Lastolite Hilite Not Standing Properly?

mark1616

mark1616

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I received my 8x7 hilite today and just went to set it up to make sure all was OK, nothing missing etc.

Everything is there, the only thing I'm not sure about is that it doesn't quite hold it self open as I thought it should. This might be normal but wanted to check.

All is OK apart from the top (long side in landscape orientation). Even when I put a bar across the top it will either sag/dip at the front, or if I get rid of that it will sag/dip at the back, is this normal, or should it be straight both sides. I don't think it will affect shooting in any way, but also don't want a brand new piece of kit costing £400 to have a problem.

If only I had taken a camera with me I would have posted a photo.... oops!
 
Jut check the frame isn't twisted, this can happen sometimes and you just need to untwist it by hand...brute force is the only way!

I think my 6x7 sags a little in the middle, not much.
 
It doesn't sound like a twist to me. I'm going to bet you're not putting every metal bar in the right place. As I remember the 8 x 7 has 5 bars as opposed to the 6 x 7's 4.
 
Thanks guys. I will see if there is a twist, as the black/back site stands good even without the 5th bar in (I was using all 5 ;)), but the white side drops and to keep with the 5th bar that pushes the black side down.

I will try to see if there is a twist, it might make sense being that one side is perfect and the other isn't. Will try to play again later in the day, problem is I don't have a space here to open the thing, far too big LOL.

If anyone else has any experience of similar please let me know.

Thanks,

Mark
 
Yup mine sags in the middle too matey, I use the 5th bar in the middle to prop the front up (slight crossways between front and back metal loops) as that's where you need the height.

Doesn't matter if the back is down a little as that's not seen as its usually against a wall.

Never had to use a stand or anything else, the bar in the middle works good for me.

Have you practised putting it away yet matey ? Definitely worth doing it a few times as its quite embarrassing when it takes you 20 minutes to get it in the bag with a crowd of wedding guests watching :D

The little hi-lites are easy the way that hi-lite recommends but for the biggest one its definitely easier to jam one long edge into an angle and twist it down to folded.

This video shows that method, you don't need a sofa, any angle will do, and when you have practised it a few times you don't even need an angle.

[YOUTUBE]YkCne9l3vjY[/YOUTUBE]
 
Phew, I'm glad it isn't only me then Nick :)

I managed to get it away on the 3rd try yesterday using the pringle method that I've done with other backdrops. I did spot this vid earlier online and remember seeing you do it that way so will give it a bash too. Really don't want a partly drunk crowd laughing at me.... I've got almost 2 weeks until I use it at a wedding so time to play still.

I've ordered Fotofusion, not the big one, so I can do collages, managed to get a 20% discount code so wasn't too bad and pretty much needed unless I want to waste hours doing it by hand.
 
Aye, your arms are probably big enough to use the Pringle method on the big ones :) I wouldn't say my arms are particularly short but I still find the twist method easier and quicker ..... me and Jon must have looked like we were performing a Laurel and Hardy sketch at the first wedding we used ours at.

In typical fashion we were last minute getting it so it hadn't been out of the bag before the wedding so we took our paper roll as well in case we had any issues with its first outing. Getting set-up and working was fine .... getting it back in the bag was whole different story :D

Looking at the difference between the two versions now I think for collages the extreme version would have been overkill and for £60 you can soon make that back with a couple of collage sales.
 
LOL, if only you had been videoed! The first large folding background I had was the same size as this but only single rim, it took me over 30 mins at home trying to get it back in the bag..... I watched videos, read the instructions, still wouldn't go. Then as soon as I had it worked out it went in like a charm.

Yep, unless I start doing albums then I can't see any point in the extreme, and if I need it then there is a upg so that's good by me.

I'm thinking of upgrading my CS3 to CS5.5 so that's my next big thing, I really could do with content aware and also faster processing in 64bit.
 
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