I am looking to buy a flash bracket for my camera. I have the D700 with the battery grip that always stay on there. Before I spend my hard earned money I like to do some research and ask around so I can get the best bang for the buck and get the right one.
After doing a little googling around, it seems that they have many different designs and types. Also they range in price between $30 and $200+. I know with something like this it is subjective and depends on how it fits in your hand.
But is there a certain brand or design that is being favored by a lot of photographer?
Please don't tell me to learn how to use the flash off camera. As much as I hate using the flash on camera, there are times when you have no choice.
The "Jones Bracket" has been around for a long time. There are two types. They are built well and have a hot shoe type mount you can use the off-camera cord for. It gets the flash up high and puts the shadows behind the subject. Used by wedding photogs for years. Your D700 and that work well IMO, the grip is on the left side of the camera.
Flash brackets do get the flash off camera - just not as far as when using separate stands.
I never got around to buying one because I could not see them in the flesh where I live. I've not thought about it for years but there were many different factors to weigh up, such as cost and bulk and convenience.
e.g. Some have a mechanism that lets you rotate the camera to / from portrait mode without rotating the flash or the hand grip at the same time, so that the flash stays in the same place for consistent bounce and shadow effects. Others keep the flash in the same place relative to the camera but it also moves when you rotate the camera, thus affecting the shadow positions in your photos and perhaps forcing you to adjust the bounce angle every time you rotate. Some of them have a flip-over arm that lets you put the flash back to roughly where it was after you have rotated the camera. How often are you likely to rotate the camera in a session ?
Some are very simple and pretty much keep out of your way while you use the camera and lens normally whereas others add more bulk but become a hand grip too and may have a remote trigger for firing and focusing the camera. Being a hand grip too may interfere with your use of the zoom and focus rings on the lens.
Your application is an important consideration too. What you buy for hand-held shooting could be quite different from what you'd buy for tripod-mounted operation. Are you intending to use it for photographing people in a room with a near-standard lens (where bounce flash is useful), or for birds and wildlife outdoors with a large telephoto lens (where bounce flash is irrelevant) ?
with the RRS you maintain the flashes position to match the the framing of the camera portrait to portrait landscape to landscape. better for direct flash gives you good height seperation too. of course an L bracket is advised (required is more like it)
As Alan said, your intended use of the bracket will heavily influence your choice of bracket to buy. What do you want to do with it, and when/how will you use it? How often will you want to rotate the camera from portrait to landscape and back, how much will you be using bounce flash versus direct flash, and so on?
Stroboframe flip flash. Simplicity personified. Big enough to accept any camera except a Speed Graphic. Keeps the flash oriented above the camera in portrait or landscape mode. Weighs a bit less than 1 pound, including cord.
The 350 has this in its description:
"The Quick Flip 350 accepts all 35mm cameras except those with large, accessory battery packs or motor drives.)" so I went with the Pro RL
runamuck wrote:
Stroboframe flip flash. Simplicity personified. Big enough to accept any camera except a Speed Graphic. Keeps the flash oriented above the camera in portrait or landscape mode. Weighs a bit less than 1 pound, including cord.
i have owned about a dozen brackets and hated all of them for one reason or another. I decided to try the Demb and have finally found one that actually works and that i will be keeping. It is not as good on the D3 because the body is bigger, but on the D700 it is perfect
Nightowl, the 350 has 2 screws on the vertical piece to allow expansion. It holds my D700 with battery pack with room to spare. Ditto the f4 and battery pack. Is one better than the other? I don't know.
I use a camera rotational bracket by Custom Brackets. Very sturdy but kinda pricey. check them out at www.custombrackets.com. Excellent - Excellent - Excellent!
Best brackets are the ones from Custom Brackets. They have a variety of styles but all provide for rotating the camera while everything else stays in place. Plenty of room on some of the models to add a wireless transmitter and room to attach a sync cord.
The Custom Bracket units can also be fitted with a quick release plate so they can be used on a tripod and then removed intact and carried around to continue shooting.
Less expensive but still worth taking a look at is the one from Joe Demb. The Demb is one of the best cheap brackets around. The Stroboframe Press T is also a good value but it entails flipping the camera and the bracket and this can be a little unwieldy at times.
Although it may seem a bit ho'key. It works really well with my Quantum and a few modifiers I use here. The only drawback I've found is the mechanism/construction they've used for the vert<>horizt. conversion is just a tad stiff. I used a Q-Tip with a touch of white grease on the inner rails and problem solved.
saelee wrote:
I am looking to buy a flash bracket for my camera. I have the D700 with the battery grip that always stay on there. Before I spend my hard earned money I like to do some research and ask around so I can get the best bang for the buck and get the right one.
After doing a little googling around, it seems that they have many different designs and types. Also they range in price between $30 and $200+. I know with something like this it is subjective and depends on how it fits in your hand.
But is there a certain brand or design that is being favored by a lot of photographer?
Please don't tell me to learn how to use the flash off camera. As much as I hate using the flash on camera, there are times when you have no choice....Show more →
I can only talk about the brackets that I know and used:
Custom Brackets CB Junior (first version)
Custom Brackets CB Junior (second and current version)
Stroboframe PRO-T
first I strongly suggest to get the SC-29 cord with AF assist (when you put the flash on the bracket the AF assist of the flash will point the beam somewhere else)
I like the CB Junior more than the PRO-T . The main difference between the first and the second (and current) version is a D-ring screw to attach the bracket to the camera (while with the old version you need a quarter to tighten it up -frequently-)
the anti-twist bar (from custom brackets) is -to me- useless. Just be prepared to adjust the screw often.
