Some simple things are the freaking bomb

This is a baby drop link on steroids. It is kinda heavy, and it seems rather expensive once you throw in the shipping, but in the studio it is a magnificent beauty. It can take a real serious tightening without anything shearing or breaking. Perfect match to a boom on a C-stand.

https://www.amazon.com …age_o07_s00?ie=​UTF8&psc=1

I want it.

Works with a junior boom—been meaning get one. Impact is a B&H brand, I think, and is $30 w/free shipping:

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com/c/product/85731​6-REG

I would probably opt for the Avenger version:

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com/c/product/3616-REG

RDKirk wrote in post #18257416
This is a baby drop link on steroids. It is kinda heavy, and it seems rather expensive once you throw in the shipping, but in the studio it is a magnificent beauty. It can take a real serious tightening without anything shearing or breaking. Perfect match to a boom on a C-stand.

https://www.amazon.com …age_o07_s00?ie=​UTF8&psc=1

Very nice, and Scot likes his MSE double knuckle equivalent - but - I'm probably alone on the planet, in preferring a drop down pin (set tight enough to be stiff, but dropped to vertical) with an in-line captive swivel between that and the light. It means nearly every freedom of movement can be set up firmly, leaving only rotation about a vertical axis for final feathering tweaks. (I don't like relying on dragging set-screws around baby pin necks - in suspension.)

OceanRipple* wrote in post #18257501
Very nice, and Scot likes his MSE double knuckle equivalent - but - I'm probably alone on the planet, in preferring a drop down pin (set tight enough to be stiff, but dropped to vertical) with an in-line captive swivel between that and the light. It means nearly every freedom of movement can be set up firmly, leaving only rotation about a vertical axis for final feathering tweaks. (I don't like relying on dragging set-screws around baby pin necks - in suspension.)

Would you mind posting a photo of this set-up, please? I haven't yet found my ideal set-up and I thought the above-mentioned Avenger F830 might be the answer but it doesn't seem to be available in the UK. Thanks.

Both this and the drop down pin are nice to have.

AnnieMacD wrote in post #18257538
Would you mind posting a photo of this set-up, please? I haven't yet found my ideal set-up and I thought the above-mentioned Avenger F830 might be the answer but it doesn't seem to be available in the UK. Thanks.

Hi, Drop Pins, MSE's Knuckle Head and Swivel pins are all great solutions. I prefer to have every freedom of movement except rotation about the vertical, clamped down - so that only the latter is free for fingertip adjustment (with or without clamping that down too). Dragging a set-screw around a Baby Pin neck is accepted practice, but I'm not keen on doing so - in suspension.

AFAIK there are no off the peg in-line captive swivels - so I had to make my own. I've tested it by dropping 10 kg 10 feet - that nearly disassembled my house but the swivel was good. An alternative to create a swivel is to reverse mount a Grip-Head onto a boom's Baby-Pin with the circular jaws gripping the boom's pin - leaving the pass-through receiver vacant for a collared Baby-Pin to take a suspended light - thus:

I hope this thread is the beginning of the Grip 102...

That is, after my all time favorite thread, Grip 101:

https://photography-on-the.net …hread.php?t=988​250&page=1

SYS wrote in post #18257702
I hope this thread is the beginning of the Grip 102...

That is, after my all time favorite thread, Grip 101:

https://photography-on-the.net …hread.php?t=988​250&page=1

Yes, I'd lead a very sheltered life until reading that thread

OceanRipple* wrote in post #18257689
I prefer to have every freedom of movement except rotation about the vertical, clamped down - so that only the latter is free for fingertip adjustment (with or without clamping that down too).

Hosted photo: posted by OceanRipple* in
./showthread.php?p=182​57689&i=i211873542
forum: Flash and Studio Lighting

Do you mean that the joining nut and bolt of the Baby Pin is just finger tightened? I received this a short while ago and as someone entirely new to baby pins, I didn't know HOW MUCH it needed to be tightened.

OceanRipple* wrote in post #18257722
Yes, I'd lead a very sheltered life until reading that thread

I loved that Grip 101 so much that I re-read the whole thing about two weeks ago.

SYS wrote in post #18257730
Do you mean that the joining nut and bolt of the Baby Pin is just finger tightened? I received this a short while ago and as someone entirely new to baby pins, I didn't know HOW MUCH it needed to be tightened.

There's no rule, as long as it's safe. Using the light's weight instead of fighting it, is the point. I like mine fairly well tightened - but that's just taste. The swivel is the item (a DIY'd paint pole adaptor) with the red butterfly thumb knob.

The second photo shows a Grip-head use that's also great for resisting torque about a boom or arm axis.

I like the use of your suicide safety thread. I've never dropped a strobe, but this in an excellent idea. So much for my sheltered life...

Angmo wrote in post #18257915
I like the use of your suicide safety thread. I've never dropped a strobe, but this in an excellent idea. So much for my sheltered life...

Paracord...

SYS wrote in post #18257943
Paracord...

Yes, if making new cords now, I'd go half a size up, as much for handling as for strength. I sail, so my knots are OK, but certainly don't use reef knots (they are good knots but evolved for the requirement to be untie-able under load). Plastic D Grimlocs are handy, lightweight and strong enough.