Why I’m Ditching Light Stands Forever (This $150 Cart Changes Everything)
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe creator demonstrates how to build a DIY flash photography cart for approximately $150 to replace traditional light stands. By mounting a collapsible painter's pole to a shopping cart, solo photographers can easily transport gear and increase stability against wind using the cart's weight and sandbags.
You see this right here?
This $150 DIY flash photography cart
just killed the light stand.
And I'm gonna show you how you can build one for yourself.
Today's video is sponsored by Squarespace,
the all-in-one platform to build your online presence.
Now, ever since I started shooting off-camera flash,
I always thought to myself,
there had to be a better way of doing this, right?
Because lugging around these heavy lights,
camera bags, light stands, and sometimes a sandbag.
As much as I love lighting,
I would just opt to shoot natural light
because it was such a pain in the ass
to lug all of this around.
The hassle, because I don't have assistants
or people around me.
Let's be real, a lot of us are just solo creators, right?
We do things on our own.
We don't have a crew, we don't have help.
So it's a hassle.
And plus, a lot of people out there, I'm sure,
don't even get started with off-camera flash
because of the burden that it is
when you're outdoors with all this stuff, you know?
Now, photographers have been trying
to replace the light stand for a long time now.
And it's an idea that I've actually toyed with myself
for a pretty long time.
Now, look, some photographers will stick a pole
into their backpack, right?
And they'll have a, you know,
they're looking like a straight up nerdy robo-cop
with this whole thing.
And you know, I'm not gonna lie,
I actually tried this myself,
but I just didn't have the balls to go outdoors
with this contraption and softbox over my head.
I just couldn't do it.
Now, the idea that really, like, I saw some potential in
was the mobile caddy cart, right?
This is like the little golf caddy cart
converted to a little mobile light studio.
The problem with the caddy cart,
and I've had this caddy cart sitting here for years,
I've tried over time to make it work,
but I just couldn't get it to work the way I wanted to.
And there were no tutorials online.
There were just pictures of people's custom builds.
So the idea here was to mount either a boom pole
or some kind of painter's pole to this chassis, right?
Where it didn't compromise the portability of this cart
so that I could fold it and put it into my trunk.
I bought every kind of clamp possible
and I just couldn't find a nice solution.
Then I saw a photographer on Instagram recently.
He posted a video showing a shopping cart
with a painter's pole attached to it.
And I'm like, you know what?
That has some potential.
The little wheels don't look good for the city,
but that little build had some potential.
So I reached out to him and I pretty much
built a very similar build kit to that.
And I'm gonna show you exactly what you need
because so far this has been working really well.
Now let me show you what you need.
This cart is a Milwaukee shopping cart.
I got it from Home Depot.
I got it for about $90, right?
This is a painter's pole.
I got the painter's pole actually on Amazon.
You could get them at Home Depot.
I made the mistake of buying,
I bought the wrong painter's pole
and I'll tell you why later.
But I got a painter's pole that closes
or collapses down to a reasonable size.
So I wanted it to be as short as possible
when it's fully collapsed because at the end of the day,
I'm throwing it in my car assembled like this.
And I also made sure that I got the one with the metal,
with the rubber grips because I'm using the grips
as a friction point to hold it together.
I got three metal clamps for holding the painter's pole.
Then I got a Westcott painter's pole adapter.
This is about 20 bucks.
And it also has a slot here for an umbrella if you need.
Now the position of the painter's pole.
Now why did I mount it on the outside versus on the inside?
And I toyed with it a little bit.
So the reason why I mounted this on the outside
was because when I fold this cart,
it doesn't interfere with the portability.
If I were to put it on the inside,
it would interfere with how much this would collapse.
And the nice thing is when you're on location,
it leaves all of that space empty
so that you can put your camera bag,
you can put the model's stuff, right?
Whoever's on set with you,
they could put their stuff in here.
And now for probably the biggest benefit
of using a cart like this
is gonna be the resistance to the wind, right?
The weight of the cart compounded
with the 15 pound sandbag that I put in here
and whatever other gear I have on here.
Now the cart itself weighs almost 30 pounds.
And by adding my 15 pound sandbag
and maybe a camera backpack
that probably weighs around 10 pounds,
that's over 50 pounds of weight,
making sure that this light doesn't get sent into orbit.
My last shoot with the 200 millimeter,
it was super windy out
and the cart itself wasn't budging.
The modifier was all over the place,
but that was because of the painter's pole.
I chose the wrong painter's pole.
I like this one because this one
has a very convenient lever here.
So I could just push
and I can adjust it to whatever height.
I like that.
But the problem is that this one
doesn't have any rubber grips.
And so even with the two metal clamps
and this connected to here,
this thing was rocking back and forth.
And not only that,
the shortest it collapsed was four feet.
And then when you add the painter's pole adapter to it,
it's just a little too long for daily transport.
Pause.
So I purchased one that collapsed down to three feet
and one that had rubber grips on it, right?
This gave me multiple friction points
so that the pole wouldn't spin
when I was shooting on windy days.
I cut part of this top handle
and I just wrapped the pole down here
and I put another metal clamp on there.
Now this thing does not move at all.
With two, it did have the tiniest bit of give,
but now with three, I mean, rock solid.
It's rock solid, baby.
Yes, indeed.
Now, if you've been watching this
and thinking to yourself that this might be
the perfect on-location photography cart,
well, hold your horses, all right?
Because there are some potential deal breakers
that you need to know about.
But first, I need to send a shout out
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Now one of the biggest drawbacks
of using a shopping cart like this
is how it breaks down.
So it does not break down super portable.
See, I upgraded my car recently,
and I say recently, but it was last year.
I had a 2019 Golf R.
I had it slammed on bags, right?
I had a big compressor in the back here.
This would never work with that car
because it was just way too small.
There was no space.
I have a Model Y Performance now,
and even with this larger trunk,
this does not fit in the trunk
without me having to put a seat down.
So when I first bought the car,
and I didn't have this painter's pole attached to it,
it still didn't fit flush.
The wheels were still blocking the trunk from closing.
So with the painter's pole now, I have even less room.
So regardless, the seats have to come down,
and this is one of my gripes with this setup,
something that I would love to,
I would love to find something else in the future
where it could fit in a normal trunk.
It would collapse down to that size, you know?
So with even my Model Y,
I have to put one seat back, or one seat down,
and pack it up like that,
or I could just lay it flat with all the seats down.
If you're curious as to how it sits in the back seat,
well, with everything,
well, this painter's pole attachment
will block the door from closing,
but taking this off is just one screw.
It comes off, and the door will close,
and it sits nice.
That's why I'm saying, like,
make sure you get a painter's pole
that collapses down to, let's say, like three feet.
It's gonna give you a little bit more,
it's just gonna be more convenient
when transporting this thing.
One of the other flaws of using a cart like this
is that it doesn't have any kind of brake system.
So, and putting a modifier on here,
it's definitely, if the wind catches it,
it will move it around.
So I've been using, I've been super ghetto with it,
I've been using some clamps, some studio clamps,
and I just kinda pinch the wheel here,
and that prevents it from moving for the most part,
but I'm sure there's a better solution.
I'm not a handyman, but I'm sure there's a better way
to get this cart from not moving around.
So for the past, like, five, six years,
I mean, I've been using this wagon,
this Amazon wagon to transport all my gear,
and I'm sure a lot of you guys own something like this,
but I do prefer the form factor of the shopping cart.
I like how everything is upright.
With this, if I, let's say I put a light stand
with a modifier in here,
it's gonna be sticking out the side.
You know, this, I like how everything is upright.
Look at all the space.
I mean, I have my camera backpack, my lights,
my light stand, modifier.
If there's one thing that I could change,
I wish that I could put these wheels onto this cart.
Now, after my first shoot using this cart,
when I was on my way back to the car,
those front wheels hit a small curve
and I went flying over the cart.
And it all happened as a turbo
with at least a hundred people were passing near me.
I didn't make eye contact with nobody.
I got up.
Look, listen, those front wheels do not mix
with uneven pavement, all right?
Fair warning to you
so you don't end up looking like me out there.
All right, look, I know that this video
is probably longer than it should have been,
but I just wanna make sure that you know all the pros
and cons of using this specific cart.
Now, it certainly isn't perfect,
but it addresses one of the biggest pain points that I have
and a lot of people have when shooting off-camera flash.
So massive shout out to Arvir Visual Media
for coming up with this really dope cart idea.
As always, if you wanna learn
how I approach off-camera flash myself,
how I approach my camera settings
when blending ambient light and flash,
how to tackle that harsh afternoon sun,
how to find that perfect light placement,
and even how I compose my portraits,
even how I edit them and retouch, all right?
Check out my off-camera flash mini course, all right?
It's gonna be the best $100 you're gonna spend.
All right, you hear me?
Appreciate your support.
Talk to you soon.