Light stand, umbrella, and umbrella swivel recommendations?

I have a couple of these been wagging to wedding for 3 - 4 years now and no issues. For the money hard to beat this stand.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ned_Heavy_Duty_​Light.html

ksbal wrote in post #15015280
Here is one of the best bangs for you buck, I think:
http://www.adorama.com​/LTU60BC.html

Beautiful, big and 35 bucks. This will do full length on 3 or 4 people, easily. You may want the plastic diffuser on the flash just to help spread the light in the umbrella. Quality is there, I bought a couple of brolly's cheap off ebay and now regret it, they have started to fall apart and have had little use, so make sure you get something cheap, but sturdy.

This umbrella wont work well in low ceilings, but may be perfect where you are going to shoot, and they ship fast so you'll have some play time.

LOL, great minds, posted the same time as toolman21 above.

and I want to add, get a stand that is sturdy - these are a bit heavy, and a small footprint stand might have issues, I've used them on this stand and been fine:
http://www.ebay.com …_trksid=p3984.m​1438.l2649

I like your link better, it has free shipping. I have been thinking about getting one of these, good to know someone has used it and likes it though.

TridenTBoy wrote in post #15000647
I'm looking to spend <$100 on this single light setup.

Now, would that <$100 be US$ or AU$ or CAN$ or HK$ or Taiwan$ or NZ$ or East Caribean$ or Singaporean$ or Liberian$ or Namibian$? If you don't give any clue as to your base location, nobody can give you a cogent recommendation as shipping costs can very easily erode your unspecified $ spend down to zero. Additionally, some companies simply will not ship to some countries - eg I can't buy many of the things offered on Amazon.com simply because of the sourcing - they will not ship to my location; I may be able to get them from Amazon.co.uk but often not.

TridenTBoy: I'm not having a moan at you personally, you're not the only person who keeps their location secret (there are several respondents in this thread alone who do likewise), but in an International forum such as this (maybe a big surprise for some of you guys but there ARE other countries in the world besides CONUS and at least two active here are larger than the USA) giving some clue to your base would be most helpful. Sometimes, there are clues in the spelling used in the 'borrowed' language (37 recognised & distinct variants of the English language last time I looked) but even that assumes English as a first language.

Can participants not be quite so shy about their locations? It'd help lots. PRETTY PLEASE.

Edit: Picking up on "g-money" link above. Shipping of this stand from B+H within CONUS seems to be about US$10 - to get it to me would be either US$ 56.34 (UPS) of US$ 155.60 (FedEx). BIG difference in end cost depending on buyer location!!

TridenTBoy wrote in post #15015438
For that price of a stand I may as well get a manfrotto... :/

I'll look into that Adorama 60" umbrella. I'm wondering if the white backing is not going to reflect enough light well enough for a small flash like I have? Any ideas?

Yes, a speedlight does the job in a 60 inch (don't know about a 7footer though!), how even is another question, and takes some playing around to get it figured out. That price is for 2 of those heavier stands, btw, not just one

I'm at 1/4 power here, with a flash that sits between a 430 and 580 for a gn.

Here it is in practice.

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g-money wrote in post #15016365
I have a couple of these been wagging to wedding for 3 - 4 years now and no issues. For the money hard to beat this stand.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ned_Heavy_Duty_​Light.html

Great looking stand, they seem almost identical to the ones I have.

toolman21 wrote in post #15017236
I like your link better, it has free shipping. I have been thinking about getting one of these, good to know someone has used it and likes it though.

For 10 footers, hard to beat the price, and I'm thinking about getting a couple more. Originally got them with a cross bar as a bg stand, but was glad I had them for these 60' umbrellas.

One can fill a large umbrella or soft box with a speedlite. It takes care in placement.
I've found it best to use a bracket that gets the speedlite flash tube as close to the umbrella shaft as possible.

dmward wrote in post #15018750
One can fill a large umbrella or soft box with a speedlite. It takes care in placement.
I've found it best to use a bracket that gets the speedlite flash tube as close to the umbrella shaft as possible.

Other than a velcro strap or rubber band, do you have a recommendation on bracket?

I have that set and have gotten a great deal of use out of it. Although I did swap out the flash shoes.

nes_matt wrote in post #15000747
I have these: http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Flash_Umbrella_​Mount.html

It's not high end, but it's serviceable.

It's starting to sound like I need something like an Alien Bee or some other version of a studio flash unit to get the power required for such a large umbrella... Damn-it. That's a lot of $$$ and loses a lot of features (Like TTL, switching settings from the camera, etc.).

Best stands i've found for the money are Ravelli ABSL but they are only sold in a backdrop kit. I also have the smaller ALS version of the same stand which is sold individual or in a smaller backdrop kit. Either kit is a worth buying since basically for just a few dollars over the cost of stands you get the bars to use as a backdrop and a nice case. The footprint on the ABSL stand is almost 4' so it's about as sturdy as they come for the price. Also they use screws instead of cheap rivets, you get reversible studs and the locking collars are solid.

http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/B003TLSXMO/

This is what I'm considering right now:

Manfrotto 026 Swivel Lite-Tite Umbrella Adapter - $28.26 (so much money... no cold shoe mount either!)
Impact Air-Cushioned Heavy Duty Light Stand - Black, 9.5 feet (2.9m) - $48.84 (It's about the same price from B&H with shipping, but I have prime for free...)
Should I get the Adorama 60" White Interior Umbrella with Removeable Black Cover. 16 rib Parabolic? It's about $35 with free shipping from Adorama.
I might just use my YN-468 II's stand that came with it and screw that into the umbrella swivel mount? Saves me at least $10. :P

What do you think? I'm not a fan of paying close to $50 for that stand and $28 for that swivel mount. Seems like overspending in some ways. It seems like I'll need 'heavy duty' stands in order to hold up such large umbrella's and maybe eventually a studio flash (Something like an alien bee).

I use TrimAx flash swivel and it's just as good as Manfrotto especially considering the price. Only con is the foot sucks which i don't use anyway because my trigger is screwed in directly which holds the flash.

http://www.amazon.com …Shoe-Mount/dp/B0037LOQC2/

Bump. I'm looking also.

TridenTBoy wrote in post #15024715
This is what I'm considering right now:

Manfrotto 026 Swivel Lite-Tite Umbrella Adapter - $28.26 (so much money... no cold shoe mount either!)
Impact Air-Cushioned Heavy Duty Light Stand - Black, 9.5 feet (2.9m) - $48.84 (It's about the same price from B&H with shipping, but I have prime for free...)
Should I get the Adorama 60" White Interior Umbrella with Removeable Black Cover. 16 rib Parabolic? It's about $35 with free shipping from Adorama.
I might just use my YN-468 II's stand that came with it and screw that into the umbrella swivel mount? Saves me at least $10. :P

What do you think? I'm not a fan of paying close to $50 for that stand and $28 for that swivel mount. Seems like overspending in some ways. It seems like I'll need 'heavy duty' stands in order to hold up such large umbrella's and maybe eventually a studio flash (Something like an alien bee).

I'm not sure everyone would agree on this, but after using a number of cheap stands and umbrella holders, I would say that if your equipment is light, you're ok going cheap on the stand, but I wouldn't suggest going too cheap on the umbrella holder ("swivel mount"). I have used the "Strobist" one linked in the post below you and that's actually not bad at all, it's just that the manfrotto is better. There's also quite a few really bad ones out there