Sometimes the lure of a good deal on eBay is just too irresistible.
In my search to simplify my location lighting gear I constantly watch eBay for unique tools. Well, I have to say I found a few very unique ones this past month.
If you search “flash” on eBay you will get tens of thousands of matches. Narrow it down to Camera and Photo, then Lighting and Studio Equipment, and you are in my search area.
You will find everything from top end lighting gear to things that look like milk jugs carved up to fit on flash head. I am not kidding. Some guy (actually a very wealthy photographer) named Gary Fong makes a killing selling exactly that on eBay.
Well one day a few months ago I was snooping around this area and noticed a company in China auctioning off light modifiers for my flash. Naturally, since they were coming from China, I knew these had to be of the finest build and quality in the industry.
I placed my bid on both items. To ensure the best possible odds I even used my Gixen account. This is an eBay sniper tool. Check it out at http://www.gixen.com/ . A couple days later I get notice that I had won. I eagerly sent off my payment. Five dollars for both items, shipping included. No kidding.
Three months later the packages arrived. The customs label was marked “Studio Lighting” which must have confused the customs agents a bit. The package was a 5x7-padded envelope. Studio lighting in an envelope? I tore into the envelope revealing my new lighting tools.
Well…..the old saying you get what you pay for comes to mind here. The first one was advertised as:
Flash straight on if without our diffuser causes the light to go forward only and creates a harsh shadow behind the subject. The flash with our diffuser installed and tilted at 45 degrees gives a nice soft wrap around of light with a soft shadow behind the subject. This fits cleanly over the head of your existing flash, no need for cumbersome attachments, hooks. Try us and see the difference. It disperses the light over a wider area for a softer, more balanced and natural effect than you didn't use before.The Flash Diffuser helps to reduce hard background shadows and eliminates the annoying red eye effect.
Looked good. So I open up the package and inflate (yes inflate!) the light modifier. Here is what I now had.
Couple of problems here. One, it is so “pumped up” that the is no way it can fit on my flash head without the actual “diffuser” material (plastic” resting right on the flash lens. Not a good thing. Think 150 watts and kaboom! The other is that it took me almost five minutes to inflate!
So now I have a beach ball for my flash. The upside is if I ever drop my flash in the lake with this on it, it will float! I am not going to go into detail about the other “ Light Modifier”. Let’s just say it resembles a golf driver head protector made out of heavy vinyl. Non-inflatable though. A good thing given the spent energy on the first one.
The lesson here , of course, is that if it seems to good to be true, it likely is. The same is true with pricing in Professional Photography. If a photographer quotes a ridiculously low price, question it. The lowest price is not the best value in most cases. Corners have to be cut for the photographer to make profit. Yes, Professional Photographers do want to make a profit and live off those earning.
I have no issues with discussing my expected earnings from my work. I have children and a home to support. It should be obvious that a livable wage is expected. Along with that, the client should expect true Professionalism from me as well. This is not only in the final product, but also in how I equip myself and, how I conduct myself on the day of the event.
Plastic inflatable flash diffusers are not professional. Honestly, I don’t even think they are amateur. Cheap is cheap. Period.
