Umbrella + Light Stand from ebay?

Davor · Mar 9, 2011

Ok so i got a few questions as im not sure about a few things.

So my local store Henry's sells the "Opus Umbrella kit" which comes with 46" Convertible Umbrella. and a 7' light stand for about $134 which comes out to $152

This is pretty expensive to me considering its such basic stuff.

on Ebay they don't have the same brand but i found this, not sure how cheap the quality would be and if anyone ever ordered of ebay before.

New Stobie Photo Studio Umbrella Flash Metal Mount Kit on eBay.ca (item 300532863257 end time 13-Mar-11 19:11:17 EDT)

or even this

Photo Studio Umbrella Light Lighting kit LV38 on eBay.ca (item 250782527430 end time 09-Mar-11 20:06:51 EST)

As a side option, if someone knows of a great website that ships to Canada ill take on that too.

RockstarPhotography · Mar 9, 2011

looks like the second one is for continuos lighting so you would still need to buy an adapter for speedlights. First one looks ok, i've never used one though so I don't know what the build quality would be.

benhasajeep · Mar 9, 2011

If your not going to put on a heavy monolight and a big box light modifier. Ebay stands will suit you just fine. I actually bought a box of 10 7' stands not too long ago. I still use Nikon Speedlights for my onlocation pictures. And they work just fine. The only thing you need to watch is the spread of the legs. The brand name stands will normally give you the specs on the leg spread. Ebay stands may or may not. The importance of leg spread is for stability. The wider the spread the more stable the stand will be. Most of the stuff on Ebay is copies of brand name stuff. So most is pretty decent.

But for my monolights, I have Manfrotto stands that I bought locally. I wanted to see what I was getting to ensure they had a quality build. But for flash / umbrela or small light box use. I think the Ebay stands will be just fine. I don't beat my equipment but they are not babied either. And the Ebay stands are holding up just fine. Probably 7 years is my oldest set.