Jannie
19th of April 2009 (Sun), 23:16
I've purchased four of the standard type umbrella brackets so far, first the two nylon or synthetic material ones, loved the way they angle the hole up for the umbrella but one of them stripped out the threads on the umbrella screw the second time I mounted a 60" SoftlighterII and I had to return it, I wasn't even tightening all the way yet but had it sidewise so I could point the flash head straight forward along side the umbrella shaft into the Softlighter II sock.
So I bought two heavy duty metal ones I think from Photoflex but they didn't match each other and the umbrella holes were flat so the head only aims into the top of the umbrella, even with the head of the 580EXII pointing down. And then one didn't even have the 5/8" spud hole on the bottom drilled out the right size and I took a special reamer I had bought to fix something and never used and managed to do a nice enough job.
But to be nice, they still suck because the umbrella hole is flat. The nylon version has a better system of side hole options as well but if they can't take any weight then what's the point.
Plus the screw that pushes against the umbrella shaft is tiny and leaves dents in the shaft, no I'm not reaming down on them but I don't want the umbrella to rotate if I'm taking off half of the black backing to shoot through only half of the umbrella.
Does anyone like a machinist make these things, I've invested $28.95 ea on three of them and $14,95 on another (It's the best of the bunch but had to modify it because the tension screw to hold the umbrella wasn't long enough). And out of all of this I only wanted two good ones.
Somewhere out there, there must be a company that makes very useful, durable ones that are made out of real steel or hard aircraft aluminum or something that I can depend upon lasting without having to carry backups or just expect to break.
For a simple light 32-40" umbrella the plastic ones seem okay if used in the straight up position but I'm messing with this thing of wanting to put two heads into one of the Softlighter II 60" or other 60" umbrella.
Am I the only one who's getting frustrated, yes I had more things go funky with gear in the last week than I've had in a year and a half with all my other stuff combined.
Done with rant.
Is there something out there that is well built and does all that needs to be done?
I looked at that other cool dual bracket setup http://www.brewerbracket.com/ but the post that has the little hole for the umbrella shaft looks pretty small diameter to be holding a big umbrella, I suppose I could always have a modified version of this made by a machinist and pay a fortune and don't really want to do that.
Or just say to heck with it and go back to strobes and Octoboxes, they're starting to look easier.
I'd like to have a unit that is complete, no adapters, no attachments to adjust, every time there's another connection, it doubles your chances for something going wrong.
So I bought two heavy duty metal ones I think from Photoflex but they didn't match each other and the umbrella holes were flat so the head only aims into the top of the umbrella, even with the head of the 580EXII pointing down. And then one didn't even have the 5/8" spud hole on the bottom drilled out the right size and I took a special reamer I had bought to fix something and never used and managed to do a nice enough job.
But to be nice, they still suck because the umbrella hole is flat. The nylon version has a better system of side hole options as well but if they can't take any weight then what's the point.
Plus the screw that pushes against the umbrella shaft is tiny and leaves dents in the shaft, no I'm not reaming down on them but I don't want the umbrella to rotate if I'm taking off half of the black backing to shoot through only half of the umbrella.
Does anyone like a machinist make these things, I've invested $28.95 ea on three of them and $14,95 on another (It's the best of the bunch but had to modify it because the tension screw to hold the umbrella wasn't long enough). And out of all of this I only wanted two good ones.
Somewhere out there, there must be a company that makes very useful, durable ones that are made out of real steel or hard aircraft aluminum or something that I can depend upon lasting without having to carry backups or just expect to break.
For a simple light 32-40" umbrella the plastic ones seem okay if used in the straight up position but I'm messing with this thing of wanting to put two heads into one of the Softlighter II 60" or other 60" umbrella.
Am I the only one who's getting frustrated, yes I had more things go funky with gear in the last week than I've had in a year and a half with all my other stuff combined.
Done with rant.
Is there something out there that is well built and does all that needs to be done?
I looked at that other cool dual bracket setup http://www.brewerbracket.com/ but the post that has the little hole for the umbrella shaft looks pretty small diameter to be holding a big umbrella, I suppose I could always have a modified version of this made by a machinist and pay a fortune and don't really want to do that.
Or just say to heck with it and go back to strobes and Octoboxes, they're starting to look easier.
I'd like to have a unit that is complete, no adapters, no attachments to adjust, every time there's another connection, it doubles your chances for something going wrong.