WhiteBox Technology sent me a unit of their product photography lightbox for my review and share with my readers.
All these years, I shot my product reviews without a lightbox. I do own a proper lightbox that I bought almost a decade ago. It is the kind that is made of cloth supported by metal wires that can be folded. But I find it extremely cumbersome to deploy and use them, and find it even harder to fold it back. What’s more, these lightbox require me to set up lighting separately.
This foldable lightbox from WhiteBox Technology simplifies the setup and shooting. The package comes in a black zipper bag which fits the folded lightbox and 4 coloured backdrop – white, black, red, green.
Unfolding the box the first time takes some effort. The flaps from the sides is to be pulled out, which can be tough because the lightbox is made of pretty stiff maleable plastic. The trick is to stick your hands inside to slowly slide out the flaps. When the flaps are on the way out, the bottom of the lightbox should also slide away, then you can pull apart the lightbox.
The new version of the lightbox is fastened with large studs to ensure the lightbox stays in place securely. The older version uses magnets which may come apart when some force is applied. The studs could obstruct the flaps from sliding back into the storage position, so just be mindful of that.
The lightbox comes affixed with a row of 25 LED lights, offering immediate lighting for your shoots. It includes a micro USB cable with a power switch to control the current from the USB power source, which can be a power bank or USB power adapter.
A cutaway at the ceiling of the lightbox gives access for top-down layflat angles, which is very popular on Instagram.
The images that I get from shooting with the lightbox are good enough to put the products in a good light (pun intended). For users who want to capture product images with professional-looking results, the lightbox achieves the result without the fuss of setting cumbersome lighting or requiring large space. It definitely simplifies the process of product shoots especially for users with no experience in lighting.
This lightbox might not meet the needs of advanced photographers who know about studio lighting. Due to the numerous mini LEDs in a strip, it creates multiple bands of shadows behind the object (though not obvious to most people).
Covering the LED strips with a translucent material should eliminate the multi-shadow issue. WhiteBox Technology do sell additional LED strips, so that would allow consumers to achieve better outcomes. Even so, these LED do not support brightness adjustments, so it will be a challenge to do any lighting ratio setup. Then again, if you are very particular about the lighting, you would not be getting the WhiteBox Technology lightbox, designed for users without lighting expertise.
Verdict
This product photography lightbox by WhiteBox Technology, a Singapore company, is a very convenient solution for product shoots with clean backdrop and uniform lighting. I have always been limited to shoot my review products during the day at the window sill, messy background notwithstanding. Using the WhiteBox Technology lightbox, I can shoot even at night.
My style of shooting my review products is to shoot closeup details, or hold the product away from the surface.
The lightbox helps to produce clean uniform background with soft shadows for more dimensional effect.
2 sizes are available: 32 x 32 x 26cm at S$40, and 40 x 40 x 43cm at S$57. Order at https://lightbox.sg . Thanks WhiteBox Technology for sending this unit for my review and keep. This lightbox will help in my product shoots from now on.
2 comments
Great for small object no doubt.
This has to be one of the best tools for amateur photographers to have. I have been seeing the adds for this on various Social Media and thanks for the review because I wasn’t sure how good it was. I agree that for “home” or semi-professional use this is pretty nice and the addition of some LEDs can help with the minuscule shadow effect that is still there.