I've said it once, I'll say it again... Newton Custom Bracket.
My Newton Camera Bracket is TINY, and RUGGED. It helps bounce, hold the flash off the the side (in horizontal mode), keep the flash head perfectly over the axis of the lens in vertical mode.
In a flash bracket, you want two things most.
1. Very Tall/High elevation of flash, short brackets are no good.
2. Comfortable grips for all day use.
I highly recomend a bracket with a palm rest on the front under the lens.
This is the usual place you support your camera (lens) and without it you will hate the braket if you have to hold it anywhere else for a long time.
The image below shows a bracket with no palm rest:
Bogen Manfrotto
Custom Brackets
Gary Fong Lightsphere-2 System
Jones flash brackets (Veach)
JustRite Bracket Company
Kirk
Newton N7400
Quickflip
RX Camera Accessories
Stroboframe Pro-T
Wimberley brackets
Just a question for those who say "No bracket, just bounce your flash." How do you deal with the shadows being off-center when you are shooting in portrait orientation?
cwebster wrote:
Just a question for those who say "No bracket, just bounce your flash." How do you deal with the shadows being off-center when you are shooting in portrait orientation?
<Chas>
See I know for a fact, that my images look better than just regular bouncing. Many times, I'll be in vertical mode, but desire my flash to angle to the side while mounted to the bracket. I have adjusted my bracket to just have enough give to switch modes quickly, but still enough grip to allow placement whereever I like.
It's an indispensable tool, and I wouldn't be here without it.
With that all said and done... really all I'm doing is getting my flash "more" off the camera than normal, but I require and demand precise control and that's what my bracket allows me to do.
I really wonder how many of the "non-bracket" people, also shoot with two cameras, or wear special harnesses for such things.
As I tell me clients, to each their own, and I'll never put down a non-bracket person, but let's all agree that it's a tool that many use, and quite well.
Let's elevate & educate each other, instead of degrading.
Wow, i really opened a can of worms, I am really rethinking the stroboframe, looking at custom brackets, i have used a stroboframe multiple times before, and enjoyed mostly for the fact the the flash is on axis.
I looked at custom brackets down at Mid West Photo and liked them. I wasn't sure if I'd be using one that much due to so many mixed opinions so I bought an RPS bracket just to see how it works.
The RPS is cheap and gets the job done. I also love how the flash height is easy to adjust and it extends way above the camera. The down side is the bracket is made pretty cheap, and the design is not very ergonomic.
I definitely will be using a bracket for the majority of the wedding photos I take, but I'll also be getting a better bracket in the near future.
Bogen Manfrotto
Custom Brackets
Gary Fong Lightsphere-2 System
Jones flash brackets (Veach)
JustRite Bracket Company
Kirk
Newton N7400
Quickflip
RX Camera Accessories
Stroboframe Pro-T
Wimberley brackets
Nickelback should also be on this list
freakin pandora
I personally prefer the Stroboframe Pro-RL like in the photos I posted, but this was not the first one I bought. I underestimated how high the flash needs to go and also my need for a support handle under lens. My old Stroboframe Press-T is very nice and strong and lets me use the camera side and bottom grip to support the whole thing. Now, I prefer the new larger Stroboframe Pro-RL Flash Bracket.
I use it with my 1Ds III and 580 EX II and maybe a battery pack added on too and it's not a burden or uncomfortable.
I shot my first wedding yesterday... I used the Wedding Pro bracket by RSS. However.. the only time I should need a bracket... is if I am going to use direct flash... so if the venue has places to bounce the flash,.. then the bracket can stay in the camera bag..
If I need direct flash, then I will mount the flash on the bracket.. and use a diffuser on the flash head.. but for anything else, then bounce is going to be better... no?
Travis Harris wrote:
I shot my first wedding yesterday... I used the Wedding Pro bracket by RSS. However.. the only time I should need a bracket... is if I am going to use direct flash... so if the venue has places to bounce the flash,.. then the bracket can stay in the camera bag..
If I need direct flash, then I will mount the flash on the bracket.. and use a diffuser on the flash head.. but for anything else, then bounce is going to be better... no?
Well that's why people asked about veritcal shooting. How to acheive a totally pleasing bounced look in vertical mode? I know that if you bounce in vertical mode that you will have the flash pointing out the the side, and then you have to bend the flash head to a desired angle, etc. The flashhead now has a vertical profile.
When I use my Newton Custom Bracket which is small, rugged, durable, and useable, it allows my flash head to remain over the axis of any lens I chose to use. The light is always where I desire it to be, never the other way around. And this statement is made, in the fact that in my 5 years of professional shooting for myself and others that I've never once, had to put my flash head in direct mode for fill light or bounce or anything. A good, non-obtrusive bracket and a Joe Demb Flip It will entail great results, over and over, and over.
Do you shoot with a grip, no grip? Do you use the AF shutter function of the custom function backfocus button on many of the new cameras or 1 Series of Canon cameras? All of these little things add up to a single users experience. Which is why I keep saying this "opinion" of brackets is SO objective.
It's a muddled question... what all that really matters is that it works for some and doesn't work for others, much like all things camera related, it comes down to the user and his or her experiences.
In the end... no matter if anyone else will admit it or not, brackets are just a tool, like any other photo-related item.
................
Custom Brackets are about the best and tallest but many good ones are out there.
That is the Custom Bracket's Digital Pro M (which I have). It does have a palm rest.
Very well made, very smooth camera rotating action, adjustable height, adjustable flash angle, swing-out feet when you want to set it down etc etc. The only downside is that the Digital Pro M kit doesn't include a camera quick release kit (essential in my opinion).
I also have the CB Folding-T bracket which is flash rotating. Lighter than the Digital Pro M, but a pain to have to swing the flash and adjust the head angle every time I move switch from portrait to landscape.
The camera rotating brackets are much more preferable.
