My cool new tabletop photography toy

[Mike Buckley]

I came upon this Energizer flashlight in the hardware store (Home Depot) and didn't realize how cool it is until I got home and took it out of the package. It's small enough to be handheld like any flashlight but it's also devised to stand on its own. The pair of legs can be adjusted in a wide range of settings including a much more horizontal position than shown below. When hand holding or storing the flashlight, the legs fold up inside the handle. The light at the end swivels in a range of almost 90 degrees. That light and the long light in the handle can be dimmed. The light in the handle is not lit in the photo shown below.

I used this flashlight in a standing position to cast the lower light in this photo.

I made these two photos very quickly just to show a very practical devise for use with tabletop photography, so please don't take the time to critique the quality of the photography.

EDIT: The manufacturer's web page

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[DanK]

interesting. thanks for passing it on

[Val Mansfield]

I want one!

[Bobobird]

Cool...
I want two.

But seriously - is the light emission correctly rated in photo terms ie kelvin? Though your photos do not show any weird colour casts a "bad" light will not play well. Fixing the issues may be more trouble then the convenience of the portable lights.

Thoughts?

[Mike Buckley]

Bobo is correct that the light source has to be used judiciously. There is no Kelvin rating, at least not on the packaging.

When making my only photo with this flashlight (the link to that photo is in my first post), I also used another flashlight and both devices used LED techonology. The color cast of the two flashlights were slightly different and easy to fix during post-processing.

On a related note, I am almost always very impressed with my camera's Auto White Balance capability. Not so when making that photograph. The results were very different than when using a WhiBal card in the scene to determine white balance.

Having said all of that, I don't do documentary tabletop photography, so exact reproduction of colors in the scene is not important to me. I can even imagine intentionally using a flashlight at the same time as a device that emits light of a different Kelvin temperature because of the difference, though I'm not creative enough to do that on a regular basis.

[Bobobird]

That last para is what it is all about. Go for it...

[Bobobird]

Just a note though - there are flashlights and LED lights that are temperature rated to photography standards. I have a flashlight that is "daylight" rated but no as handy as the one you showed.

I am going to Home Depot for something tomorrow so might just pick up some just for fun.

[Mike Buckley]

I added a link in the first post to the manufacturer's web page. This device could be so handy that Amazon is sending me a second one to arrive in a couple of days.

[Bobobird]

Thanks.

Unfortunately Home Depots up here do not carry that item. I will try eBay.

[NorthernFocus]

That is a cool looking light. I can think of a lot of uses for one. Will check it out if they have them locally. Thanks for the post.

[Mike Buckley]

Unfortunately Home Depots up here do not carry that item.

The second one I bought through Amazon was a lot less expensive than Home Depot's price.