I know a lot of people here use homemade flash bracket rigs, but frankly, most look like they either need to be permanently affixed, or at the very least, take quite a bit of time to remove. I also do not have a collar on my macro lens (Canon 100L), which limits some of the simpler homemade things I've seen.

One of the simplest ways looks to be the Kirk FB-6 bracket, which clamps onto my L-plate and will position the flash high and pointing down (or a myriad of other ways).

It does look like it might be hard to get the flash low and to one side, though I think if I can lock it on the vertical plate, if it clears the VF prism with the OC-E3 in the hotshoe, I can do it that way.

Anyone have experience with this setup? How's it work for you? I like that it can be FAST, and it looks relatively compact too. Of course, it's not super cheap, but frankly, any flash bracket I get/make will need to clamp to an A/S plate anyway for it to be worthwhile to me (since I do some macro, but more regular shooting, and I don't want to have to remove my L bracket when I want to shoot macro.). If I do a homemade one, the clamp alone, with any extension to attach homemade stuff, will run me at least $100 anyway, so the extra $70 isn't too bad, and it's still a heck of a lot cheaper than a dedicated ring flash. Advice?

Anyone?

There's a mini-review here:

mini-review of Kirk flash bracket

And an interesting user forum posts are here:

Kirk vs WImberley forum posts

More Kirk vs Wimberley forum posts

I hope this helps - photomacrography.net is a relatively technical forum that I've learned a lot from.

I am also looking for a commercial macro flash bracket (to replace my MT-24 flash system). Have your considered the Wimberley macro flash bracket system? If anyone out there has any review links or other informative links for the Wimberley, RRS, or other flash brackets, I would greatly appreciate the links. I'm trying to avoid a DIY bracket for various personal reasons - nothing against them).

Hi, this is my Wimberley system...Hope this is useful to others...
Wimberley desing need nearly 200USD worth of extra accessories and work with tripod only, my design is handheld...also I have provided provision for straps to carry the entire weight by Aluminum strip....recently I have powder coated that strip...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdgavali/4067670628/

Few pics using this
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sdgavali/Macro25Oct09#

I've mailed Wimberley guy's on about this enhancement that can be made on M4 bracket.

Santosh wrote:
Hi, this is my Wimberley system...Hope this is useful to others...
Wimberley desing need nearly 200USD worth of extra accessories and work with tripod only, my design is handheld...also I have provided provision for straps to carry the entire weight by Aluminum strip....recently I have powder coated that strip...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdgavali/4067670628/

Few pics using this
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sdgavali/Macro25Oct09#

Can you elaborate on the $200 worth of accessories? And how is it tripod only? It clamps to the lens plate or the camera body plate. The description and picture on the Wimberley flash bracket shows an arca-swiss clamp as part of the bracket, and it looks like I would have no problems whatsoever attaching it to the L-bracket on my camera without any extra accessories. To get even more movement, and adjustability in more directions, all I'd need is the M-8 perpendicular plate, which is $85. I don't think I'd need that, as looking at the movements, I should be able to get the flash into most any position without it.

The wimberley does look like the better solution here.

Do realise that Wimberley source their bracket from RAM mount. If you're into DIY, you can actually buy the parts from RAM and make one up yourself. Cheaper than those overpriced Wimberleys.

http://www.ram-mount.com/EmptyPages/COMPONENTS/ECOMPONENTS/tabid/1559/Default.aspx

That's cool, but it doesn't look cheaper....I'd need two of part E-201U, and that alone would cost me $260...$90 more than the Wimberley bracket, and it doesn't include all the other parts.

A quick tabluation of what I THINK I'd need, would put me at $432, and that's without the clamp and the connecting screw to the flash...

Plus...looking at that site, the sizes have to be much larger than the Wimberley....they're specifying 3 3/8" balls...that's enormous. It would put the size of the flash bracket at roughly 3 feet long. From the picture, comparing it to the A/S clamp part, it looks like the ball/socket on the Wimberley is about 1/2" - 3/4".

Oh, that's the E-size as you can see at the top of the page, pretty much the largest size they got. Check out the smaller A-D size.

That's my mistake, I'm not familiar with imperial sizes. I'm a metric kinda guy you see...

Not sure if this link is available without joining - but an Old post on POTN re using ram mounts- think they are size B
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=277210&highlight=Ram

Brian V.

With M4 macro bracket you need M1 quick release arm (66 USD) in addition you need to have arc swiss style cameras plate (70 USD) and arc swiss type ball head (400 USD) to make things work. And not to mention this works with tripod only.

http://www.tripodhead.com/products/flash-bracket-macro-brackets.cfm

You don't need a tripod to use these.

Santosh wrote:
With M4 macro bracket you need M1 quick release arm (66 USD) in addition you need to have arc swiss style cameras plate (70 USD) and arc swiss type ball head (400 USD) to make things work. And not to mention this works with tripod only.

http://www.tripodhead.com/products/flash-bracket-macro-brackets.cfm

Well, I'm looking at the F-2, not the M4 (which contains both the M2 and M4)....and I already have an arca-swiss L-bracket on all my cameras, along with an arca-swiss ball head (which can be done for a lot less than $400, btw...mine's a manfrotto 488 ball head with a Kirk Clamp. Total cost: $160). You don't need a tripod to mount these. Not sure where you're getting that. THe fact that it's an arca-swiss connection is a MUST for my flash bracket, it's not a down side.

The schematic diagram in that page shows all are carried on tripod, hmm it's possible to carry hand held too, but then too much weight we are putting on camera plate, and torque on the camera will be greater, weight distribution will be un even and whole system will be tilting on side where M4 is attached....If you see my design I can carry all weight on straps, not on camera (thus saves cost of M1 (66$) and camera plate (52$), if one don't have it)....

Santosh wrote:
The schematic diagram in that page shows all are carried on tripod, hmm it's possible to carry hand held too, but then too much weight we are putting on camera plate, and torque on the camera will be greater, weight distribution will be un even and whole system will be tilting on side where M4 is attached....If you see my design I can carry all weight on straps, not on camera (thus saves cost of M1 (66$) and camera plate (52$), if one don't have it)....

Thanks for this extra information and insight into your thinking about your design and for your thoughts on using a complete Wimberley system.

My initial reaction about your torque and weight concerns are as follows (please note that I do not have a lot of confidence in my analysis). First, if I attach a Wimberley macro flash bracket system and my Canon 550EX flash gun + diffuser to the camera plate, the weight and torques are spread across the base of the camera due to the custom-fit design of my (Kirk) camera plate. Alternatively, I could attach this flash rig to the tripod collar of either my Canon 100mm f2.8 or MPE-65 lenses. Since the lens tripod collar is effectively attached to the lens mounting flange of the camera, I think it would be strong enough for the 1-2 pounds (0.5-1 kg) weight of the flash system. I really want to stay with my Arca-Swiss compatible camera plate even though I mostly hand-hold my camera for macro work.

Well, this is my ad-hoc theory and a few thoughts. Would it be better (lower weight, less torque on the camera body) to attach such a Wimberly macro flash bracket rig to a FULL LENGTH, flat "camera plate" like the one Santosh has so beautifully designed and built? I guess a lot depends on whether or not the flash rig's torques should be spread out over the full width of the camera body instead of the lens collar or the centrally-placed shorter width of a typical camera plate. I would probably prefer a custom-fit, FULL LENGTH camera plate for this application. As it is, I hope the fairly short camera plate that Kirk (or Really Right Stuff) plates effectively couple all the torques to the whole camera body shell. Yet a full-length camera plate would interfere with quick camera battery removal, requiring the plate to be removed each time the battery needs recharging. This probably isn't a big deal in my own camera use. Finally, I wonder if a typical short-length camera plate effectively uses as much as is necessary of the camera body's internal metal framework? This area must be reinforced and coupled to the metal camera body of my 5DII camera body since the tripod screw hole is placed here.

Again, I'm only offering a few ad-hoc thoughts and do not criticize anyone's design or comments.

Do we have any mechanical engineers in the forum who would provide additional analysis?

An interesting thread - thanks for the many links and comments others have provided - they are very helpful.

I know it works because I use that bracket on my MP-E 65mm tripod collar and I shoot handheld... all the time.

I found another alternative, I wish I knew how to post a pic here.
Basically, Cokin used to make what it called a Creative Flash system. It mounts to the front of the lens, like a ring light, but it has three heads that can be independently swiveled. It has a high guide number, so I usually use it at 1/8 or 1/4 power.
Except for not having automatic TTL, it works much like a Nikon R1C1. Manual exposure is no hassle, a shot or two will enable you to adjust exposure spot on.
I often see them on Ebay, I got one for 50 bucks, they usually go for under 100.
You can also mount it on the hotshoe and use it as a regular flash.

Below is a link to a web page with a photo of the Cokin system. There are also other older macro flash systems here, and it's interesting to consider the evolution of macro flash systems. Scroll about 3/4 of the way down the page for the Cokin system.

Cokin & other older macro flash system photos

Jordan, I honestly think you'll be fine with a flat bracket, mini ball head and an off shoe cord. I know you can't be as creative with your lighting as with the Kirk or RAM systems but if you're into shooting animate critters you wont have time in most cases to adjust your lighting. Click here for a few examples (note that I've swapped the demb for a lumiquest mini softbox)