Yet another new toy...

[24Peter]

Alzo Digital 48" light tent http://alzodigital.com/online_store/light_tent.htm

http://photos.imageevent.com/24peter/uploads/postuploads1/huge/IMG_5239.JPG

(yes I'm working on designer shoes this week :D)

and the result: (I'll spare you guys the shoes [for now:p] - my new Toshiba upconverting DVD player)

http://photos.imageevent.com/24peter/uploads/postuploads1/huge/Comp1.jpg

[namesalex]

thats real good man :D

[24Peter]

thats real good man :D

Thanks Alex. Where R U in Jersey?

[anco85]

The results are fantastic. Well done Peter

[namesalex]

Thanks Alex. Where R U in Jersey?

i live in ocean county, right by seaside heights. it sucks here :( there is no good places to take pictures at :mad:

[nism]

that is wicked
never seen a light tent before!

[cdifoto]

That's a beast. I'm guessing you don't leave it up permanently... :D :p

[te1221]

i live in ocean county, right by seaside heights. it sucks here :( there is no good places to take pictures at :mad:

Search up the stone museum in jamesburg. :)

[Nickcanada]

That is really cool. Those up converters really make a big difference eh!..... oh and the tent is pretty cool too...... hehe, jk, You've got an extremely cool set up.:cool:

[Rooz]

didnt toshiba and HD just get smashed by blu-ray ??
toshiba HD stuff over here is going for like 70% off.

[nism]

yea blu-ray won the high def 'war' against HDDVD
so sony > toshiba i think

[Nickcanada]

didnt toshiba and HD just get smashed by blu-ray ??
toshiba HD stuff over here is going for like 70% off.


Well that is a DVD up-converter not a "HD-DVD" player. It increases the performance of your DVDs. If it's anything like watching DVDs on a PS3 then they work really well. To see a real increase you need to use the HDMI output or component cables.

[Mark_48]

Thanks for the Alzo link Peter, I've been looking for a tent and the 28" is sized and priced right about where I wanted. How easy is the 48" to collapse for storage?

Mark.....

[michaelb]

Very cool Peter - I bet you could do some cool flower shots with that. :D

[adam75south]

that's freakin awesome peter. thanks, now i want one. so is it easy to put up and take down?

[24Peter]

Thanks guys!

OK - first the light tent - I actually haven't taken it down yet. It's all one piece (except for a zippered piece that covers the front opening that velcro's in around the edges). Believe it or not, it's collapseable, like a large reflector and ships collapsed in a fairly small carrying case. However, they send it with a larger carrying case too. (If you look at the description on the Alzo site, they started shipping it with the larger case b/c people have trouble getting it back in the original case.) In any event, it just pops open and you're good to go.

At 48" cubed (that's 4 feet LxWxH), it is quite large and actually could substitue for a tent (I'm sure my little nieces would love climbing in and out of the thing; me, I'd be less thrilled about that.) But unless your limiting your product photography to small items such as jewelry, I'd say go for the larger tent. You'll need the larger area, esp if you have a wide item like the DVD player. (I wouldn't even bother with the 14" tent - go with the 28" for jewelry, 48" for anything else.)

As for the performance of the thing, it is great for its intended use: product shots. I found that it is very easy to get nice even, diffused, shadowless lighting with just one light (on top). That's the hallmark of good product shots (other than a curves adjustment, I did not edit the main image of the DVD player - notice the even lighting and lack of shadows.) That being said however, you are limited to those kinds of shots. Despite the image of the vase on the Alzo product homepage, I could not get graduated light fall off for the background like that: the lighting is too even within the tent (compare that to my flower/fruit shots here: http://imageevent.com/24peter/stilllife . Very easy to get nice light fall-offs using a square softbox above your subject angled towards the camera.) There's also no room for a rim/back light in the tent, so you're precluded from adding more dramatic lighting to your still life subject as well. So... if you want basic soft, even, shadowless lighting for your products, go for it. If you want more drama, try the softbox/foamcore/ back light route.

The tent does ship with four pieces of background paper (in a separate cylinder container), but if you do a lot of work, be prepared to buy a roll of your own, esp the white since it soils pretty quickly (esp if you're shooting women's shoes!)

So to summarize, it's very good for it's intended purpose, it priced right (other tents in that size start around $200) and it is very easy to use.

The DVD playa' - yes this is a standard - not HD - DVD player ($59 @ Costco). Like most of the new players, it does upconvert standard DVD's to "near-HD" quality if you have an HDTV with HDMI inputs (it doesn't upconvert via component out.) I recently [this week] upgraded from my old Gateway 42" EDTV [480p] plasma to a new Toshiba 47" 1080p LCD HDTV (also from Costco > $1299) (the Gateway was a suprisingly good TV and did HD very well for technically being a non-HD TV. Plus it was dirt cheap compared to the other plasma's out there when I got it 3 1/2 yrs ago.)

Now Toshiba did lose the hi-def DVD wars - its HD DVD standard lost out recently to SONY's BluRay (go to the AVS forums if you want to know why). At an average price of $350, the stand-alone BluRay players are still too much for me. I suspect by the Holidays this year you'll get one for around $200 and then I might bite. But I'm also holding out for a BluRay burner for my computer. I've been shooting HD video for 1 1/2 years with my Canon HV20 camcorder but can only burn standard DVD's with my computer. BluRay burners are selling for around $400 and right now they're only 2X - again too rich and too slow for my blood. As soon as I can get a 4X burner for around $200 I'll bite.

Back to the Toshiba DVD player: at the end of the day, I am underwhelmed at the upconvert feature and I'll be returing it to Costco. I have an older Sony home theater system with a standard progressive scan DVD with component out (no HDMI) and frankly the colors/contrast are better than the Toshiba. You can see a little more detail in the upconverted image from the Toshiba DVD player - but only if you stand up close. From normal viewing distances, the image actually looks a little softer to me. So... your mileage may vary, but for me, it's not worth the $60 (since I already have two other DVD players - plus my Sony home theater lacks optical/digital audio in so I can't do 5.1 surround sound from the Toshiba either.)

[FLiPMaRC]

:cool: Very cool !!!

[namesalex]

Search up the stone museum in jamesburg. :)

thats right next to the canon service center :eek:

[te1221]

15 minutes from my house. I live in Middlesex County. :)

[jcanon701]

nice pictures

[adam75south]

peter i wish you lived around dallas so i could shoot with you.

those flower shots are freakin amazing...and the product shot.

if it wasn't for you posting that first picture, i'd have no idea how you did that. it looks just like the stuff out of magazines. is there any way to put some plexi in there and try to get the reflection look?

[24Peter]

peter i wish you lived around dallas so i could shoot with you.

Well I should be in New Jersey by the fall if you want to come visit... ;)

those flower shots are freakin amazing...and the product shot.

awww geeee... thanks :o

if it wasn't for you posting that first picture, i'd have no idea how you did that. it looks just like the stuff out of magazines. is there any way to put some plexi in there and try to get the reflection look?

Yeah, I did these with the plexi if that's what you mean:
http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showpost.php?p=292889&postcount=22 (plus I posted a bunch of other product shots with the plexiglass including some laptop shots) I get my plexigalss (acrylic actually) here: http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=24&