Strobist style flash and umbrella brackets?

skullfish

skullfish

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Hi all.

I've putting together a strobist style lighting setup, and I've got everything sorted except for umbrellas and umbrella adaptor heads for the stands.

As far as I can tell my choices are limited to either the cheapo ebay jobby of dubious providence and build quality, or the more durable manfrotto tilt-tite.

The problem is, the manfrotto example doesn't seem to have a hotshoe mount on the top of it, just a metal spigot (excellent word) top and bottom. Can anyone vouch for the quality of the ebay brackets, or reassure me that the manfrotto brackets do indeed come with something to mount a flash (SB-25) onto it. (Alternitively, a link to a further hotshoe adaptor for the bracket would do.)
 
I've bought two of the "ebay jobbies" and whilst they are excellent for the money, the shaft is plastic so if you tighten it too much it will snap (one of mine already has). I also find it quite tricky to make the flash secure (there is a tiny knob to tighten them with but it's quite tricky). I often mount the flash on it so that the front of the flash it facing the ground and then rotate the head 180 degrees to point into the umbrella, this seems to be the most secure way of doing it. Also, the runners that the flash slides into are metal so it's wise to put a little bit of electrical tape on the shoe of the flash to protect the terminals from shorting.

They are very useful but I would be prepared to pay more for a much better build quality. Sadly I can't quite seem to find an alternative.
 
I've got the ebay jobhy you posted and it works well for me. As long as you dont overtighten it, it wont break.

But I think youll be btter off with the better quality in the long run.

You can buy the hotshoe mount from www.speedgraphic.co.uk, or www.karlu.com
 
Its the overtightening bit that I was worried about. I'll be using this kit fairly intensively and don't want to be worrying about such an important part snapping or performing under par.

Has anyone got any experience with alternitives? Worst case scenario I'll just buy a spare one, but I do prefer to have durable kit to begin with.
 
Ahh, that one from speedgraphic looks good. Shame they're out of stock at the moment though.
 
The ones I in speedgraphic were in stock when I checked, but 2x mounts, 2x hot shoe adaptors and 2x umbrellas comes to £93...

:eek:
 
Wouldn't you just need to attach Lastolite Tilthead with Hotshoe to a stand (it has an umbrella support built in?

What are the mounts you are talking about for?

I think I might go for those Tiltheads and use my cheapy (but perfectly adequate) brollies that came with the hotshoe mounts from ebay.
 
I got two umbrellas, two stands and two tilt heads imported from mpex.com for less than £100 all in and the quality seems reasonable. Don't order online though, they seem rubbish for that but over the phone they were very good.
 
I have some portaflash metal ones from Jessops, hen they were closing shops, they may still be available :shrug:
 
cherryrig said:
How much was the shipping and stuff with MPEX? How long did it take as well
Click to expand...

I think all the extras (shipping and taxes) came to about £30 but even so it was still cheaper to buy than getting the equivalent here. Took about 4 working days for delivery.
 
ranarama said:
I think all the extras (shipping and taxes) came to about £30 but even so it was still cheaper to buy than getting the equivalent here. Took about 4 working days for delivery.
Click to expand...

Well done! MPEX are fab, I use them alot and you couldn't be more accurate with regards to the shipping and taxes issue, still cheaper than the UK!
I've had great experiences with Adorama too, they're worth a try.

T.
 
I've got one of those Ebay jobbies and the other meaning of the word jobby accurately describes it :thinking:......;)

The Manfrotto ones are worth the extra money, as are most things by that company :)
 
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