Is there a light stand without the three legs? Maybe a weighted base. I'm looking for one to hold up a speedlite. The three leg light stand seems to be a tripping hazard at every event I go to.
haven't seen one. Are you looking for one with just a flat, round or square base? How tall do you need? Background light stands usually have three legs that lie flat. It should be easy to make your own if you need something taller that a background stand.
Back in the early 70s when I learned to shoot weddings by assisting Monte Zucker as second shooter we used a medical IV stand with a heavy cast iron base and four legs compact legs to move our off camera flash around. It was what made shooting single-handedly with manual dual flash logistically feasible with these Graflex strobes that had a big heavy external power pack...
We set ratio and exposure via distance, so if taking a shot from 8ft the slave would be wheeled in to about 6ft with the fill at 8ft over the camera on a bracket. If moving out to 11ft for a wider shot I'd grab the stand with your free hand and wheel it out to 8ft. That kept the ratio the same as before (key +1 stop over fill for 3:1 ratio on face) and opening the lens an f/stop kept the exposure the same as before. It might sound a bit complicated but in practice it was quite simple and produced very consistent results with equipment that was very primitive compared to today. I still shoot that way in M mode with my Canon 580ex speedlights when I want consistent frame-to-frame exposure for portraits and other static situations.
Made by Sharps it's called "Pitch It Sr." because it's designed to thrown away after use. It is constructed out of aluminum so it is light, and the top tube happens to be 5/8" making it easy to slide an umbrella bracket over the top. There's a U shaped plastic hook on top for the IV bag that I had to cut off and file down.
Thanks to having 5 vs. 4 or 3 legs it is virtually tip-proof and stable with short legs. There's still a tripping hazard with the legs, but most will see the stand and avoid it and if they back into it at a party it just rolls way rather than tipping over. I've never had mine tip over.
Because it's not designed as a light stand it has drawbacks. While light in weight it doesn't fold very compactly as the photo above shows. Fully extended with my flash and diffuser attached it puts the center of the diffuser 7' off the floor. That works OK for the run and gun PJ style shooting I use it for, but that's too low for other situations. I have other 8' and 12' stand available for those.
It's unconventional and one of those things you probably will not really appreciate until you try it and see how effortless it is to glide the light around a crowded room with one hand. The Cheetah stand might appear similar in its mobility but the difference logistically is needing to lift it off the floor and balance it while moving it. It also only has 3 vs 5 legs.
Coffee can, concrete, wood stick, clamp or thread.
Sounds like a tacky & crude DIY, but I remember a post (archives somewhere) that showed it to be a nifty solution. Maybe someone else can remember it / find a link.
Thanks all. Got lots of suggestions to go through.
It is mainly for my two point 45 degrees lighting for my photo backdrop area. It is a high traffic area and kids and adults don't watch where they're going. I could just use above camera lighting but it doesn't look nice imo.
On the same note, how about a mid/low priced light stand for outdoor use? One that doesn't require flat, level terrain? I'm sick of having to mount my lights on tripods when I'm outside.
DubiousDrewski wrote:
On the same note, how about a mid/low priced light stand for outdoor use? One that doesn't require flat, level terrain? I'm sick of having to mount my lights on tripods when I'm outside.
A lazy leg stand can help, although only one leg is adjustable. (For really rough terrain, having two adjustable legs would be nice, but I've never seen one like that.)
Depending on what you consider to be mid/low price, there is this:
Works great, easy to move around in tight spaces. Biggest limitation is that mic stands top out around 6 feet, but that could probably be extended at the cost of stability.
