Foldio 2 vs Litebox Vs Elviros light boxes

KillerQ

Hey All,

I'm looking for a small, 15" to 24"-ish LED lightbox for shooting small items. My goal is to be able to create totally white background with no seams or shadows.

I was researching the hell out of the Foldio2 and that seemed great - but then I started looking into the LiteBox (on Amazon) as well as the Elviros (also on Amazon).

Does anyone have any opinions on any of these - any glaring advantages to any of them?

I'll be primarily using my iPhone 7+ and I also have a Nikon D90.

Thanks a ton in advance,

Matt!

ziggy53

For B&W photography, I suppose that any of these can be made to work.

ziggy53

To explain further, these cheap LED strings do not have good color purity because they lack a continuous spectrum. Some colors will appear horrible in the camera.

My first recommendation is to use compact electronic flash to illuminate the subject. Most modern electronic flash "do" have a continuous color spectrum and will yield good color. (Am not sure how to trigger electronic flash from a cell phone, however.)

Using a cell phone you probably do need to use a continuous light source (as in "continuous running"). Normally I would recommend "hot" lights, tungsten, HMI, etc. On a budget, an LED light with a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of at least 95 will get you better results than those you mentioned. To that end I recommend you build your own kit. As a suggestion:

Budget product light tent kit

StudioPRO Product Photography Softbox 24" Light Tent Softbox Cube
https://www.amazon.com/StudioPRO-Light-Tent-Box-Carrying/dp/B00FSFAR64
Price: $29.95
This light tent gets pretty good reviews and allows external lighting from pretty much any direction, which is important. Build quality is not paramount at this price range so don't expect longevity/durability. Best if you expect to patch the thing from time-to-time and if you can leave it up most of the time.
Note: This is their 24" Light Tent, and it's not 24" x 24". They use an odd method for measuring, so order one or two sizes larger than the physical cube size you need.

Fulight Full-Spectrum A19 LED Light Bulbs- 12W (100W Equivalent), Daylight White 6000K, E27 Medium Base
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N27KO4W/ref=s9_acsd_hps_bw_c_x_2_w
Sale: $14.98 (need 2)
These get good reviews but they are not from a brand I'm familiar with. Rated CRI 95 only in their footnotes I am unsure of their true quality.

SYLVANIA 78904 LED20PAR38/DIM/P/927/WSP12 LED Flood lamp Par38, 20 Watt, 2700K, 95 Cri, Medium Base, 120 Volt, Dimmable
https://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-78904-LED20PAR38-Medium-Dimmable/dp/B01GS5XUFM
Price: $20.00 (need 2)
A bit more than the above but SYLVANIA is a pretty good brand for lighting and I have more faith in them. I have used SYLVANIA daylight fluorescent tubes (with a high-frequency ballast) in the past for both still photography and video and got good results.

Simple Deluxe HIWKLTCLAMPLIGHTM Clamp Lamp Light w/ 8.5-Inch Reflector, 150-Watt, 6-Foot Cord, UL Listed
https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Deluxe-HIWKLTCLAMPLIGHTM-8-5-Inch-Reflector/dp/B01E9IY6US
Sale: $8.99 (need 2)
You can probably source these locally, from a lumber yard or farm retailer/wholesaler. If you use these just clamp them onto what's available, or build some wooden supports or stick-in-a-pail supports. You may have to remove the reflector for larger bulbs, or get a socket extender.

Instead of the clamp lights, you can also go with a more advanced support system as in the following items:

LimoStudio 2 Pcs Photography Studio AC Socket Light Stand Mount Umbrella Holder, AGG886
https://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Studio-Umbrella-AGG886/dp/B008CJ2OR8
Price: $9.99 (need 2)
These get good reviews but I haven't used them personally.

CowboyStudio Set of Two 7 feet Photography Light Stands with Cases
https://www.amazon.com/CowboyStudio-Photography-Light-Stands-Cases/dp/B001WB02Z4
Price: $28.41 (for 2)
These get good reviews but I haven't used them personally.

Wrap-up

The above are not ideal but probably a major improvement over the kits you mentioned, and the light tent allows for upgrading the system as you can, with an electronic flash system and a proper camera and lens to flash them. (Your Nikon D90 might be OK for the camera but then you need a decent true macro lens as well. Then I recommend adding a radio wireless trigger/slave set and a few compact flashes with flash modifiers. All in good time.)

KillerQ

@ziggy53, thank you so much for the detailed write-up. I'll check all of that out !