Have you looked on eBay to see what the Hong Kong guys are turning out? I bought a couple of flash brackets - different designs - within the last week. One was only the equivalent of about $25. The other was more like $80. That's with delivery to the UK. Here's the cheaper one....
http://cgi.ebay.com …Q_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262
Some pics....
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I have just realised that the flash is not centred over the lens in portrait orientation but I've since loosened a couple of screws to reposition the flash and tightened them back. Now the alignment is spot on.
and the dearer one....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …ZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemI posted pictures of the dearer one here -
https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=5656519&postcount=23I have to say that both do feel cheap and I don't know how well they'll stand the test of time, but as I've never had a flash bracket before I'm quite happy experimenting. In use, I think the larger, dearer, bracket will deliver better results, because it moves the flash further from the camera and will thus improve red-eye reduction on the longer shots and also bury the shadows deeper behind the subjects. All the cheap little one does is allow you to easily and quickly keep your flash above the camera in order to avoid nasty side shadows in front od faces or behind the back of heads. The great thing about the little one is that it really is so compact and so light that you could keep it in any camera bag or even travel with it still attached to the camera, possibly. The bigger one is just a big lump and does sort of get in the way - not easy to conceal in a camera bag - but fine when at a gig.
As for materials and design, I'm not a metalurgist or an engineer, so don't ask me. What I would say is that the farther away you place the grip from the centre of mass, the more torque you get when holding the thing one handed. This effect is clearly felt when holding the bigger bracket in the left hand to adjust camera settings, or the camera in the right hand, to adjust zoom and focus or flash angle. The heavier your bracket, the more you will suffer holding the whole lot in mid air, so lightweight and fairly compact are positive properties, I think. However, strength is also important. I can see signs of flexing in my eBay brackets simply with the weight of the flash. I don't know what the metal is that has been used but either it is quite thick or of angled design, to increase rigidity. Flimsy metal will not cut it.
If you are a cometent engineer then this model looks pretty sweet -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MjqWuxedug - at a cost of a few hundred $ if you want to buy it.
