My off camera flash gun bracket

[dicklaxt]

I fabbed this from 2" x 3/16" aluminum,drilled and tapped the holes,etched it with acid,primed and painted.

The knob on the long base leg is for the camera mount and the knob on the short leg is for the ball mount. Take note that there are 7 different options as to where the ball head can be mounted,they are above and below the short leg,left and right of the vertical leg above the handle,below the base leg left of the camera and above and below the base leg to the right of the camera.The flash gun as you know can rotate and tilt so that in combination with the 7 options all bases ought to be well covered.I added a wrist safety strap out of 1/2" webbing.The handle is shaped wood scraps from my shop shorts,they are secured to the aluminum with internal epoxy integral pins.

I had most all of the material laying around so the only monetary outlay was 2 knobs and the ball head for a grand total of $14.79.I got the knobs at the local hardware and the light weight ball head from China.

Ball head and 430EX II should arrive this coming week.

[MSIGuy]

Post some pictures once you have the flash, I'm curious to see what it looks like assembled.

[RPCrowe]

Great craftsmanship on this bracket. However, I prefer a bracket in which the camera flips. A Chinese knock-off Stroboframe type bracket only cost me about twenty bucks.

[dicklaxt]

camera flips???? please explain

dick

[tdodd]

The purpose of the flash bracket is to....

a) increase the separation between flash and lens in order to reduce the risk of red eye;
b) keep the flash above the lens when you switch between portrait and landscape orientation, so that flash shadows disappear behind/below the subject rather than obviously visible beside it.

There are two primary styles - one that flips/swivels the camera within the frame and one in which you rotate the entire frame and flip the flash. Here is an example of a "camera flip" design....

[tdodd]

Here is a flash flip design....

(and no, I do not use a diffuser for outdoor flash :) )

[dicklaxt]

Thanks for the info,,,,,BTW my needs for the bracket is stickly for Macro work,I'm just getting into it and have found that the working distance is the limiting factor for conventional flash setups or on camera flash and need a design such as this to get the required illumination on a poor boys budget,,,,,,,its definitely a WIP with many forthcoming experiments.

dick

[tdodd]

Ah, well macro flash brackets are clearly very different in purpose and design. :)