My DIY idea (is it good)

I'm in the process of learning about lighting and exploring what I currently own in terms of equipment, which for this project are: my 430EX, soon-to-come Yongnuo RF602, and 36in reflector. Now my idea is to use my old Wal-mart tripod as support, and build a holder for my reflector up top, and an arm that comes out and allows me to position the flash to bounce off or shine through the reflector. I also will be weighing the tripod down since I know that won't be able to hold that weight even if well balanced. So how does that sound? I'll be drawing up sketches of what it'll look like, and if anyone's interested in seeing it through, i'll make a DIY contribution to the sticky above.

Sorry, but seems like a complete waste of time to me.. why not just spend around 50$ and get the cheapest lightstand with a bracket?

I think it would be cheaper to do this honestly. Why do you think it would be a waste of time? Would such a rig be ineffective?

It just looks like a pain in the neck trying position the flash where you want it and such, adjusting the height etc... and needing a sandbag/weight to hold your tripod down looks like a complete pain. Unless your really pro at these crafting stuff, then yes, it would be ineffective.

Yea I see where you're coming from. I'm more in the design stage right now trying to figure out something that would work. I guess I'll see if everything balances out or now.

sounds like a great idea, go for it. The thing about DIY is you teach yourself things you didn't know you could do. You find out what works and what does not, same thing in photography if you don't try new things you will never do anything diffrent, just my opinion, post your sketches and your progress for us to see, those who appreciate it will let you know.

I see you are a "poor college student," so I imagine you are trying to save money. I say give it a whirl. It may not work and it may cost you more than if you had invested in a light stand and umbrella, but sometimes doing stuff like this can be a learning experience. Back when I had more time than money I made my own soft boxes out of wood and metal scraps, foam core, tracing paper, and other odds and ends. I used a Vivitar 283 as the flash power and even managed to finagle a modeling light. They worked, but I wouldn't do it today. So if you want to play around with it, I say do it.

Sounds like a good cheap deal working with things you already have. Tripods work pretty good when your on uneven ground. You can adjust each leg to make it level unlike a stand that would be at a slant and easier to tip over.

Thanks for the support guys, I'll definitely post back when I have the sketches drawn. Yea I wanted to try something different, and if it doesn't work out, it's not like i'm out a lot of money.

Speaking as someone that loves a good DIY I think it's worth a shot. If you're trying a new idea that hasn't been prototyped or tested you always have to accept that the project may not be successful or not as you had hoped but there is immense gratification in conceiving an idea and then bringing it to life.

For every great DIY that I post I have 10 that just plain sucked.

Exactly, and since i'm not as crafty as I would like, doing this might give me a spark in the right direction to being so. But I do have to wait until the semester is over of course, but in a couple weeks, hopefully i'll have it built, now i'll just work on the sketches and what i need to get.

I used to mount an umbrella bracket onto a tripod and use a 1/2" copper pipe with some clamps. Gotta credit Robert with the idea.

I finally got around to sketching out what i want my bracket to look like, so here it is:

I think it sounds like a pretty good idea to try if you're handy enough and have access to the shop equipment to fabricate this easily, just be sure to tell us if it works well so we can be jealous and you get to say I told you so.

I think you're going to eventually want a regular light stand though, they set up quicker and work a little better than the tripods. Not to sidetrack the thread but I'd take a look at something like this for starters: http://cgi.ebay.com …ain_0&hash=item​2eb1e54690
That's what I went with and found them to be pretty decent quality for an incredibly low price (considering they come with fairly nice sandbags). Even for just one flash you could still use the 2nd stand for your reflector to separate it out and have more options. It could hold the reflector out on the other side of your shot instead of just being able to support it as a diffuser.

I say give your idea a shot though, just keep an eye on the cost of the parts though and understand that decent stands capable of sturdily supporting a speedlight can be had pretty cheaply.

Good luck!

Sketches look good man, go for it, keep us posted