I was reading an article this morning about DSLR accessories and how a company, Zeikos is producing low cost DSLR accessories like batter grips, remotes, off-camera flashes and off camera flash cables.

The prices of these Zeikos accessories is much lower than the Nikon or Canon alternatives. I cannot attest to the quality but at that price they’re worth a buy for anyone hesitating because of the high price. Many of the prices are comparable to the Craigslist or eBay used prices on similar camera accessories used.

Cheap Zeikos dSLR Battery Grips

• Effectively doubles your shooting time
• Lithium-ion rechargeable battery in the grip or 8 AA cartridge plate
• Improves stability & has vertical firing release with lock
• Zeikos battery grips for Nikon Cameras
• Zeikos battery grips for Canon Cameras

Cheap Off Camera Cable (TTL)

• The Zeikos Off-Camera Flash Cord maintains all on-camera flash functions, including TTL, for one Speedlight used off-camera.
• Zeikos off Camera Cable for Nikon or Canon

Cheap Wireless and Wired SLR Remotes

• The Zeikos  Remote remote switch with or without a cable which replicates all functions of the camera’s shutter release button.
• Handy for taking pictures of subjects that are difficult to approach, or to minimize vibration for close-ups and time exposure.
• Zeikos cheap remotes
• Cheap Zeikos wired remotes
• Cheap Zeikos wireless remotes

Zeikos Cheap Off Camera Flash

Featuring an automatic and manual power zoom, a swivel flash head with 30, 45, 60 and 75° tilt movements, and provides 7 different power ratio levels.

• Digital LCD Display
• Cheap Flash for Canon EOS Cameras
• More Zeikos Flashes

Came across this great article from Terry White today When I don’t have a photographic assistant via the Imaging Insider.

The LastoLite TriGrip comes in a number of different flavors. There’s are the 18″, 30″, 48″ and the jumbo 58″ sizes. My personal opinion is don’t waste your time or money with an 18″ reflector. I’m going to focus on the 30″ variety because I find 30″ to be the best value. It is my Goldilocks: not too big, not too little and not too expensive for the immense amount of use it sees!

Lastolite TriGrip 30″ Reflectors and Diffusers

8-in-1 TriGrip / TriFlip Kit – $119.95

Tri Flips are ” bottle tops” for Tri Grip reflectors are sold as a set of two reversible covers that include; silver, gold, white, black, sunfire and the Designed for Digital colors of sunlite and soft silver. The best part about the TriFlip covers is that they won’t fall off and don’t need any zipping up; the TriGrip’s unique triangular shape you can slip the TriGrip into a TriFlip sleeve and pop open the TriGrip to have a very portable full spectrum reflector kit!

Buy the TriGrip/TriFlip 8-in-1 Reflector Kit at Adorama (Highly Recommended)

TriFlip Fabric Reflector Cover Set – $48.95

You can now purchase the TriFlip sleeves for your 30″ TriGrip from B&H now – this is exciting for those of us who have only had a diffuser in the past. This is a great upgrade from any 30″ TriGrip diffuser kit or a great way to keep spares of your most commonly used reflective surfaces – cause they sure wear down with excessive use – and now you don’t have to buy a whole new reflector – just the TriFlip covers!

Buy the TriGrip 30″ Fabric Reflector Cover Set at B&H

White Bounce / 2 Stop Diffuser – $69.95

A 2 stop diffuser is perfect to block harsh sun, studio light, or act as subtractor of unwanted reflected color casts from highly reflective colors and objects. It can also be used as a white fill bounce when you need to lighten up harsh shadows.

Buy the Collapsible TriGrip 1 Stop Diffuser at B&H

Sunlite/Soft Silver $58.50

The sunlite/soft silver model is a mixture of silver and gold on one side, and soft, clear light for optimum clarity on the other.
Sunlite combines 2 parts silver for each 1 part gold in it’s reflective quality. It provides a warm reflection without making your subject too glow gold. Soft silver is a 1:1 mix of white and silver to produce bright reflection that is softer than a solid silver.

Buy the Sunlite/Soft Silver TriGrip 2 Sided Collapsible Reflector at B&H

Sunfire/Silver – $69.95

The sunfire/silver model is a subtle mixture of silver and gold on one side, and crisp, clear light for optimum clarity on the other.
Sunfire provides a 1:11 mixture of silver and gold providing a very warmed reflection on one side while the solid silver site provides a very crisp, though sometimes harsh, neutral reflection on the other side.

Buy the Sunfire/Silver TriGrip 2 Sided Collapsible Reflector at B&H

Silver/White – $69.95

The silver reflective surface provides clear light for optimum clarity of light whereas the white reflective side provides a soft, pure light. These tones are perfect for portraiture and ideal for weddings to provide soft and crisp lighting options.

Buy the Silver/White TriGrip 2 Sided Collapsible Reflector at B&H

1 Stop Diffuser – $69.95

A 1 stop diffuser is perfect to lightly soften harsh sun, studio light, or act as subtle subtractor of unwanted reflected color casts from highly reflective colors and objects.

Buy the Collapsible TriGrip 1 Stop Diffuser at B&H

Gold/White – $69.95

The gold side of this reflector adds warmth and glow to your subject while the white reflective side provides a soft, pure light. These tones are perfect for portraiture and ideal for weddings to provide soft and crisp lighting options. Be aware that gold is not the most popular reflective color as it often over warms your subject often baking/tanning pale skin tones.

Buy the Gold/White TriGrip 2 Sided Collapsible Reflector at B&H

Scott Kelby TriGrip Kit – $449.95

The Lastolite Scott Kelby Location Kit is designed for the location portrait photographer who works indoors or outdoors with shoe-mount flashes. Two of the Bogen/Manfrotto clamps in this kit have swivel receptors for your shoe-mount flashes. Two other clamps are designed to hold the included Lastolite TriGrip Collapsible Diffusers on two of the light stands.
This kit includes 2 TriGrips amongst stands, clamps and circular reflectors to fit your on location reflection/diffusion needs.

Buy the Scott Kelby TriGrip Kit at B&H

My first video blog entry: setting up the background stand I purchased from Amvona.

Only took me 5 minutes to set up the system. I had no idea it would be this easy to use!

Song “All You Said” by Everyday Jones via Pod Safe Audio

Equipment Shown

• AS-V306 Background Stand – $79* usd No Longer Available
• Elite Solid Muslin (Thunder Gray) – $67* usd

Both purchased from Amvona.com. Check out my Amvona Profile.

* Prices notes are the price I paid at the date of purchase.

Similar Products from B&H

• Impact Background Support System Including Stands, 12′ 4-Section Crossbar, Bag – $99.00
• Botero MUSLIN BACKGROUND 10×12′ – Grey – $82

Photos Using Equipment

Here are some photographs I have taken using this equipment.

Transcript of Video

Terri:
Hi everyone I’m Terri this is my first video, so it’s the first time you’re ever going to see me fumbling with my words, just kidding, um it’s the first time you’ve seen men and heard me all at once. And today I just kinda wanted to show you how to set up this new background stand that I bought from Amvona.com.

Um, snap to set up, I just got it today, I got the background last week but the stand was on backorder. And it’s so easy to setup, this is actually the first time I’m going to be setting it up with the background attached too. Um, and I just think it’s really neat to watch how easy some of this photography stuff is, and think “Why am I setting up this jerry-rigged system behind me and throwin’ sheets over it and propping it up with things” when it’s not that expensive to buy a quick little stand.

No horse playing around it because it will break it’s not an expensive stand but if I’ve got people standing in front of a background, taking pictures, acting like adults this will last me plenty. So Let’s get to the time lapse video of em setting this thing up and I’ll talk to you a little bit later. Bye.

[Time Lapse Video of Setup]
[Still Frame: 5 Minutes to Setup]
[Still Frame: And Now the Tear Down]
[Time Lapse Video of Tear Down]

Terri:
So that’s it. Took me five minutes to setup, a little bit longer to tear down because folding a 10×20 background: not fun, in any ways shape or form. Um, Usually if I was really going to be shooting in a space this small all the time I would never have bought a background that big, but that’s actually a background I’m planning on using for different things.

Um, so yea. Leave me a message on the comments and let me know what you thought: good, bad, ehh… don’t ever get in front of a camera ever again, nobody likes your voice, you look like a tramp. By the way, beauty counter at Macy’s, okay, I don’t usually look like this so I apologize. Um and I guess that’s about it so thanks for reading and I hope this helps somebody somewhere! Bye!

Back in August I went on a B&H shopping spree and got myself a new tripod legs and ball head.

This was kind-of a big deal for me I went from my since I went from my old $40 Walmart Tripod that I was ashamed to use in public to my new beautiful $200 Bogen/Manfrotto tripod legs and ball head.

I looked at all the kits in my price range and unfortunately couldn’t find one with the parts I wanted so bought my legs and ball head separately.

New Equipment

Links go to the product page on B&H Photo and Video – I buy all my photo equipment from them – they rock!

• Bogen/Manfrotto 190XB Tripod Legs
• Bogen/Manfrotto 486RC2 Compact Ballhead with Rapid Connect System 2
• Kaiser Opaque 2 Axis Flash Hot Shoe Bubble Level *for good measure*

One of my favorite parts of the 190XB Tripod Legs if the low profile feature. It’s super easy to use and really quick to switch to.

Low Profile on 190XB Tripod Legs

Switch to the low angle adapter

First switch to the low angle adapter by detaching it from the bottom of the center column, then pull out the center column (make sure you’ve loosened that screw before you pull), then pop in the low adapter and tighten the screw again. Take a look at the collage below for details, custom made for you visual learners!

Switch the legs to a higher angle

Then to get the tripod low you just need to push in the leg release lever at the top of each leg and pull out the leg. You can hear it click and lock in at 25,46,66 & 88 degrees. With all the legs compacted and at 88 degrees the tripod (without ballhead) has a profile of only 3.3″. Cool huh?

Scott Kelby Recommends Similar Equipment!

In his book, The Digital Photography Book , Scott Kelby recommends similar equipment. Well actually he recommends the older versions of this equipment as his “budget” picks on pages 8 and 9 but B&H refers you to these items…the updated gear!