If You’re a Wedding Photographer; You’ve Got To Check Out This Video
A few weeks ago I was doing an on-location video shoot for my new book, The Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers. (This video is a special bonus feature exclusively for people who buy the book, in addition to the two new workflow chapters already in the book; one on location portrait photography and one on travel photography).
Anyway, I tried out this new piece of gear for the shoot (I’m not going to tell you what it is), and it worked so amazingly well, that I decided on the spot to do a quick little side video just to show it off.
I have no affiliation with the company whatsoever, but Larry Becker (NAPP Exec Director) was with me and let me know that NAPP members get a $10 discount on it, so then I had to do the video. It’s only 1 minute, 47 seconds long, so if you’re a Wedding photographer, you’ve got to watch that video up above.
By the way, here’s the link, to the product I’m demoing (ya know, just in case). 
aha! now i know why larry mentioned this in the NAPP site - “larry and scott love theirs”… I looked back at the previous lighting posts and the kwik stands weren’t mentioned
Those look pretty cool indeed!
I couldn’t find the price anywhere on their site, without adding it to the cart, so just to save others from what I just went through, the stand sells for $75 at one of their retailers (Arlington Camera) http://www.arlingtoncamera.com/shop/index.php?p=catalog&mode=manufacturer&mid=140
The price is $89 before NAPP discount but I can’t find if they will ship internationally, they say on the website US only which is upsetting seeing as I am based in the UK.
Does anyone know if B&H stock them?
I would also be interested to find out the dimensions (mainly length) when they are folded down.
Thanks for the tip Scott, seems every penny I make from this Photography work you show me 100 incredibly cool ways to spend money! Love it
I just dashed off an email to the vendor asking why there is no mention of the price. Thanks to Sam & Ed for passing this info on. I’m heading into Manhattan Sunday with intention of stopping by B&H on other issues Ireturning a LowePro AW2 bag that Scott raved about). I’ll ask about the stand.
I’ve used these and they’re great! The simple fold mechanism is as easy to use as Scott displays. They’re a little heavier than a normal stand, but you’ll hardly notice.
Great product!
Scott, I actually have one of these that you gave me last year (from the Photoshop User TV weekly contest). It works great. Thanks for my gift.
Cheers,
Karl-Franz
http://karlfranz.com
Someone might want to tell the company that is producing a product for photographers that it helps to have photographs that aren’t completely pixelated.
OK that’s super cool. going top check them out now. Lightstands are normally so cumbersome!
Gavin
seimeffects.com
Scott,
I bought one of these a while back and it is very handy. Makes it easier to get around objects. Seeing this reminded me I have been wanting to get another one. Now I can get a discount! Thanks
Tom
I have one of these already and love it! I use it for on-location portrait shoots, and it sure makes moving the umbrella around quick and easy. -John
Can I ask what is the word that refers to the seating area at 1:08? The “puls”?
Maverick-
Church bench seating is frequently referred to as a “pew” or “pews”
Once again another simple, effective tool which makes you think, “why didn’t anybody think of this before?”
Their website is flash-only: low-vision people are blocked utterly from it.
As are all secure-browsers.
OK, they look great, but that LOUD clank as the legs retract would scare me to death if I had to use them in during a wedding.
Don’t want to sound nasty, but while the gadget looks very useful, the company’s web site is in dire need of design makeover.
Scott, when I saw your post on these, I immediately forwarded it to a friend of mine who actually shoots weddings (Im just a wanna be) His thought was that they would be too noisy to use in a church during a service.
whats your opinion?
low-vision users can follow this link to see the video full-screen:
http://www.youtube.com/v/6lH3B5L5D6A
Scott, wrong link! Video not embeded correctly =(
Ordered one. Thanks for the heads up!
As for the noise issue, why would you be moving the light stand around during the ceremony? Seems like you’d be moving it only during the formals at the church.
For me, I hate trying to maneuver my light stand around tables at the reception. This will work awesome for that…
Hmmm,
I have a collapsible base lightstand that I got years ago… I believe it was made by Red Wing…
These are great for those event gigs where you need to move the light, but there are people everywhere- I use my Lumedyne rig on it…
Great site Scott!!
Yes Red-wing did have a Heavy-Duty Quick Stand at one point, but when they got took over by Calumet they no-longer carry the product.
This is a real shame, as Adorama carried these stands - http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?op=detailsdisc&sku=RWQSHD and they were better than these Kwik-stands. I know for a fact that Jessica Claire was looking into the manufacture / licensing of this type of technology to bring it back to photographers… Scott how about you throw some weight behind it as well?
Arlington don’t accept international orders (Texas based) and I’m not sure if the kiwk-stand website people will send one over here to Australia.
One of the few gripes Ive heard about these stands is that they aren’t very good on un-even ground - apparently sometimes they try to close themselves when they are unbalanced.
The complaints about the website can be parked (at least for now) as the URL has been parked by Godaddy. I’m guessing a huge spike in traffic.
As far as the clank. Most churches don’t allow flash during the ceremony so the clanks would only be happening during the formals at the front of the church once the ceremony is done.
I ordered one of these stands on August 1 and paid same day. Now 14 days later I haven’t received it and have sent emails to the company and left phone messages but no one replies. Carlos is correct about their Web site being down. Does anyone have the same problem after ordering the light stand?
As a follow up to my previous post. I heard from the company and the light stand arrived via USP 14 days after order with no real good communication that it had shipped.
This is a great product and I’m sure I will use it a lot.
Excellent recommendation. I am a wedding photographer in France and have always found it challenging to move my light stand around crowds. When moving it 5-6 meters I don’t generally fold it and its wide legs pop into people if I’m not careful.
this should beautifully do the trick. Now - I just need to find a place that delivers these to France!