Gear & Apps
Cheetah Stand C8 Review for Wedding and Event Photographers
Flash stands are critical for wedding and event photography. Without them, you’re stuck with flat on-camera flash that, even when bounced, doesn’t compare with the quality of imagery you can get with angled light direction.
The primary challenge for wedding and event photographers is that moving a flash stand around the room can be difficult, especially if the room is crowded. The three legs of typical flash stands can be hard to squeeze in between chairs and people, bumping into shins and objects as you move around the room. This is where the Cheetah Stand C8 comes in handy. The three legs collapse when you lift the stand, making it easy to move around the room and then automatically expand when you set it down on the ground.
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This makes good lighting convenient as you maneuver around the room in critical wedding moments such as Speeches, Indoor Ceremonies, First Dances, Parent Dances and More. Below are a few images.
Cons of the Cheetah Stand C8:
The primary drawback of this type of system is that the automatic retracting feature doesn’t work on uneven surfaces like grass or sand. This is why we recommend having one or two Cheetah Stands and one or two other traditional stands like the Manfrotto 5001B0s. This allows you the flexibility to use your off camera lighting setups indoors or outdoors, regardless of the terrain.
Favorite Cheetah Stand C8 Video Review:
Below is my favorite video review of the C8 stand. The presenter might be the most likable man on the internet.
Other Online Reviews and Ratings of the C8
Adorama customers give the Cheetah Stand C8 a respectable 4.4/5.0
Amazon Customers give the Cheetah Stand C8 a respectable 4.1/5.0
Summary and Conclusion:
The Cheetah Stand C8 is a well-built, innovative stand that can help you achieve better lighting for your event and wedding photography by making off camera flash more convenient and portable. What are your thoughts? Would you buy this?
First let me say, I have CheetaStand roller bags, lightstands, and softboxes’
Our grip uses his foot when we are outside. I mean puts the center of stand on his foot to open it and it works. Of course he removes his foot after it opens,
CheetaStand is a good company until…
I was part of their private Facebook page I made one post asking about why so much shipping cost? Within minutes the admins were all over it, like I had broken a cardinal rule. They deleted my account. Before they deleted (within hour) Ed was even screaming at me saying “I don’t want to hear no more about shipping”. I had made a 2nd post telling him his video is why a trusted them. When I posted to 2nd post, saying I didn’t say anything about shipping, his reply “Bill, I don’t want to hear no more about shipping”. It was crazy.
I do know if you don’t bow at the CheetaStand alter. They are ready to banish you and hang you up to dry.
Just remember the customer service is great, unless you question something or say something could be better.
Adorama makes the same type stand that is built a bit better (stronger) for less money. But I bought CheetaStand. If that means anything.
I have two cheetah stand c8’s and a c12. I absolutely love them for wedding work as they allow me to move quick and the c8’s are compact, which is super important to me as I always want to travel light.