Lightcase is a pop-up photo studio. It enables us to take professional-looking photos of small objects. And when not in use, we can fold it completely flat. This product was a Kickstarter project funded on 7 May 2014. We can use it to take photos from the front, or from above. There are three choices of backdrop: black, white and semi-transparent.
In its Kickstarter project, this product promised that when folded, this case will take the size of A4/US letter folder, and it delivers. The catch is… they did not say anything about the size of those backdrops. Yep, while the “case” itself can be folded into A4 size, the backdrops are twice the size. As result, it still need a large area to store it.
Assembling Lightcase is reasonably easy. I commend that they make efforts to put the assembly guide clearly in two locations: in the packaging, and as a separate piece of the product. There is a separate piece, built from the same material as the Lightcase itself, with clear assembly instruction. It’s very handy because it always stays with the product.
Setting up the case usually takes me around a minute. It’s not difficult, but it’s not very practical either. Some parts need to be folded manually to produce the “locking” mechanism, and it makes me a bit worried about the durability of this product. We shall see about this.
When it was a Kickstarter project, early backers including myself got this nice tool for a good price of 22 GBP. Now they sell it for 34 GBP. I bought this because obviously this will be useful for this blog as I frequently need to take photos of small objects being reviewed.
After using this product few times, I realized one downside. The surface of the material is slippery, so I can’t put any object leaning 45 degrees to the back side. It will slide down immediately. So far I haven’t found a workaround on this.
Overall, it’s a quite decent product. I will definitely use this a lot. So hopefully it’s durable and will survive reasonable product lifetime.
Update: Lightcase social media team just contacted me and explained that “the material becomes stronger the more you bend it because of the molecular structure”. If this is true, then I shouldn’t worry about its durability, but again… we shall see.
“After using this product few times, I realized one downside. The surface of the material is slippery, so I can’t put any object leaning 45 degrees to the back side. It will slide down immediately. So far I haven’t found a workaround on this”
One of the solution is : use a bit of bluetack to the product you want to take picture of.