US31LED Professional Tabletop Lightbox Photo Studio Kit with LED Lighting for Product Photography

I purchased this kit in order to take product photography for my ecommerce website. Before I get into the review, I did want to mention that the first one that arrived from Amazon was damaged in shipping. Amazon took care of it of course, but, the way that these are packed makes the white plastic background susceptible to damage if the box is crushed vertically in any way. Mine was cracked and bent in multiple locations. That said, the second one arrived and it was perfect - so, I just wanted to mention this. I am not including this information in my star rating at all.On to the product itself. The background is what really makes this product awesome - it is SO much better than trying to use white posterboard (which dirties quickly) or other backdrops which have inconsistent results. It appears as though it will be super easy to clean, and it does provide a nearly perfect white background for product photography.As for the lighting - well, as other reviewers mentioned, the included lights (the MS32 comes with 2 of them) are quite weak. I read the reviews so I purchased 2 additional MyStudio lights - and they really make a difference. With my camera set to overexpose about 1/2 of a stop, I can get really natural white color out of the set up. My suggestion is - count on purchasing more lighting if you want to use this without doing a lot of post production work.Because I feel the setup is incomplete without additional lighting, I'm knocking a star. If MyStudio would include additional lights as part of this product, it would be a 5 star product; even if the price reflected it. If I had purchased just this kit, I would have been disappointed immediately.As for the other construction of the product, yes, it isn't super heavy duty, but, it wipes the floor with all those pop up tents and stuff like that. If you keep your setup permanent (I set mine up in a 52" x 52" closet under a stairwell), I don't think the flimsy construction is a problem. If you're planning to set it up, and tear it down a couple times a week, I think you'll be disappointed in the construction.All in all, with a little help from some more lighting, this is a great product and I would definitely recommend it.

This product does the job it was designed for very, very well. That said, it was designed by photographers; with is why it works so well photographically, but is less than robust mechanically.The shortcomings are nothing awful mind you, and some components really are excellent. The cyclorama curved corner background is a simply excellent component. The 5000K lighting elements matched to the white chosen for this background is also excellent. Less excellent: - The diffusor/reflector mounted on the aluminum stand is only adequate - The stand is not particularly stable, and the reflector will vibrate or slowly waver unless these motions are damped in some way - The stand will balance fairly well on its own but MUCH prefers to be clamped down - it is not simple to assemble, but careful and thoughtful assembly will produce the correct result - the lighting element fixtures are finicky and easy to damage when removing the diffusor lenses - the fixtures are bolted to the aluminum frame, but tighten those bolts more than minimally necessary to hold it, and you will bow the body of the lighting fixture.Finally, due to the size of the area illuminated, this product greatly benefits from the paired additional lighting elements sold separately. Not absolutely essential depending on your needs. I found them essential.All this can be managed, and forgiven, because when it is all together (and improved as you see fit and need :) it works just as it should. I would buy it again, and recommend.

Caveat: I'm not referring to taking eBay product photos in my review. Rather, I'm focusing my comments on taking product photos for high end websites selling expensive merchandise.This is a great kit, but I also purchased the $150 accessory 2 x 5000k light kit, and the extra lights make a big difference for my use, which is shooting clear glass perfume bottles and intricate crystal pieces.The extra lights can be used to vastly improve the results you get by using the front-only lighting that comes with this setup. They can be used for both side and back lighting, both of which are important in better defining glass edges and enhancing details. Your pic will "pop" much better with the two extra lights, although you'll still have to play around a lot to get comfortable with the setup and begin taking useful stats. I usually take at least 100 photos to yield one or two usable product images.For jewelry, but especially for diamonds, you should purchase and use the metal halide/tungsten halogen bulbs which are used as overhead lights in high end jewelry stores. Fortunately, I don't need them for my purposes.In general, if you are taking photos of products with a lot of intricate detail, or of high end products, you should not expect to be able to use your cell phone's camera to take great photos that can be used on a higher quality website. For this purpose, you'll likely need to use a good DSLR camera, or even better.