!
Once the bag was open, I noticed a lot of boxes inside the bag, there was not an inch of space that was not filled with something. Everything was packed nicely inside, that way nothing would get damaged in the warehouse or shipping. It did take a long time to open everything up. My husband left that job to me, I took photos as I went. There was so much stuff, that I had no idea what it did. It was a great learning experience for me as my husband explained it all to me.
The first thing he showed me how to open and set up were the stands. There are 3 all together. They were simple to set up, 2 of them were the same size and then there was a larger one that held the boom arm. These stands are super sturdy, my husband was really impressed with how sturdy they were.
We set up the boom arm first. The "arm" is super sturdy it reminded me of a giant selfie stick. One end you attach a soft box, and the other end attach the "sandbag". In the photos on the Amazon page it shows the sandbag as blue and black, the one I received in the kit was all black and matched the outside carry case. It had a design of that seems to be a saddle bag, there were slots on each side that you can add weights to. It hooks to the pole with a carabiner.
The soft boxes, are made of nice material. The material had no defects or flaws. The stitching was great on them. There were no loose threads or missing stitches. They attached easily to the lights.
I found out the lights have a couple different uses The first were the soft boxes, it diffuses the light so they are not so harsh on the subject. It has a hot light, that stays on if you need it to stay on. The lights even have a flash option. There is dial that adjust the power of the flash, so that gives you a little more control while using the flash option of these lights. There is a cord in this set, that you can direct connect your camera the flash, my husband said he calls the wire a slave wire, he is not sure if that is the correct term or not. You can also use it with the remote.
The remote, came in it's own little box, It connects easily to the top of your camera, it also has a test option to make sure the connection is working. That allows you use the lights as a real flash! The remote comes with an instruction booklet to help you get it all set up.
The next thing in the box was a barn door, I was not sure what it was, I asked my husband and he said it was a barn door or that's what he called it. He states he has not used one of them before in class, but it is to direct the light the way you want it to go. When it comes to construction. I have to say that it is made out a nice heavy duty metal that has hinged "doors" They open with ease and fold back closed when not in use.
The next thing in this kit was the honeycomb it was made out of the same nice metal, that will last a long time. This also has to do with the way the light shines, he stated that it chokes up the light be believes and makes it narrower.
The final thing is the colored lens or gels as my husband calls them, They attach to the lights to change the color of the lights. He states that you can use them to change the color of the background with these lens, depending on the way the lights are positioned or you can change the color of your subject.
I know that a person knowing how to take photos are half the battle, they need the right equipment, to get those beautiful, photos that we all want of our family. I have to say that this kit, is perfect for any stage photographer, you can just be starting out at home, in school like my husband, or even a professional and I think you will really like this light kit! My husband said he would recommend it to any photographer out there. I have also included photos of all the items in the kit, I just wanted to say, I took the photos, not my husband or they would have been much nicer lol. CHECK IT OUT HERE
