As a product photographer and copywriter at Adorama, I see more product shots in a day than most people see all year. That’s why when I see a great image, I celebrate it. When I see ones that could be improved, I also know why. And it’s exactly through this exposure to product photos that I have developed a real admiration for the portable, foldable studio, or as many know them, light tents. I’ve used a couple, but neither of them could hang with the OrangeMonkie Foldio and 360 Smart Turntable.
OrangeMonkie began as a startup, funded via Kickstarter, and now is a strong, economic collapsible studio. The company began with its smallest and first iteration of the studio, the Foldio1, which stood at a fun-sized 10 inches. The Foldio2 has an extra five inches of clearance, and is a bit better suited for things like shoes or clothing accessories. Finally, the 25-inch Foldio3 is quite simply the greatest thing to happen to my product photography.
The Foldio1 comes with two LED strips, which you apply to the top and bottom of the unit interior via the adhesive strips on each, and has, as the other two units do, a set of backdrops that click right onto the mini studio. Backdrops come in white, black, grey, and chroma-key green, allowing you to fully play around with your images in post-production. The Foldio2 was similar in build and setup: attach your backdrops, use the magnets on the sides to snap the structure into place, and plug your adapter into the wall to fire up the LEDs.
The Foldio3, however, is the king of portable studios, and flexes its foldable muscles with pre-installed LED lights, a remote to control brightness instead of the dimmer on the top of the LEDs on the 1 and 2, and perhaps best yet, features multiple Velcro spots for simple application of the backdrop.
I shot a few simple test photos with my Panasonic Lumix G9 and 14-140mm lens in a naturally lit room with no additional bells or whistles. This light tent — and portable, foldable studio — is just beyond cool. You won’t need a huge, expensive space, with a cyc wall and dressing rooms if you’re shooting product photos for your website. You’ll need strong LEDs, backdrops, and just enough space to get the shot. OrangeMonkie has created that very unit, saving product photographers and small business owners time and money securing space for their e-commerce business. This studio does it all, at a budget-friendly price, but the best feature is without question the Foldio360 10-inch Smart Turntable. Plug it in, download the Foldio360 app, and get ready to exclaim a happy “whoa!“. Then, it’s time to get to work.
The Foldio360 App connects with your Foldio360 Smart Turntable and is made to simplify your workflow, even allowing you to shoot those beautifully lit photos with your phone, if you feel so inclined. With several different functions clearly laid out on an intuitive user interface, you can hold left to slowly spin your product to the left, right for slow rotation to the right, and the option to record in single shot, video, or a 360-degree image that captures absolutely every angle. The studio itself is so wonderfully designed, it’s no surprise the company took the time to hit a serious home run with the 360 turntable.
Overall, the entire system is brilliantly designed with magnets that hold it together, you can shoot from any angle and set your studio up however you’d like, and the app is a piece of cake.
The most important thing about this product is quite simple: how do the photos look? In a word: Stunning.
The lights are powerful, the Foldio360 is tiny and awesome at just 10 inches, it’s compatible with any of the three studio units in the Foldio series, and the images you create are going to be site-ready.
All of the Foldio Foldable Studios and the Foldio360 Turntable are available below at Adorama.com
