Reviewed in Canada on February 19, 2025
When you start out in photography or even video recording, you kind of wonder about those coloured backgrounds. I did. And later, I discovered that these background colours were just simple paper rolls. Today, I guess you can pretty much shoot anywhere are cut and paste any kind of background you want, but I still like photographing on paper.
Standard paper rolls are nine (9) feet across, and half rolls re 4.5'. I can tell you from personal experience, trying to manage 9' rolls of paper in a cardboard box, is not a lot of fun! You need room and you need to carefully extract that roll from the cardboard box. Next, you need a ten (10) foot pole to thread into the paper roll and then some hangers on light stands or grip stands, to hold everything up. Don't forget to sandbag the heck out of those stands, too!
Next, raise the stands together, to keep the bar straight and then carefully pull the paper down - right onto the ground and several feet out, too, if you are going to see peoples feet. It's a lot of work! But there is hope!
This Wall/Ceiling attachment by Tenbest can solve your problems. Or, at least, a lot of them. First, you attach this unit to the ceiling or wall. I much prefer the wall because I can mount a 1X8 or 1X0 across a room, and hit some studs every 16" or so. This will give you a firm, solid anchor point to start from.
You can easily mount the unit so the lower roller is closest to the wall, and the next two protrude in front of the first. A "chain" will allow you to easily raise and lower a roll of paper and you won't get the paper doing a "runaway" on its own. Been there, done that. Not pretty.
One thing to keep in mind too, get yourself every medium to large spring clips. They are great for clipping a paper roll to its self, to prevent movement. And they come in handy for lots more. In addition, get at least two sand bags to hold down the paper when you have it on the ground. Again, it's amazing how much "fight" a roll of nine foot paper has...
This unit will easily let you manage three rolls of paper backdrops. You could also use muslin material too. The cost is more, but unlike paper, you can use it again and again. Usually, when people walk on the paper, you need to cut off the bottom and rollup what's left. After two or three jobs, you get a new roll. Or if you are only shooting across into the paper, well, you can use that paper for years!
This unit by Tenbest is well made, well thought out, and easy to use. If you are currently working with paper backdrops or fabric ones, you really need to get something like this. You will work faster, and easier. You will not loose material trying to return it to the box at the end of each shoot.
And I can tell you one other thing. Many times, your work becomes a "dog and pony show". In other words, sometime people are impressed by what they see around you and not just by your results. Look the part of a well organized professional, and you will get treated like that. Having a cool looking, functional backdrop management system in your studio, makes you look the part!
Bottom Line - An excellent piece of studio equipment. Functional, durable and simple to use, it will help you work better and help to keep you organized!
