CowboyStudio 40 inch Black and Silver Photo Studio Reflective Umbrella

As a studio umbrella it's well suited for bouncing relatively unmodified light.If you take it on the road you may end up coming back home with a lighter load.In order to make the umbrella affordable they sacrificed on the sorts of details that allow equipment to take a beating and survive. The first issue for me has been the plastic tips that hold the umbrella taut across the frame. Just a single fall and a broken tip results in an unusable piece of equipment that sprays light inconsistently and all over the place. You can jerry rig a solution with rubberbands, thread and glue, but you shouldn't have to.The second major issue is the stitching and reinforcements. It's all single stitched, so if a single thread breaks you get to watch the whole thing unravel over the course of a few days as the pressure that keeps the material stretched overcomes the holding power of the loose thread.Last, the metal frame is attached to the fabric by a single thread wrapped a few times and then tied off. If you're outdoors and have this set up in the wind - and well enough braced so that it won't fall over in a gust - a strong breeze can pop the attachments off. It doesn't seem like a big deal until you've opened and closed the umbrella a few times and had it stored in the bag. Without the connection between frame and fabric it gets pinned in places it shouldn't be and wears through.I do recommend this for permanent studios that are careful with their equipment and leave their lighting rigs in place and safely out of the way of anyone clumsy. For everyone else? Well, it's cheap, and replacements can be on your doorstep in a few days when it breaks. It's got the ability to get you through a dozen or so outdoor shoots, but beyond that my experience has shown it's going to be mostly twine and glue unless you've got someone on umbrella duty to keep it safe.

I have been making photographs for over 60 years since I first received my Brownie Hawkeye camera as a gift for my seventh birthday, but never considered myself more that an enthusiast. I keep abreast of modern advancements and although not a digital native, have migrated to that format and enjoy top of the line photo equipment with digital SLR of finest quality. I like to be the limiting link in my productive chain, not my equipment.There are times when only studio lighting will do for the ideal photo shoot and rentals are always a hassle. There is where this little studio, the Cowboy Studio and all its products comes into play. I have many of the line and all have been satisfactory and highly usable.These are fine products for the advanced amateur photographer. I am sure one needs nothing more to produce a fine photo shoot be it a table top or a more formal studio type of shoot. These are fine products, easy to setup, use, take down and store. They are inexpensive but do the job for the occasional user. I doubt they would hold up under heavy daily use, but for one such as I they are superbly useful. My wife often complains about photo equipment that I purchase, but this little set, she says was a good purchase. Need one say more?

Updated Feedback 5/2014,Okay, so I got a comment asking about the seller, looked at my past invoices an the low quality one was sold by a company called ACM Global, the original one (the good one) was sold and fulfilled by amazon. Check this before you buy this umbrella, you will want to purchase the amazon one.My original review:I purchased two of these umbrella's and I purchased them about 8 months apart. The first umbrella I bought about 8 months ago was very high quality and was almost completely opaque with virtually no light escaping the back of the umbrella when the flash lit up, the reflective material was uniform and did not peel off when opening the umbrella, the overall quality of the umbrella was very high.Fast forward to earlier this month, I needed another umbrella so I just ordered another one figuring I would receive the same umbrella, I did not recieve the same umbrella. It's the same color and size, but the built quality is horrible. The reflective material peeled off of the fabric the first time I opened the umbrella, the umbrella is semi transparent as well and much more light escapes from the back. The quality of the metal is thinner and weaker. I'm not sure where cowboy studio purchases their umbrellas to resell, but they had better go back to the old vendor because these new umbrellas are bad. I doubt this new one will last more than a half dozen shoots before the reflective material is falling to the ground.

Great product does the job and price is great

I just unpacked the umbrellas and I was pleasantly surprised. The picture on Amazon shows an umbrella with eight ribs. The two that I received each have sixteen ribs made of fiberglass! This means that they have a much smoother curve and should throw a smoother light. The fiberglass is very strong and keeps the weight down. The material and workmanship is a level above what I expected.I had been considering going with a much more expensive parabolic system, and had been looking carefully at their design. Surprisingly, this appears to be a very close clone (in a smaller diameter) of the Westcott parabolic umbrella.Nearly everything is made in China these days, so the usual cautions apply: If you get a good one, it is good, however you never know which factory any particular batch of product comes from. The two that I received are excellent quality, sixteen fiberglass ribs and a metal shaft. The exposed ends of the ribs each have a rounded metal tip that provides an anchor point for the fabric and also prevents harsh edges from the fiberglass ribs. Very smooth and classy. I have not spent any time with these yet, but they give the feeling of something that will last.