Studio And Workroom With Promaster

If you are wondering about the term 'workroom', you may be more comfortable substituting 'office' or 'hobby room'. Or in the most realistic case 'edge of the kitchen table that doesn't have tomato sauce on it'. You'll see what I mean later.

The items from the Promaster catalog that caught the eye this morning are the SystemPro Background Light Stand, the SystemPro Backdrop clips, and the DigiTrim rotary trimmer.

The light stand is dinky, but well-built. It stands 22cm collapsed and 40cm fully extended. The top has a standard 1/2" spigot for studio flash heads. I should say it would mount my Elinchrom 500 watt monolights easily - and anything lighter. It is just perfect for illumination behind a sitter or a pile of products, either for a low rim support or a backdrop illumination. I can honestly see it equipped with a spigot and hot shoe as a strobist stand. Low, perhaps, but so tiny as to be packable into ANY gadget bag.

The backdrop clips remind me of shower curtain rings - but they have the added pieces that slot together to capture material for hanging. This means a trip to Spotlight or Textile Traders to get some big muslin sheeting and you just clip 10 of these along the top for a quick studio backdrop. If you are no good with a sewing machine it means you do not have to try to hem something. It would also be possible to get these clips to capture plastic material - perhaps even paper if you did not have a core to your backdrop paper roll.

The rotary trimmer is ideal for splitting and trimming prints from your inkjet printer. The trimmers come in 12" and 17" sizes ( note to younger readers - inches are a mysterious magic that you will be initiated in when you are old enough. Remember that real photographers always measure prints in inches. When you become a real grand master icon human treasure poobah, you get to show your photographs as cabinet cards and cartes de visite...).

Where was I? Oh, yes, the trimmer. Metal base, rotary blade, guard strip over the paper - all the usual features. The really nice thing about this is the cutting edge of the metal tray is set at 90º to the side panel - you can accurately set your print over against the LH edge and then get a real right angle cut.
Don't dismiss this - it is the real crux of the matter when you are trying to make a print look good. here is nothing worse than having an inaccurate cut and having to make eyeball compensation as you trim through a stack of prints.

Now, I'm off to the Hot Rod Show next week so you won't be getting Uncle Dick blogs for ten days or so. Then you'll be getting a lot of flame paint jobs and girls in 50's dresses. Use the interval to whizz into the shop and look at the new Promaster stuff that is on the shelves. If you experience Uncle Dick withdrawal symptoms go to:

hrhoa.wordpress.com

and say something nice.

Uncle Dick