Lighting stands

clairewadey

clairewadey

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Sorry for asking but I'm struggling to find threads relevant to light stands only when I search the forum.

I'm just about to buy a Lencarta Smartflash with standard reflector from Ebay. I was going to go for one of the cheapo 3 light kits but decided against it. However, I'm still on a tight budget when it comes to buying a stand and I'm looking to save money where possible.

I'm just wondering if anyone has an experience of the cheaper stands available on Ebay? I can get 2 for the price of 1 lencarta stand. Are different brands usually interchangeable?
 
We are actually looking at doing a shoulder-to-shoulder comparison on this in our blog. Light stands often look the same on screen, but if you have the two next to each other, you'll immediately notice the Lencarta one is nearly all-metal construction and at least 50% thicker throughout, goes much higher up and is damped for sudden drops. The disadvantage to this is of course Lencarta general purpose stands are heavier than the standard issues on eBay. ;)

I'm sure others could confirm this. eBay items sell on price, often to complete beginners, so sellers buy the cheapest they can get anywhere. It's basically what you get is what you pay for.

Hope this helps.
 
My experience and opinion with light stands is as follows:

Cheap £10 job on eBay, with a flashgun on top, and a umbrella for use in little or no wind, winner.

Cheap £10 jobs for taking outright painting using a flashgun and no modifiers, winner

Cheap £10 job with a studio flash, fail. To heavy, not enough stability.

In essence, £10 jobs have there place, but not with a studio flash.. And certainly not studio flash + modifier

Lencarta stands are strong, at least double the thickness and have a much bigger surface spread and are super stable
 
Last edited:
stokes said:
My experience and opinion with light stands is as follows:

Cheap £10 job on eBay, with a flashgun on top, and a umbrella for use in little or no wind, winner.

Cheap £10 jobs for taking outright painting using a flashgun and no modifiers, winner

Cheap £10 job with a studio flash, fail. To heavy, not enough stability.

In essence, £10 jobs have there place, but not with a studio flash.. And certainly not studio flash + modifier
Click to expand...

+1 Konig stands for speedlights with no modifiers

For everything else air\spring damped with a top height ~0.5m more than your maximum required height.

I'm happy with the air damped stand I got from CotswoldPhoto, although it hasn't been abused.
 
Thanks Lencarta, it is really hard to see the differences between stands when just looking at a photo online.

Just out of interest, why is it that a smartflash +reflector is cheaper on Ebay (£116.99) than on your own website (£119.98)? I know it's only a few quid but every little helps! Might have been less tempted to look elsewhere for a stand as well!
 
Sorry just realised I took so long to write that reply to Lencarta that there have been two more replies since. Thanks very much for your help, I think I will just bite the bullet and get a Lencarta stand as well then as I'm planning to use modifiers (just have an umbrella so far).
 
clairewadey said:
Sorry just realised I took so long to write that reply to Lencarta that there have been two more replies since. Thanks very much for your help, I think I will just bite the bullet and get a Lencarta stand as well then as I'm planning to use modifiers (just have an umbrella so far).
Click to expand...

I've got both the cheap light stands and lencarta ones. You might as well only buy once and just pay for the lencarta. Excellent quality, you won't need to buy twice.
 
clairewadey said:
Thanks Lencarta, it is really hard to see the differences between stands when just looking at a photo online.

Just out of interest, why is it that a smartflash +reflector is cheaper on Ebay (£116.99) than on your own website (£119.98)? I know it's only a few quid but every little helps! Might have been less tempted to look elsewhere for a stand as well!
Click to expand...

Ah... it's a special offer, grab it before we correct it. ;)
 
I have cheap ebay stands, they are sturdy and do the job very well.

I also have Lencarta stands, there is quite a big difference in overall quality, Lencarta stands are much thicker and much more sturdy.

The cheap ones I have do the job fine, but the Lencarta ones will out-last them easily
 
The main single factor that gives a stand stability is the spread of the legs. Not the weight or thickness of the tubes, or anything much else. Just the spread - but hardly any manufacturers quote that dimension.

It's true that generally the bigger and heavier stands have a bigger footprint, but it doesn't necessarily follow.
 
I was after a 13" stand and decided to go with this one (Linky) and although by far not the cheapest it is rock solid and the 'air' system knocks spots of the Interfit air stands I have.

The auto/open close legs are a great idea but sometimes a pain when using a large softbox on it, just thought i would add that in in case anyone buys one and blames me for not warning them :)
 
These fall into the buy-once-and-forget studio category:
Manfrotto roller stands - 231CS or a similar copy.
C/grip-stands (with casters) are also great.

I think Calumet sells affordable versions of both.
 
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