Flash Bracket for ballhead
I recently began using the Better Beamer with my flash and I like the results except for the steel eye. I would like to mount the flash off camera. I have found brackets that are intended to be used with gimbal heads, and brackets for handholding such as for weddings/portraits, but I either can't find one for a ballhead, or I am looking at them incorrectly and can't figure out how it would work.
Any suggestions?
Don you will need a bracket that fits on the lens plate. Wimberley makes one and could order one from Artie's store.
Al, thanks but can you point to something more specific. I have looked myself and only get more confused. I can't seem to find what looks to be what I think I need.
Flash Brackets
http://reallyrightstuff.com/flash/02.html
http://reallyrightstuff.com/flash/index.html
Have a look at the above links by RRS. They are helpful and show how theirs are fitted to the lens plates.
So in addition to the flash bracket, I have to replace the quick release on my ballhead and buy the rail and an L bracket?
Maybe. The lens plates fit the Arca Swiss quick release but you do not need an L bracket. A straight lens plate will do.
Thanks. I didn't intend to say an L bracket but I would need to buy a bracket to fit their rail?
Seems rather complicated and heavy, not to mention expensive. I was hoping for something less in all three catagories.
Thanks again.
Hi Don that flash bracket fits onto the lens plate ... has to be an Arca type plate.
The RRS bracket is really good and probably more useful than the Wimberley since you can move the flash around and if you ever go to macro will help with the macro lights !!! btw this bracket fits the same way Need Arca type plates !!!
Originally Posted by Don Thompson
In that case, you need to tell people exactly which lens and ballhead you have in mind, and how you normally mount the lens to the head. Like everybody else already mentioned, tele flash brackets are hooked up through the lens plate. So they can be used on gimbal, ballhead, monopod tilt head as well as handheld.
The assumption here is that you're using a long lens with tripod collar. Given Better Beam only works for lenses longer than 300mm, that would be a safe assumption. The other assumption is that you're using a head with Arca-Swiss type clamp. With this type of setup, the normal procedure is to put an Arca-Swiss compatible lens plate on the tripod collar on the lens, then you can just put the plate in the clamp on the tripod side. And since most of the tele flash brackets are connected to the lens plate, which you're supposed to have anyway, you're not adding anything extra. But do these assumptions hold true for you?
By the way, there are flash brackets that clamps to the top side of the lens plate only. The RRS B series is like that. These require lens plates that have an upper dovetail, which might not be on older plates. The Wimberley F-1 can be clamped to both top and bottom of the lens plate, however.
Andy
Thanks Andy. I am using a Canon 100-400 on a Manfrotto 488RC2 ballhead. I mount the lens to the quick release plate using the tripod collar. I hope this is all the information you or someone else might need. If not, let me know.
I do appreciate the help.
http://reallyrightstuff.com/home.html
http://reallyrightstuff.com/mmRRS/Ot...tStuff2009.pdf
Hello Don,
Have a look at the first link above to Really Right Stuff's website. There are some tutorials there and lots of useful information.
The second link is to the RRS catalogue. It is well worth downloading and saving but it does take a very, very long while to download.
I use a B87-B flash bracket with my Canon 100-400. It fits on to a L84 lens plate. The whole lot is not cheap but it all works beautifully.
I use a B91 flash bracket on my 600 lens which fits on to a Wimberley lens plate and sometimes a B89 flash bracket extender to raise the flashgun even higher.
Wimberley can be found at http://www.tripodhead.com/
That might make things a bit more problematic, as I'm not aware of a Bogen QR compatible flash bracket, though I could be wrong. The vast majority of (well all that I've seen) flash brackets are designed to be used with Acra-Swiss compatible QR plates in general or specifically from Kirk, Wimberley or Really Right Stuff (depending on how they mount).
Off the top of my head, you have two options for "hacking" something together. You could put a Really Right Stuff Arca-Swiss compatible lens plate on your 100-400 (part L84) and then screw your Bogen RC2 QR plate in to the auxiliary tripod socket on the RRS plate, and you're set. Or you could use a Kirk SQRC-3157 adapter clamp, a Wimberley or RRS lens plate and the bracket. In this config the lens would mount like any other Arca-Swiss equipped lens/body.
But if I understand correctly, I would still need a RRS flash bracket which is beyond my budget. So... it would seem I am out of luck for something inexpensive.
Thank everyone for you help. If nothing else, I did learn a few things about ballheads, quick release clamps, etc.
Don for the 100-400 just mount the lens on top of the camera, no problem. Any redeye can easily be fixed with the desaturation sponge then burning.
Al must have a funny old camera with a lens mounted on the top. Where does the flash mount?
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