CowboyStudio 43 Black & White Photo Studio Umbrella

I've had some problems with cowboy Studio in the past (easily breakable triggers, unresponsive tech support, etc.), but as I had a studio shoot for a client in less than a week, and needed some umbrellas asap, I figured there wouldn't be any harm in buying cheap ones that I would only use once. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when these came in.In a nutshell:PROS:+Price: For the price of renting most umbrellas, you can obtain these bad boys for good.+ Reliability: Even though I bought these thinking they would fall apart after a shoot, I was wrong. In addition to give you a nice soft source of light, its very durable. As long as you take good care of all your equipment you shouldn't have any problems with these.+Portability: When folded up, you wouldn't think its a 43' umbrella. I am very happy with it's sizeCONS:- It's nothing to brag about: While its not the sexiest thing on the market, its reliable and it gets the job done. Think Alien Bees versus Broncolor- Metal Quality: I would have preferred the metal to be a little thicker, but for $11 you can't be too picky-Customer Support: Not specific to this umbrella, but Cowboy Studio customer support is terrible. They are here to make a quick buck and you should know that when buying their products.OVERALL:Its a great buy if you a part-time pro. But if you want to step your game up, its highly suggested you go with a well-known brand because equipment does matter.UPDATE (9/25/2013): The Price is now $17 for it, so you might as well put in $13 more and buy a Westcott 60" umbrella. Also, I had this fall over outside and break. The cool thing was that the impact protect my $300 speedlight flash. So Now, I only have to spend $17 for another umbrella (and $12 for a sandbag! Thank me later!)instead of $300 to replace a broken flash.

First, let me say that for the most part, I love CowboyStudio products and prices.In July 2012 I ordered the CowboyStudio 43" Black and White umbrella. What they sent was the BROLLY. HOWEVER, I'm VERY happy with this brolly. This is one case in which I'm glad they got it wrong. I would never have got a brolly on my own.It's well built and works like a cross between an umbrella and a soft-box. NICE! It's black on the back side, silver on the inside and then there's the white flash-through cover. Here's a link to see what I got:  CowboyStudio 43" Black and White Reflective Photography Studio Brolly Box I can definitely recommend them.On a similar note... I have a problem with the way CowboyStudio boxes their items for shipping. I've purchased several of their products (6 or 7) in the last 2 months. They jam things into the smallest possible box and don't always put much packing material around their products. I just had to send back a broken backdrop set due to shipping damage. The carrier (UPS) obviously tossed the box into the truck and broke the lower (plastic) leg hinge of one of the tripods stands. This is most likely because the hinge was too close to the outside of the box and not surrounded by any packing material, other than the zippered carrying bag it was in. The sides of the stands were well protected by the 3 muslin 10' x 20' backdrops that were wrapped around the middle of the stand bag, but nothing on the ends.Another package arrived from CowboyStudio with a light stand boom PROTRUDING from the broken box. BOTH ends were broken open slightly. No packing material to speak of. The 4' item (boom size when collapsed) was no doubt bouncing around in the box during shipping. CowboyStudio needs to take note of this and stop allowing breakable parts to be shipped without more padding. I don't think this is the seller's problem. I think these sellers are getting the boxes drop-shipped directly from CowboyStudio without a chance to repackage them, but I could be wrong. Anyway, their products need to be packaged better. Oh, and by the way... I've now had 3 damaged boxes come to me shipped by UPS. The other carriers have not delivered me damaged boxes. What does that say about UPS?

This is a dedicated bounce/reflective umbrella. No converting this to a shoot-thru. The only two reasons why I rated this four out of five is because: [1] I prefer +55 inch umbrellas and [2] you can tell that it's not the most professionally built umbrella (but don't get me wrong; this umbrella is of decent quality for the price), besides I don't think this item is aimed at deep pocket pros anyway. However; this thing gets the job done VERY WELL and it can give you some very professional results. The solid white vinyl like interior is far more efficient with reflecting the flash over convertible umbrellas that have a satin/nylon interior. I used this 43" for a couple of dozen shots then I mounted my 60" black/white convertible and I had to increase my ISO about 2 stops and my strobe output from 1/8 to ¼ just to match the same exposure. I immediately felt hustled out of paying 3X more a big 60" that didn't do as good of a job with throwing the flash back at my subject. I'll just be using the 60" as a shoot-thru & not a bouncer anymore...