Using camera with straight flash bracket?

Hi I have recently bought a 40D with battery grip and also treated myself to a 580ex II to replace my 550ex.

After spending time with fellow togs I saw they use a straight flash bracket with the flash on the right hand side.

As the majority of my pictures are portraits I thought I would give this a go so bought the straight flash bracket and off shoe cord.

After setting it up I just find it too awkward to use and wondered what other people did.

I tried it with the flash right up against the right hand side of the camera but when it is like this it is impossible to get at the buttons. I then moved it away from the camera so that there was enough room for me to get my hand between the flash and camera which works better but it then doesn't feel sturdy and I am afraid either the bracket will break or the flash will fall off.

My friend has the flash flush with the camera and uses the buttons on the grip whatever orientation he has the camera but again I find this extremely awkward especially as I have focus set to the * button.

What are your experiences of this as I would like to give it a go but it just seems completely impractical?

Many Thanks

Darren.

Anybody please

There are many types of flash brackets than range in price from sub $50 to over $300. It would be helpful to helpful to know what your budget is. For example, I could tell you all about my two flash brackets that cost more than $100 but if you're only looking to spend $50 on a bracket, my post wouldn't do you any good.

For starters, try doing a search in this forum on "flash bracket recommendation". You'll get a lot of useful threads listed.

Thanks for the reply but I already have the straight flash bracket I just wanted to know how other people use their cameras with it attached.

Least expensive and simplest useful flash bracket is a "L" bracket, around US $15. Pivoting brackets are more versatile but also more expensive, starting around US $50 and costing up to around US $200.

The straight flash bracket is doomed to create 'side shadows' cast to one side of the subjects, when the camera is in Landscape orientation. When the camera is rotated counterclockwise to Portrait orientation, the flash (if next to the camera grip) now moves to a more optimal position over the lens and quite close to the lens axis. For that reason, this configuration is a reasonable one for photojournalists and portraitists.