Lastolite Light Table - Complete waste of money! Has anyone used it successfully?

[Dissident]

I've just posted this review elsewhere and it just about sums up my frustration with this product :bonk::

"Don't be fooled by the 'simple to achieve' these effects pictures on Lastolite's site. If you love muddy grey backgrounds, a grey 'skyline' due to light fall off, and burnt out highlights if to try to eliminate these faults, then sign up to the pain endured in owning this rubbish.

The facts: Firstly, you will need to buy a short lighting stand before you can even use the kit - you can just about use a standard stand. Secondly you will need three lights, one with a softbox behind the tent to eliminate the 'grey' skyline which occurs due to light fall off from the light shining into the bottom reflective box. Thirdly, invest a fortune in a product lighting course because getting the balance on this product is nigh impossible without a lot of experience. Beginners should throw the hat in right now. I spend more time eliminating the grey than I do taking the image! Fourthly, calculate the combined cost of this little lot and you'd probably be better of with a couple of bulbs and a sheet of acrylic. And lastly, that picture on the Lastolite site of this item in a large studio is probably the only way you'll get anything like the results they show - so throw in the cost of a custom built studio!

Strictly for the professionals!" I'm going !

I'm using a couple of Interfit Stellar 300's - one with a reflector pointed into the bottom of the unit, and one with an umbrella pointed at the surface. As I've mentioned in the review, the product would seem to require a full height studio. I'm stuck in a unit with a restrictive ceiling, however the umbrella is at about 6 to 7 feet. I'm also pretty restricted in the length I can devote to the tent, which at the moment is about 10 feet. Am I hopelessly out of my depth with this setup?

Any help appreciated. Lighting angles, lighting settings, substitute softbox for umbrella, etc.

 

[HoppyUK]

I've just posted this review elsewhere and it just about sums up my frustration with this product :bonk::

"Don't be fooled by the 'simple to achieve' these effects pictures on Lastolite's site. If you love muddy grey backgrounds, a grey 'skyline' due to light fall off, and burnt out highlights if to try to eliminate these faults, then sign up to the pain endured in owning this rubbish.

The facts: Firstly, you will need to buy a short lighting stand before you can even use the kit - you can just about use a standard stand. Secondly you will need three lights, one with a softbox behind the tent to eliminate the 'grey' skyline which occurs due to light fall off from the light shining into the bottom reflective box. Thirdly, invest a fortune in a product lighting course because getting the balance on this product is nigh impossible without a lot of experience. Beginners should throw the hat in right now. I spend more time eliminating the grey than I do taking the image! Fourthly, calculate the combined cost of this little lot and you'd probably be better of with a couple of bulbs and a sheet of acrylic. And lastly, that picture on the Lastolite site of this item in a large studio is probably the only way you'll get anything like the results they show - so throw in the cost of a custom built studio!

Strictly for the professionals!" I'm going !

I'm using a couple of Interfit Stellar 300's - one with a reflector pointed into the bottom of the unit, and one with an umbrella pointed at the surface. As I've mentioned in the review, the product would seem to require a full height studio. I'm stuck in a unit with a restrictive ceiling, however the umbrella is at about 6 to 7 feet. I'm also pretty restricted in the length I can devote to the tent, which at the moment is about 10 feet. Am I hopelessly out of my depth with this setup?

Any help appreciated. Lighting angles, lighting settings, substitute softbox for umbrella, etc.

You mean this? http://www.lastolite.com/litetable.php

It looks okay to me. The USP with Lastolite is that their stuff packs away small, which is pretty handy with a light table as they're very combersome things.

Yes, you always need at least three lights to do it properly - one underneath, one behind, and then whatever you need for the top light/s. And you need to know what you're doing

It's a professional level product really. Welcome to TP

 

[Garry Edwards]

I haven't used this particular product and personally I don't see any advantage in having it enclosed underneath...

But Richard is right. It will work perfectly well provided that you have the lights you need and the knowledge and care that's also needed.

There is no such animal as a product that totally removes the need for care and knowledge - even light tents, which IMO are not so much a solution as a cop out, only work adequately with input from the user.

Welcome to the forum, you can learn a lot here.

 

[Dissident]

The pop away design is quite clever - nothing more than an undersized Wendy House that's available at Argos for £20. However convenient it is doesn't hide the fact that it's poorly designed. Lastolite give the mis-conception that results will be like theirs, with just two lights, as illustrated. If the item was only available through Calumet, or Robert White, it would be professional gear, marketed to professionals. But it's available all over the place, from Jacobs to Amazon!

I've just looked at the Bowens Cocoon, which I have two of in case the Lastolite solution turned out to be an abject failure, and I've noticed that they supply the lighting kit with a booklet on how to achieve results with this product. There is some information on Lastolite's site, however it doesn't illustrate ideal lighting set-ups and lighting strengths to accomplish the results they claim for their product. Okay, lots of gear doesn't come with illustrated guides, but the high price of a flimsy bit of nylon, a few plastic tubes, and a bit of perspex, should also include a guide that goes beyond putting it together. Little wonder that their excellent sounding, and highly recommended, lighting kits took such a plunge in price. Punters wanted a little more than a cardboard box with 'how to put me together' instructions. Which shows why Elinchrom D kits aimed towards beginners have been so astoundingly successful. They come with a DVD lighting guide.

So how do you use this table? It seems to fall into the 'dark arts' in terms of lighting advice. Are product photographers afraid that their business will be eaten into by small time users who require a constant stream of decent, well exposed, evenly lit, 'floating' product shots. I'm hardly a big time catalog merchant!

If you want to see how bad product photography is getting just look at Currys/Dixons internet site and the shots of their personal CD player and accessory cables. Office boy and compact camera stuff!

 

[Garry Edwards]

If I was to make critical comments about this product then I'd get flamed for doing so and accused of knocking products sold by Lencarta's competitors, but I don't care what the ill-informed say about me and that isn't the reason why I'm not critical of the Lastolite table.

The reason, as I said before, is that it only works with both the right kind of lighting and and understanding of how light works (which probably sounds better than an understanding of the physics of light). Now, you may say that they should make that clear in their blurb - but how many Companies actually give you that kind of info when they're trying to sell you a product? Does Ferrari tell you that insurance for one of their cars will cost a lot more than insurance for a Citroen C1? Do makers of office desks tell you that you'll have to pay rates on the space used by the desk? Of course not, it's obvious...

So how do you use this table? It seems to fall into the 'dark arts' in terms of lighting advice. Are product photographers afraid that their business will be eaten into by small time users who require a constant stream of decent, well exposed, evenly lit, 'floating' product shots.

Well, some product photographers may be afraid of sharing their secrets but a lot are happy to share them, including people on this forum.

Quite a few years ago, another forum started a series of Lighting Themes, the content was provided by the two moderators, both of whom are commercial photographers will a lifetime of experience. There were some critical comments by people who felt that secrets should be nurtured instead of shared, but these themes continue until just about every common problem had been addressed, and a lot of people benefited from them.

I was one of those moderators, I left the site over a matter of principle a few weeks ago and the themes that I personally produced are no longer there, but the other ones are and they will answer all of your questions. See here.

Product photography isn't getting worse, if anything it's getting better. Yes, there are always some businesses, small and large, who don't appear to value product photography - that's their loss. There are plenty of others, small and large, who do, and who are prepared to pay for it.