I posted a blog the other day regarding a really cool home Vlogging studio set up from DSLR Video Shooter and ever since I saw that video, it's totally inspired me to update my little studio I've got set up in my garage for shooting small stuff for my Stock Photo and Stock Video portfolios. Most of the stuff I shoot for those portfolios are small items that I can put on a seamless backdrop and shoot multiple angles of. Stuff like coins, tools, tech items, jewelry, food, etc. Pretty much anything that fits on a 2ft square space. 

 After watching that video, I started to ask the question; what aspects of his set up could I incorporate into my set up. The LED light panels really caught my eye, along with the extendable monitor arms and the little ball heads that attach the light panels onto the monitor arms. I didn't need the set up to be movable, and I didn't want to spend $80 CDN on a monitor arm/post (x2) so I figured I'd go for a more permanent solution regarding the posts the monitor arms would attach to and just get a post that attaches permanently to the table and monitor arms that would fit around that post. At first, I thought I'd just pop down to Home Depot, pick up a couple of 1.5 inch threaded metal base plates and some 2ft threaded pipes to screw into the plates and then screw the plates on to the table. Simple, easy. Uhh...expensive. A 1.5 inch metal threaded base plate at Home Depot is $18 CDN. A 2 ft threaded 1.5 inch metal pipe is $30 CDN. I needed 2 of these set ups, and for that price, I could just get a monitor post and arm from Amazon. I wanted something less expensive. When I was putting the threaded pipe into the base plate at Home Depot, I was looking at it and thought to myself, "Hey, that looks JUST like an Ikea table leg turned upside down!". So, I looked at table legs on Ikea.ca and lo and behold, I got EXACTLY the posts I was after for $5.00 each. I got the rest of the stuff from Amazon though. The Neweer LED panels are fantastic, perfect size for my needs and space. The ball heads are "ok", they work for now, but one of them is a little "iffy" and I might spend a few bucks extra and get ones that are a bit beefier. The monitor arms are perfect for my table size, but if you have a slightly longer table, you might want to get ones that extend out a little more if you're doing any over head type shots where you want the light to be directly over your items. So far so good, and I'm totally jazzed on how it all came together and what I'm able to do with this set up so far. 

Here's a complete list of what I got and how much it all came to for this awesome set up.

Neewer Stainless Steel D Shaft D-Ring 1/4" Mounting Screw - $10.99CDN

VIVO Steel Universal Full Motion Pole Mount Monitor Arm with Removable 75mm and 100mm VESA Plate - $29.99CDN each

UCEC 1/4" Screw Tripod Mini Ball Head Mount - $10.89CDN each

Neewer Foldable LED Light Panel Mat on Fabric 5600K 256 LED Lighting Panel - $72.99CDN each

Ikea Adils Table Leg  - $5.00CDN each

So there you have it, a new and improved DIY Home/Garage/Desk studio set up for shooting small to medium sized items for just under $250.00CDN or, at today's exchange rate: $190.00USD. 

Here are a couple of shots of the set up and a shot of some coffee beans I shot for my Stock Photo Portfolios