MT-24EX Twin Light - can these lights be mini-tripod mounted

Hi All

I have some basic Macro-Kit with me and I wish to experiment further so that my Macro photography is greatly improved. (At the moment the pics I have taken are totally amateurish. The results are flat and ocassionally the colour-rendition without the flash unit attached - results are very dull).

Kit being used:
40D body with 100mm f2.8 Maco USM (58mm thread) - sometimes with/without MT-24ex

Q1.> I was wondering about the following scenario:
is it possible to mount the MT-24 flash heads onto mini-tripods so that I can get better lighting separation. I suppose a 'Macro-Studio setup !?!

I have seen some cheapo-ones in downtown Miami costing between $10.00-$15.00

An aside, I used to use a Hoya CPL to help tame the beastly output generated by the MT24 - I achieved acceptable results doing this - but nothing award-winning or praise-worthy as accomplished by you seasoned-pro's on this site.

Q2.> What opinions do you have about using a CPL for Macro - flash photography ? (which/what would you recommend)

Hmmm ---> an intrigued snapper

main thing is to diffuse the MT-24 - Gary Fong diffusers or cheap copies are popular. They are designed for pop up flash but will fit.

I haven't noticed mini-tripods being used. But I have seen some of those flash bracket extension arms being used (RRS or Manfrotto).

I wouldn't imagine the CPL helping with a flash light source. As per Toby's suggestion above, better off diffusing the heads to give softer light to start with. I've been using Lumiquest Ultrabounces and am happy with the results.

Got some sample images to post? I'd be interested in seeing the shot with and without the CPL.

I have the same speedlight, MT24EX. I use kitchen roll as a diffuser, works well as I can select the amount of diffusion by adding or reducing the diffusion layers. I also have a couple of small, 5" tall tripods that I mount the twin flash heads on if I am doing studio work, water drops or other so as to be able to bounce light from different surfaces.

Cheers,
Mark.

Thank you all for your suggestions:

Toby - I am looking into the Gary Fong diffusers today. They do look very neat!

Troy - I have not taken out a Subscription with this site - I believe that I MUST now do. So I cannot upload any sample images. I use the CPL whilst taking close-ups of flowers/buds whilst using the MT-24. Once I am able to upload to somewhere I will provide the link(s) for you to compare.
I could get the Lumiquest Ultrabounce for my 580exII, I didn't see anything for this MT-24 flash.

Mark - thanks so the mini-tripods can fit the MT-24 flashes, I will pick up a couple soon then.

I appreciate all this advice, the more I read from your suggestions the more I am humbled by my own limited knowledge.

Cham_001 wrote in post #10020751
Thank you all for your suggestions:

Toby - I am looking into the Gary Fong diffusers today. They do look very neat!

Troy - I have not taken out a Subscription with this site - I believe that I MUST now do. So I cannot upload any sample images. I use the CPL whilst taking close-ups of flowers/buds whilst using the MT-24. Once I am able to upload to somewhere I will provide the link(s) for you to compare.
I could get the Lumiquest Ultrabounce for my 580exII, I didn't see anything for this MT-24 flash.

Mark - thanks so the mini-tripods can fit the MT-24 flashes, I will pick up a couple soon then.

I appreciate all this advice, the more I read from your suggestions the more I am humbled by my own limited knowledge.

There's only one size Ultrabounce. They are designed for the bigger speedlites, but you just stick some velcro loops on your MT24 flash heads and they work. Don't have a photo handy, but they give nice soft light IMO.

I bought one of those mini desk tripods and attempted to mount one of the MT-24EX flash units to it, but the cord pulls hard on it, Solution: Blu Tack. Just put blu tack on the tripod legs so it doesnt move, So I carry blu tack now in my camera bag. Also you can $5 Gary fong diffusers for the flash from E-bay, the beauty of the e-bay cheapo's is that you get an orange and blue diffuser in the pack so 3 diffusers for the price of one.

Yes the heads have tripod mount screews and just unclip from the lens bracket.

No reason why a polariser can't be used with flash to reduce surface reflections. Seting the polariser angle may be difficult not sure if the focus asist lights are a lot of help, possiy shoot teathered for a fast preview on a computer.

As noted diffusion is the thing, if working in a studio try a light tent.

while I had that flash on loan I sometimes held the heads in my hands to try out different light directions etc. Worked well. I'd be afraid that mini tripods would fall over, the cables have quite some pull.I guess taping them down works, but that would be more of a hassle to me. Currently I use my regular flash off camera, and that I can mount on mini or large tripods or just hold, works better for me. I'll be getting a 2nd one, probably just the 430, as I want two off camera heads for studio/portrait work.

Of course you can also build extension arms or buy some premade ones to mount the heads, but that can get pretty expensive. Or if it's for a mini studio, you can get cheap tripod heads and mount those to anything, a wooden rig, metal pieces (like plumbers tape, which can be bent around a bit within reason) etc Not pretty, but certainly would work.

I did have little diffusers on the 24 heads, those were made for it I think, they fit perfectly. No idea of the brand though, as they were not mine. But those, and playing with the ratios and sometimes even just taking one head off and pointing it away gave me neat results.

Sounds like the diffusers are Stofen ones.

If you are worried about the mini pods falling over you could look at the little G-clamp still breakets, these have a little ball-head and tripod mount, you would need something like a table edge to clamp to however.

If you have the camera on a pod you could just hold both heads and fire the camera on a cable release or a timer.

When I have used the MT-24 for this sort of thing I have sometimes used the off camera flash cable to increase reach.

Update: my current setup of MT24 with mini-tripods using the Pocket Wizard TT5's
Just a very quick 'snap' to show you what I have done. In fact I did not use my Hoya CPL for this setup shot, nor for the actual 'product' shot! However, I have achieved favourable results especially when glass surfaces are used. I did not bother with diffusing the MT24 flashes, I just 'stopped-down' to F20 for the actual 'product' shot - to tame the lights.

http://www.facebook.co​m …id=548004575&l=​d2119f2376

Troy: duly noted - I have not had a chance to shop for any more hardware just yet - Ultrabounce / Sofens - it is then! - I will look up how to attach using velcro - for me this will be a real test.
Two-O: a very practical tip thank you! I used a glass table for my setup - How wrong! so I BluTacked the lot! - BTW: BluTac and glass = perfect adhesion.
Lester: 2 x USD $7 for these two Digital mini-tripods. They really worked a treat! - I got good lighting separation without over-stretching the coiled cords.
I have a set of 3 light-tents all waiting for me at my Brazil-based studio. Also my L-lenses are there with the 5D. Whilst travelling I just lug the 40D, 100 2.8 USM Macro, 1 580ex2, the TT5's and a Velbon super-light tripod, the EF-S 10-22mm & a 'damaged' 28-135mm IS lens.
Phantelope: Luckily I have the remote triggers. So the flash setup is independent of the camera. Worked beautifully, as the MT24 flash-heads were independently mounted on these mini-tripods. There was a bit of pull, however the blu-tac stopped that effectively. Thanks for the tips on using the ratios. At the moment I have not dared to do this - just immersing in this micro/macro world. As for the diffusers I need to purchase the Ultrabounce/Stofen types. If you know of specific custom ones for the MT24 then I would be grateful for the brand name.

Huge, huge thanks for all this advice and knowledge-sharing. I really welcome this support as I 'immerse-myself-further-into-this-murky-land-of-the-unknown'.

now that's a nice setup! All off camera to create a mini macro studio, not cheap, but very nice! I'm pretty sure those were stofen diffusers, but might be wrong. Those sell for about $23 at b&h etc. They make a huge difference, so much so, that I think they should be standard equipment that comes with the flash.