Off-camera Flash Bracket--advice needed

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

03/20/2006 07:41:58 PM · #1

Here's the scoop...
I have the Canon 300D.
I've decided to add the 430EX flash to my equipment.
(Already have the flash cord.)
I'd like an off-camera flash bracket...nothing too fancy...but "bells and whistles" welcome if they're worth it.
What do you use? Do you like it? What would you get?
(Budget appx. $40 to $70)

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

03/20/2006 07:42:50 PM · #2

Forget the bracket and get Gary Fong's Lightsphere...

R.

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

03/20/2006 07:43:40 PM · #3

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

Forget the bracket and get Gary Fong's Lightsphere...

R.

Lightsphere for my June birthday!
(They gotta buy me something.)

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

03/20/2006 07:44:57 PM · #4

With a Lightsphere you don't NEED the bracket... You'll never use it again....

R.

03/20/2006 07:45:38 PM · #5

Why not? Wouldn't both be better for different situations?

Edit: Like, when I want to look like a press photog? ;-)

Message edited by author 2006-03-20 19:47:35.

Prof_Fate

03/20/2006 09:15:51 PM · #6

I have a lightsphere and in portrait mode you can still see teh side shadow - not as much, but under certain situations it's there.

I looked at 3 brackets - stroboframe quickflip, camera flip and this samigon model.

I chose the samigon. Now after having used a bracket here is my thoughts:

I need a third hand...the samigon is a camera rotating type bracket - problems i have:

When you rotate to portrait mode the flash head is still landscape so i get darkness at the top or bottom or both of the image (no LS). The flash flip would solve this problem.

if it farily dark, the flash has an infrared focus assist beam - works great on the hot shoe - i can focus in complete darkness. put the flash oon a bracket, any bracket, and the beams does not line up anymore. You can live with this / work around it.

The third hand issue - i hold the camera so that my left hand zooms and my right hand does the shutter/other buttons. Add as bracket and you're supposed to hold hte bracket - so where's the hand to zoom with? You can kind of put your wrist under the bracket and all, but this is inconvenient.

the whole assembly is top heavy.

on a camera rotate bracket, which way does it rotate? The samigon (and many others) are designed to rotate so the shutter button is on the bottom. I shoot with it on top in portrait mode...so i added an L bracket to my bracket and it works for me. The samigon moves freely and has no lock to hold things in either orientation - so the top heavy ungainly assembly wants to rotate just a bit, so you have to hold it just so...PITA.

On the good side, the samigon can hold a flash and a pocketwizard or 2 flashes, can take an umbrella, tilts, and the top can come off and fits a regular light stand - so you can easily put your flash on a lightstand with an umbrella! This is mostly what sold me on this one, and i do use it for that - an expensive mount i guess, but i still have a bracket if i need it. On the plus side as well is it all folds up and has a neat storage pouch.

I may design me a bracket one day, till then not sure what to do with this one - as in use it or not.
I'd like to try a flash flip bracket and see what i think.

03/20/2006 10:42:49 PM · #7

prof-fate, Thank you for the write-up. You raise many of the issues i would have with a bracket...I like to zoom, as well as focus manually, with my left hand. So anything that gets in the way of that would be a problem!

Anyone else have an idea? A good basic bracket that would fit the flash and camera and give me a little bit of wiggle room?

fotomann_forever

03/20/2006 10:50:02 PM · #8

I LOVE my stroboframe quick-flip... great bracket.