Replica vs V-Flat Duo Photography Boards

If you have dipped your toes into product photography you are well aware how important a good surface is. The difference between a nice marble surface and a cheap Ikea table is night and day. But not everyone has a nice slab of marble laying around. And even if you do have a nice white marble counter top that looks great, what happens when you need a darker background to make your subject pop?

This is about the time in my product photography journey when I started seeing the value in these photography backdrops that I’ve seen ads for all over Instagram. At first I was pretty hesitant to spend $100+ on some flimsy boards, but after I finally bit the bullet I can confidently say my photography has improved.

I wouldn’t say the quality of my photos are any different, that has more to do with my camera and lighting, but the creativity and the sheer output of photos has increased simply because I no longer have a road block of having to find the “Right” backdrop anymore. I have 6 different surfaces now from V-Flat and Replica Boards and being able to mix and match all 6 gives me more than enough combinations to keep my photos fresh and new with very little time devoted to sourcing or creating custom backgrounds.

Now I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention that for professional product photographers the sourcing and creating of custom backdrops for your photos is all but absolutely necessary for you to stand out and establish your unique style. But for those of us who are simply trying to take some nice photos for Instagram and start learning styling, these boards are an absolutely useful tool.

Now as far as which boards I would recommend? To be honest I can’t tell much of a difference. They are both the same size, they are able to be used together, and the only big difference is that the V-Flat boards are double sided which saves space, and they are considerably cheaper than the Replica Boards. That’s not to say Replica boards aren’t worth the price. We actually had our Replica Boards sent with some small blemishes which Replica promptly replaced for us. So while they are more expensive, they absolutely provided us with a great customer service experience. We didn’t have the same issue with the V-Flat boards so who’s to say their customer services wouldn’t have been just as good?

I would probably recommend V-Flat because of the space you’ll save with the boards being two sided, and the money you save because of that, but there are some really nice backgrounds that Replica has that are not available with V-Flat that would be worth the price if you were to go with them. And like I mentioned, they work great together so an assortment of both would be a great idea.

For a video review of these products you can watch the video below.