Need flash bracket...

[OdiN1701]

Recommend me a flash bracket.

I've looked at the Pro-RL Stroboframe..it seems rather bulky and looks like it might get in the way.

Anyone used this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=52784&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

I'm trying to figure out how it keeps the flash centered over the lens.

Anyone have other suggestions to keep the flash centered?

[tim]

I have a pro-t, i'm not 100% happy with it. Newton bracket owners always seem quite happy with their purchases, and there's another brand that gets good reviews. There's a big thread in the lighting forum about it if you want to have a read - advanced search works quite well - just search for "flash bracket" (without quotes).

[cdifoto]

I have a FlashFlip. Not too expensive and works pretty nice:

www.cdi-ink.com/bracket.htm

[VanceW]

I use the Stratos.
Light weight, and grip is comfortable, and price is pretty good too. B&H $43.00us

[OdiN1701]

I have a pro-t, i'm not 100% happy with it. Newton bracket owners always seem quite happy with their purchases, and there's another brand that gets good reviews. There's a big thread in the lighting forum about it if you want to have a read - advanced search works quite well - just search for "flash bracket" (without quotes).

I read through the big thread.

The problem with the Pro-RL - which I like because the camera flips.

Now...it looks like the grip shtter release would be hard to use...that's okay...I can just have my hand rotate with it.

Now...the problem is that I focus with my left hand. If I don't hold on to that grip under the lens...I'm assuming the frame will just twist when I let go of it to adjust my zoom/focus....you can lock it in landscape but apparently not portrait mode.

[jamiewexler]

I really like the Stroboframe Camera Flip because...the camera flips. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=105119&is=REG&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

[Inspired Photography]

Love my Pro-RL, but it all seems to come down to taste.

Rob

[Phil V]

Flash brackets are like camera bags and tripods, impossible to recommend, because what's comfortable to me might be unworkable for someone else.
For instance; I won't have a tripod head with QR, because I don't use a tripod much BUT I do use the grip and shoot portrait quite a bit - so a QR plate is really uncomfortable.
I have spoken to lots of people about this and it seems I'm almost unique; however it seems the most obvious thing to me.

I have the cheapest stroboframe grip, the handle is at the wrong side on the camera, if I was going to buy another one I'd buy the Pro T. But at the moment I'm falling in love with the Lightsphere, which negates the need for a bracket.

[Inspired Photography]

But at the moment I'm falling in love with the Lightsphere, which negates the need for a bracket.

That is debatable. I know it is meant to be great, but you really can't avoid everything if the flash is still to the side. It's just physics.

Rob

[kawter2]

i say


ixnay on the racketbray ;)

[Phil V]

That is debatable. I know it is meant to be great, but you really can't avoid everything if the flash is still to the side. It's just physics.

Rob

In my (limited) tests so far it's holding up and producing the nicest flash photo's I've ever produced (without studio lights). I've seen and heard other photographers using it camera mounted and say how liberating it is. I didn't believe it - until I tried it. I'll post a demo pic if anyone is interested.

[cdifoto]

It's great in small rooms. Try it in a banquet hall though. You'll find out that your flash will eat through batteries like an SUV drinks gasoline because of all those full power shots it has to keep popping off.

[tim]

The LightSphere is really inefficient, it throws light all over the place. That's one reason I stopped using it.

[jamiewexler]

My FlipIt! (http://www.joedembphotography.com/flipit/) works pretty well without the bracket, though I still use it on the bracket so I don't have to constantly flip the flash head...

[kawter2]

It's great in small rooms. Try it in a banquet hall though. You'll find out that your flash will eat through batteries like an SUV drinks gasoline because of all those full power shots it has to keep popping off.


I don't understand your point.. I have energizer AA Rechargables for a9 per 8pack.. I just rechager them... Ive never used more than 8 in a wedding (that said I am only using flash about 3 hrs), but if i did need more, i'd just pop em in.

[cdifoto]

I don't understand your point.. I have energizer AA Rechargables for a9 per 8pack.. I just rechager them... Ive never used more than 8 in a wedding (that said I am only using flash about 3 hrs), but if i did need more, i'd just pop em in.

The point is, use a bracket to get your flash head high to reduce or eliminate side shadows. Bounce it when you can for a more efficient type of lighting, rather than letting the Lightsphere throw the light all over the place and waste it. Wasting light makes your flash work harder. It's using higher power than necessary. If you bounce off a wall so the light comes straight back onto the scene you're wasting less light than you would if you had the Lightsphere on the flash and let it hit not only the wall that provides the best source of broad light but also a wall 50 feet behind you, another wall 15 feet to your left, and yet another wall 30 feet in front of you. That's what the Lightsphere does. It doesn't just soften the light, it throws it in 100 million unnecessary directions. That's why it's ok in a small room...it's not travelling nearly as far to come back to your subject. In a big room where a real wedding would be, the light has to travel MUCH farther to bounce back and illuminate your subject properly. E-TTL compensates for the distance to obtain proper exposure, BUT the flash has to work much much harder to pop off a shot strong enough to bounce back in the first place.


Why do you think Gary is always demonstrating his diffuser in a hotel hallway? It's SMALL. The walls are CLOSE TOGETHER. The light doesn't have to travel very far!

[tim]

Bounce and omnibounce are both inefficient, and i'm not sure there's a lot in it to be honest. I'd expect them to be about the same, unless you have the dome on the LS.

[cdifoto]

Bouncing from a wall is definitely inefficient but it's far more efficient than a lightsphere, because it's targeted bouncing. IMO, the results are much better than direct flash (even with a mini softbox) or a Sto-fen as well.

I've learned to bounce into corners and where walls meet ceilings wherever possible. It creates a similiar effect to shooting into an umbrella.

[kawter2]

I don't get the whole wasting light or wasting batteries philosophy.

IMO flash brackets are not efficient because they waste candid moments.. they see the giant erector set and go EEEK' pose time. I don't really care about conserving light, I care about capturing as true of a moment as i can.. that is why I love small primes..

you can throw a 15mm fish eye or a 50mm on and no one really feels they have to perform

[mizuno]

I don't get the whole wasting light or wasting batteries philosophy.

IMO flash brackets are not efficient because they waste candid moments.. they see the giant erector set and go EEEK' pose time. I don't really care about conserving light, I care about capturing as true of a moment as i can.. that is why I love small primes..

Amen. :cool:

I like to shoot the moments as they are, not a false lightstage produced interpretation.

I guess it all comes down to client expectations. There is a strong push in this neck of the woods towards wedding photojournalism, which suits me fine as I don't really care for perfectly lit wedding photos - unless the environment is perfectly lit naturally.

[cdifoto]

If you waste light you waste batteries. The more the flash has to put out, the faster your batteries are drained. If you bounce more intelligently, your flash doesn't have to work nearly as hard, you can get more shots off per set of batteries, and your recycle times improve.

Think about it this way. Let's say using the Lightsphere requires full output of the flash. Thats 1/1 ratio. That's means the flash is giving it all it's got. Straining its gizzards you might say. It's going to take the full 6 seconds, 12 seconds, or whatever the flash is rated at to recycle. It's also popping off a really powerful blast of light. That's takes juice and the juice is in the batteries. You drain the batteries faster that way.

Now let's think about bouncing off a more appropriate wall. You don't need to illuminate the entire room (the lightsphere tries to). All you need to do is provide a nice broad light source for your subject. Ok then bounce off the wall and/or ceiling in the opposite direction of the subject. Light hits the wall and comes right back to the subject, except broader and more pleasing than direct flash would be. It illuminates the scene as if the room was lit, without actually trying to light the entire room. You might use, for example, 1/16th power to do that. That means the flash doesn't pop of nearly as strong a blast of light, allowing your flash to recycle faster, and it doesn't drain your batteries nearly as quickly.


Try it and see for yourself. In a big room though. In a small room you probably won't see a difference if the walls are close enough together.

[Wilt]

I have never heard any complaints from Newton bracket owners. Very light, very small, amazingly rigid. It is a professional quality product that easily handles professional needs. It comes in two generic versions, one which flips the camera, the other which flips the flash. Have it your way. I have used one many years for weddings with medium format film SLR, and now I use the same bracket for weddings with 20D...it was easily adjusted from one to the other, and is equally rigid both ways.

[Wilt]

>>IMO flash brackets are not efficient because they waste candid moments.. they see the giant erector set and go EEEK' <<
Which is another reason why the Newton bracket is so nice...it is so compact. It raises the flash a few more inches off the lens, to hide the shadow better, but is scarcely larger than the camera itself without bracket. Yes, some of these brackets from Stroboframe and even Custom Brackets are huge monsters that i would be afraid of falling on me!