Test Bench:
Road Rags Light Control Kit

by D. Eric Franks
January 2003

$187
Matthews Studio Equipment
2405 Empire Ave.
Burbank, CA 91504
(800) CE-STAND
www.matthewsgrip.com

Road Rags is an extremely portable light modification and control kit that consists of a couple of scrims, a flag and a couple of stands to hold them. Simple and unassuming, these critical tools for video lighting are a snap (literally) to set up and tear down. If you are serious about lighting and are ready to make the move from do-it-yourself-home-made flags and scrims, Road Rags are ready for your next shoot.

Take Me With You
Road Rags are, well, for the road. The complete kit weighs in at about 3 lbs. and is securely contained with hook-and-loop flaps and pockets in a long-handled black canvas carrying bag that measures 20x5x8 inches (LxWxH). It's bigger than a breadbox, but smaller and easier to carry than almost any tripod. This is probably the most important advantage of Road Rags: they are so portable that you'll take them with you on every shoot as a standard part of your gear.

Frame
The two aluminum frames that support the scrims, silk and flag are joined together with elastic shock cords, in much the same way that pop-up tent poles are connected; line them up and they pop into place. Then you can slide the various materials (with color-coded edges) over the frame to form a rigid rectangular shape. The flags are additionally stretched and secured to the frame with snaps, although in our tests we found that these were unnecessary. The entire process is considerably easier than setting up a tent and can be performed in a matter of seconds. Breaking down the kit is just as simple. It is not easy to lose pieces of the kit, since a shock cord connects the frame poles. The aluminum poles were durable and formed nicely rigid flags that are unlikely to break when they inevitably get knocked over or tossed around by strong gusts of wind.

Useful Rags
We get a lot of high tech doodads in the lab that we could describe as surprising, fun and amazing. We wouldn't select any of these words for Road Rags. Instead, the adjective we'd chose to link with Road Rags is "useful." The best endorsement of this product comes from our experienced and talented staff photo/videographer who has used Road Rags as a tool for lighting several Videomaker video productions and photo shoots. We think you'll like them as much as he does.

TECH SPECS