Wal Mart Tent & Lights, not very light

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tmhawk

tmhawk

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
146
Location
Gilbert, AZ, USA.
Hello Turners,
I got the Walmart light tent kit. The tent and mini tri-pod are way cool. I don't think the little lights give off very much light. Might be my camera. I can't set the f-stops on my digital and it's shooting at about 4.8. I had to pull the lights from the sides of the tent to the front to get the gloss on one of my stoppers. It was very dull with the light shinning through the side of the tent. Are there brighter light bulbs available for this light kit?
Thanks,
Tony
 
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What is the total wattage of the lights? I have the equivalent of about 300w from three lights, 26 or 27w CFL bulbs in cheapy reflectors from HD.
 
Hi Paul,
That is correct there are two round tabs that are T shaped from the side. The current lights are 20 watt. I'll go look for the 50 W and see if that helps. Can you mix a CFL (5500K) light with these lights? I've got a CFL that I could put up on top of the tent and aim straight down.
Thanks,
Tony
 
Hi Gerry,
Two 20 watt bulbs. I'm not sure what type they are, doesn't say on the kit or the bulb. 40 watts is not much light. I've got one CFL that is 100 watt equivalent, it's a 5500 K. Not sure if mixing these lights is confusing things.
Thanks,
Tony
 
The lights sound like they are halogen, but I could be wrong. Halogen bulbs produce a tremendous amount of heat for the wattage. I would forget the bulbs and use 26w CFLs that are 5500K. I prefer three bulbs but some people use two.
 
I also got this recently. Mine came with two 35W halogens, with a bluish colored filter built into the front of them. This was supposed to give "daylight" color balance, but I found I had to use the tungsten balance on the camera. It gave fair results, but was really dim. I had to do some photoshopping to lighten the pics up enough, and to do the color correction with the grey card.
It worked OK for the pens - I am not sure what results I will get for bowls, since it does not seem to give much area coverage.
 
It would appear that they are very inconsistent with the lights they include, one person gets 20W bulbs and someone else gets 35W. Pretty poor IMO.

As far as spending a lot of time increasing the brightness of the photo, just increase the exposure time. It's a lot easier to get it right in the camera and spend less time fiddling in Photoshop or whatever you use.
 
I looked for light tents for a while and after some research I went with this one. I know the price was much more than a few others so I said I could send it back if it did not do what a friend said about his. The light look very odd and I did not think the two light were bright enough but they were. Lights are 45 watt 5500K CFL bulbs and this is the link.
http://alzodigital.com/online_store/alzo_100_tent_kits.htm [ATTACH=full]274226[/ATTACH]
 
I bought mine for $44.50. If you can get one for $22 I'd say go for it. They are $99 at Ritz Camera (Camera chain here in AZ and CO). I replaced the 20 watt lights it came with. 50 W from HD, same type plug in, the replacements are tungsten.
 
I have 3 Walmarts in driving distance and my regular stroll takes me through the photo department. I never have seen a photo tent kit in the local 3. You guys are lucky if you can get it for $22.00.
 
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