Riddle Me This, Batman/woman:

To bracket or not to bracket, that is the question.

I purchased a custom bracket when I began doing events about two years ago and like it.

I recently viewed a DVD of "master" wedding photographers, including Denis Reggie and others. They speak about their craft and you see them in action. Unless I'm mistaken, and besides one who uses a Leica, none of them were using a bracket.

Now, I know the advantages: no/less red eye; less/differing shadows, etc.

What say you?

me

No but the papprazzi use them extensivly Head for Hollywweird!!

I have tried several but they just don't seem secure to me, and it is another connection that may go bad...

Les

ive never been a big fan of brackets. i think theyre too cumbersome. but thats just my opinion.

I have one, the ONLY time I use it is for the processional when it's sort of hard to avoid using direct flash. Other than that is stays in the trunk of my car.

When I'm indoors, say at a reception, I use the bracket so I don't have to reposition the flash to still have it bounced when I turn the camera to portrait. When I'm outdoors, it's just a bare flash on the camera. Maybe a Stofen, but that's it.

I have the QRS-35-EV and the QRS-E2. They were each about $400 with the cord and plates. Look on the bright side, mark. Even on the bracket, you can have a weathersealed setup. OCSC3, 580EXII, and your MkIII. Niiiiice.

I have two Custom Brackets, one is their "high end" model, fwiw. I never use them. My on camera flash is bounced from ceilings or walls or I use off-cam flash.

I'm actually about to build a Custom Brackets Digi M-Pro that uses the AP-1 above the handle for the hotshoe instead of the extra arm. The extra arm is what I hate about the bracket I have. (other than no rotating at the moment) I'm just trying to get something a little more rugged with rotating where only the camera is moving. It'll be expensive, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. I think a bracket designed like this will be much more functional and exciting to use.

I use mine every wedding, but only when I need both an on-camera flash and a pocketwizard. The bracket is where I mount the pocketwizard.

Hate em cause the stupid hotshoe cord keeps breaking at the bracket end!! Canon makes the worst type. They use plastic on the bracket hotshoe end that after a few dozen "flips" gives way and you flash goes bungieing!

But my wife loves them. Go figure.......

Mark,

I have a Custom bracket also. I've not used it as extensively as I thought I would, but I wouldn't be without it.

Recently I had the opportunity to shoot behind the scene candids at an all day studio shoot. I could have got by without it, but for that event I found the Custom Bracket to be invaluable.

I was shooting in a warehouse that offered about zero return from flash bounced off the ceiling and the walls were also too far away. Instead of adding a stofen to the flash, I used a foam reflector/diffuser per the better bounce card method.

The amount of light bounced forward was amazing as was the diffusion. Having the custom bracket kept me from having to constantly re-orient the flash head while shifting the camera body between landscape and portrait.

Back when Canon moved from the 10D to the 20D I recall reading Denis Reggie's website where he talked about the advantage that 8.3mp had of 6.3mp. Essentially, he said he could take all his shots in landscape and crop to portrait mode due to the larger number of pixels.

I think that if a photographer is satisfied with the results they achieve without a flash bracket then I wouldn't recommend one to them.

On the other hand, my flash bracket will free stand on a flat surface with 24-70L or 70-200 mounted. It will also mount on a tripod using the QR.

Can't imagine something more useful.

MarkAnthonyPhotography wrote in post #4114857
Hate em cause the stupid hotshoe cord keeps breaking at the bracket end!! Canon makes the worst type. They use plastic on the bracket hotshoe end that after a few dozen "flips" gives way and you flash goes bungieing!

But my wife loves them. Go figure.......

Flips?..., sounds like you're using the wrong flash bracket...

MarkAnthonyPhotography wrote in post #4114857
Hate em cause the stupid hotshoe cord keeps breaking at the bracket end!!

Screw it to the bracket instead of clamping it in. That threaded hole in the bottom is there for a reason.

Yeah, my original query was not about equipment failure due to bracket use, but solely a picture quality issue.

I've never had a problem with the hot shoe cord going up to the bracket.

me

I have two brackets and rarely use direct flash so I rarely use the brackets.

Rick

Ronald S. Jr. wrote in post #4114155
When I'm outdoors, it's just a bare flash on the camera. Maybe a Stofen, but that's it.

As a side note, you do realize that those things have exactly the same effect as direct flash outdoors, right?

In any case, I can't see myself using a bracket (and all the good wedding photographers I've seen don't either). If I absolutely _have_ to use on-camera flash, I'll bounce it from something, but I'll generally try to just get something off-camera.