American Recorder SIB-101CS Photo Studio-in-a-Box

Kit contains everything needed to take professional studio-quality images: soft lighting diffusion box, lights (UL Listed), backgrounds, and camera stand

Soft light box: specially woven, heat-resistant, 100% nylon fiber mesh diffuser; 16" W x 16" H
Customer Review: Nice kit, weak camera stand
This is a nice, lightweight, compact light studio with one drawback: The camera stand is too weak to support a digital SLR camera, especially with a 105 mm macro lens attached. So just use your regular studio tripod and you are okay.
Customer Review: What a worthless piece of garbage.
I'm an eBay PowerSeller who received the Studio-in-a-Box as a gift from a family member. The only thing I've gained from it is horrible guilt - I didn't realize the studio was a piece of junk until it was too late for my family member to obtain a refund. I've gotten better results with several sheets of folded paper and a table lamp. First, you need an inordinate amount of space to set up all the components - about 8 feet (by 3 or 4 feet) of completely clear table space. You'll also need to move a good 6 to 8 feet back to get an in-focus shot, where you'll need another level surface to set up the tripod. In other words, you need a large dining room table (that's not in use - and, no, your kitchen counter isn't wide enough). If you live in an apartment or a small house, you simply won't have the space needed to use the studio. The lights present their own problems. They rest on tripod feet that are, in some alternate universe where American Recorder makes quality products, retractable. In this universe, however, there is no way - NO WAY - to extract the feet from their storage positions inside the lights. You're left with no choice but to balance the lights on their spindly stalks, readjusting them after they topple over every couple minutes. The lights also become inordinately hot after only seconds of use - they're too dangerous to use around small children and represent a burn and fire hazard for even a cautious user. What's more, they're so bright that they overlight your items without a gigantic space allowance between the box and the lights. (Every time I use the studio, I discover I've only a useless series of overlit blobs to show for my efforts.) Cobalt blue is a poor choice for a supposedly neutral background - it's distracting and makes the white areas of an item look utterly washed out. Despite the billing, the background is not seamless. Furthermore, its rough woven texture is all too apparent in photos, particularly those of smaller items, making everything - the photo, your item - seem cheap. Why make the backdrop so shoddy and garish? Oh, right - so they can sell you the $20 black/white add-on backdrop that should've been included in the first place. I note that most of the positive reviews come from professed professional photographers with a wide array of lenses and add-ons to compensate for adverse conditions. Now, I'm not a master photographer - but I've gotten hundreds of decent photographs for my business with supposedly cruder material and lighting. It's not me, and I am not willing to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment simply to compensate for Studio-in-a-Box's myriad of shortcomings. This studio rips off both your time and money and is not worth a second glance.

All of us really look forward to our camping trips and want them to be the best and the most memorable. However, what we fail to realize is that the success of any camping trip hinges on the efforts you put into extensive planning for it. This means that you will have to spend some long hour planning effective strategies and chiseling out other finer details of your camping vacation, so that this trip to your favorite campsite is truly a memorable and enjoyable one.

1. To ensure that you have great camping experience at the campgrounds, you need to realize the importance of not just taking care of your needs, but thinking of the other campers as well. You can show this consideration towards the other campers firstly, by disposing off your garbage. The campsite may end up with a bad reputation due to the mess you leave around while camping.

2. Also, you must take care and not run your generator and playing your television during quiet hours. If you do not take care of these small things, you may end up being shunned by the other campers. At night, especially, one must realize the importance of being quiet, when others are resting.

3. Being a nosy camper is a sure way to alienating yourself from your fellow campers. It is not considered correct to walk through other people's campsites and barge into their personal space. Especially since there are designated paths for foot traffic in the campgrounds, also driving at a high speed through the campgrounds can be extremely dangerous, especially with all the kids around.

4. Trying to wash your dirty dishes at the drinking fountain is supposed to be the biggest faux pas. Make sure that you use biodegradable soap to wash your plates in a plastic washbasin at your campsite itself.

5. Also be sure to remember to bring your own firewood or buy it from a store instead of trying to gather it from the campgrounds.

6. Many campgrounds these days have special facilities and attractions for your children and pets, but it is important to not let your children roam around the campsite without anyone to keep an eye on them. Before leaving on the camping trip, you must educate your children on the correct behavior at the campsite, which includes showing consideration and respect to fellow campers.

7. To prevent any chaos or confusion, you must also keep your pets on a leash, instead of letting them run around freely wreaking havoc on other camper's property.

In order to have a successful camping trip, you must plan out a brief outline of your itinerary, which includes any plans you may have of visiting the special attractions of that place, and tentatively when you plan to make these excursions. This itinerary should be structured and yet not so rigid that you feel totally bound.

The family should have a discussion about your camping plans before you start off. This way, every member would be in-sync with the plan and would not have any unrealistic expectations that may be shattered once they reach the campgrounds. This will also ensure that your entire family is in complete harmony and all set to enjoy a fantastic camping experience.

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