LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

One of my favorite YouTube channels is called Tabletop Minions.  The host of the channel is Adam Loper, who goes by the handle "Atom Smasher" or "Uncle Atom".  He's a lot like me - a handsome, bespectacled, bearded gamer in his 40s, with a family and other real-life obligations, who finds relaxation in this hobby.

I like the channel because Atom is very sensible, down-to-earth and laid back.  He has a good tone and doesn't feel the need to annoy viewers by acting like an ass.  Most of his vlogs focus on ways that the common gamer can get more enjoyment out of this hobby.

One of the videos that really grabbed me was the one on light boxes.  As you may have seen in my previous posts, I have a lightbox (called the "LimoStudio") that I am not really satisfied with.  Atom mentioned a product called the Foldio (by a Korean company called OrangeMonkie).  This nifty little invention is a foldable light box that's small enough to stow in your bag if you want to take pictures on the go.  It's a good size for a 5-man squad of miniatures (or more if you set them up properly).  It is too small for anything bigger than a Rhino transport, but for smaller subjects it is fantastic.

It sort of reminds me of a takeout box in the way it assembles:

And it comes in two models: One with a single LED sttrip and another with two (additional LED strips sold separately if you wish to upgrade).  I paid $60 plus shipping for mine on eBay.

The strips are powered by a 9-volt battery each, and because LEDs use so little power, I expect that battery life will not be an issue (especially as you disconnect them when not actively using the box).

My Foldio arrived today and I wasted no time unpacking it and getting it ready to use!  Here is the first shot, taken with the single LED strip before I installed the second.  It's a bit off-center but I think you can see how much better my Deathwing squad looks in comparison to the banner at the top of the page (which was taken in my LimoStudio):

I got a few shots of some of my Wolf Guard Terminators from my Space Wolves army.  All of the shots were taken with my HTC One M7 cell phone camera, mostly on "torch flash" which is a constant frontal illumination from the phone's flash.

I tried the camera in standard flash mode to see if it improved the quality of the shot, but I am not certain.  Here are the same models with torch flash and with standard flash:

 

Either way, this little light box has a lot of potential!  It comes with three different backdrops (black, grey and white) and of course you can print out different backdrops on sites devoted to miniature photography.

The next step for me will be to acquire a decent digital camera.  I'm not looking for an expensive model - something under $200 USD, the ability to specify white balance is a must, and it needs to be as portable as the Foldio (since aside from miniature photography, I want to be able to keep it in my pocket for regular photos too!).  More on that in an upcoming post.

Now that I have a good light box, I expect to add more photos to this blog, which has been, up to now, more text-heavy and lean on the pics.  Thanks, as always, for reading!