Tried this home made setup yesterday... I've considered buying a dedicated flash but as I don't do all that much macro
photography I thought I'd try to bodge together something using my EX flashes just to see how I like the idea.
Here's the camera, 1DsII + 100/2.8 + Sigma 1.4x, with 550 and 420 flashes mounted to the tripod mount.
 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script |
Needless to say this is heavy... on the other hand that makes it stable as long as you have strength to hold it.
I tried it with a monopod too and that wasn't too bad.
And here are some pictures from today, they are not that great but as a test of the concept I'm happy,
it was a bit tricky because of wind.
Some kind of butterfly:
| MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script |
Rosehip flower:
| MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script |
A fly:
| MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script |
Some sort of bug on a rose:
| MIME changed to 'text/html' | Content warning: script |
It would be interesting to hear how you do handheld macros and what gear (flashes, brackets, ...)
that would be a better solution than what I just tried.
Thanks for showing us your setup 
| Canon 5DII
| Fujifilm Finepix F30
In fact, it comes to me as no suprise by looking at your set-up.
