Senior Member Registered: April, 2014 Posts: 136
1 user found this helpful
| | Review Date: January 8, 2015 | Recommended | Price: $27.00
| Rating: 10 |
| Pros: | Fibreglass rather than metal ribs, superb build quality, low price. | | Cons: | A minor niggle is that the carrying case is a tight fit, making it hard to get the umbrella back into it. | |
The product was recommended to me by an acquaintance, who described it as being better than big name products costing between two and five times the price. Slightly sceptical, I decided to buy one and try it out. Since I bought it on eBay it would be easy enough to return it if it wasn't useful.
Well it blew me away. It really is a superb piece of equipment, and yes, it is of better build quality than big name products I've seen that cost a great deal more. The fibreglass ribs and struts are thicker than most I've seen, and as well as that there are 16 of them instead of the usual 8. This makes for really nice circular catchlights in the eyes if you're using it to shoot a portrait. As well as being lighter than metal ribs fibreglass ones are much more resistant to impacts, so when you eventually drop it you are much less likely to find it damaged. The mechanism clicks crisply into place and it feels as solid and well made as my Lastolite umbrella (which also has fibreglass ribs but only 8 of them). The fabric feels substantial but is strangely light in weight, and the silver finish is nicely reflective for when I'm using heavily gelled flashes or I want a bit of contrast in the shadows. Being a parabolic you should be able to get a good directional light out of it, though I haven't had it long enough to find the focus point yet. I'll experiment and come back and edit this review once I've tried that aspect out.
Find Hobo Lighting products on http://stores.ebay.co.uk/cotswoldphotoflashandstudio/ in the Cotswold Photo store; Hobo Lighting is their own brand. They are currently building a web site of their own but at the time of writing it is not ready.
Verdict: Cheap Chinese knock-off price, top brand name quality; yes, really.
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