Smith-Victor CS42K 42 42" Pro-Duty Copy Stand with LED Light Kit

Filming

The camera support is made of plastic and bends under the weight of a Canon 5d, resulting in a not-vertical shot. I ended up using tensioned duct tape to hold it in place for the duration of my shoot.The design of the piece itself makes it impossible to light your subject evenly from above and below, because the arm is in the way.A terrible piece, but an order of magnitude cheaper than most of the competition.

Item arrived broken pieces. still usable still functioning but pieces were broken and missing. I am also came with no written instructions nor directions to YouTube videos with instructions.

I compared the price on several sites and all were essentially the same so I purchased from Amazon as I am a Prime member. This item is robust but there is no way the cost of materials or manufacturing process warrants a $400+ price tag. I am not sure if half the price is fair. But....it is my decision to buy and the options are not really out there.The item came well packaged in internal boxes and a large external box. I was concerned this was damaged in shipping because the external box was trashed. But everything was ok due to the internal boxes. The external box was a product box and not an Amazon shipping box. I am using this to photograph large antique documents that are too fragile for a drum scanner and too large for a flatbed scanner. I use a Panasonic GH5 with a 20mm lens. I found the 42.5 mm lens and 12 mm lens not to provide the field of view. The 20 mm lens seems perfect. The camera mounting screw has a large screw mounted on it so if your camera has the smaller tripod socket just unscrew the larger adaptor off the screw and you will find the smaller threads. This is kind of a screw on a screw and easy to miss if you are unfamiliar with this. The column is easy to raise and lower and easily holds the weight of the GH5. The column is securely mounted to the gray board. Graduations are on the board and column but I do not use them since I adjust using the camera swing viewfinder.This product works for my needs but takes a "hit" due to its ridiculous price.

Easy to set up, bright, evenly balanced white light LED panels illuminate the photo surface with easy angle variability. Copy table is comfortable size for most flat copy photography.

I bought this for camera scanning. The lights are not adjustable and do not come with a diffuser. The glare was impossible to get rid of on glossy images and glass surfaces. We were also dealing with a slight angle on the camera, and needed to do some tweaking to make sure our image came out square.

It's a nice copy stand. My only disappointment is the lighting being made of all plastic and the knobs you use to tighten feel fragile. It would be a way better product if it were not made of plastic.

Expensive for the quality.