I first heard about this great device from the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast from Stacey Julian and it peaked my interest. (By the way if you have never listened they have a dose of amazing inspiration over there!) At lunch that very day I jumped on their website and I knew instantly that I really wanted one... It was the answer to all of my scrapping goals!
Like so many of you, I am drowning in memorabilia which I cannot make myself dispose of! I have tons of old fragile scrapbooks that I want to document to share with my family, photos in terrible old magnetic albums, older scrapbook layouts in different sizes (8 1/2" X 11") plus I really needed a way to document lots of physical memorabilia.
I have a very nice scanner (Epson V600) but it doesn't handle everything I wanted to do. I have taken pictures with a white backdrop and had some luck but it's not so easy and I can really only take pictures on certain days. Since I work full time and really can only take pictures on the weekends - it really limits my ability and flexibility. Plus it needs to be on a fairly bright day when I don't have something else going on.. even more limits!
The Shotbox was originally sold through a Kickstarter campaign - I missed out on that but got in the first order group. The giant box arrived shortly after the holidays so this the second weekend I have had to play with it - and play I have!
The main box is super light and folds flat. And it has its own built in lighting - so no waiting for the sun and light to be just right to take pictures !! There is a great video on their site which shows them assembling it - literally takes 15 seconds! Shotbox videos
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| The box unfolds and has 2 simple support arms on the side. |
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| The black base comes separately so it can also be removed. This is the carry bag for all the goodies |
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| The Sideshot attaches easily on the top and has its own light source in addition to the light source within the Shotbox.
As a busy scrapper I really like things that are easy to store and transport (think about going to visit family to take pictures of their heritage photos or special collection of grandma's jewelry) I know there are a lot of Etsy and Ebay sellers that will be interested potentially. All you need is access to 1 electric outlet since the Sideshot is also powered directly from the Shotbox.
The bag really makes me so happy!! Everything fits in it perfectly and has nice long shoulder straps to be able to easily carry on you shoulder.
So most importantly how does the Shotbox perform - here are a few examples of cards and scrapbook layouts plus a brochure to see how it goes..         
*** Edited to add: There are 3 different light settings - I played around with those and got a much, much better image with no glare this time - I didn't even realize that this was an option - look forward to playing even more!***
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So what are my impressions so far... I think the Shotbox will be a perfect tool for cards, photos (taken out of albums or frames), any brochures, tickets etc - I have boxes and boxes of school papers that I need to go through... I think it does a nice job on scrapbook layouts that are flattish.. but not in a page protector (too much glare from the LED lights). I am not sure that it will work as well for those older photos in magnetic albums - here I think a scanner is still a better tool plus the Epson has a nice built in photo restoration setting that does a fine job. 3D memorabilia will also work very well in the Shotbox with a little creative cropping.
Overall I would buy it again without hesitation! Yes, the Shotbox is mostly the answer to my Scrapbooking goals! These opinions are my own and I didn't receive any free products from them..but if you are interested please use the following affliate link to Shotbox.me to go check it out! It is the same price to you but help supports our blog.. thanks for sticking through this long and photo heavy post!
