Where to buy lightstands.

JayEnnis

I need to get some lightstands, around 7ft in height. I've seen a few on ebay but they are all located in the states and shipping is around €30. They don't need to be heavy duty as the most they'll be supporting is a speedlight/umbrella combination.

Thanks in advance and merry christmas!

Thecageyone

I got one for Christmas, it's just a cheapie one from Amazon, I don't mind saying cheapie even though it was a gift as I actually picked it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography-Light-professional-studio-photolamps/dp/B0011363NS

Scroll down to where you can get the trio of the stand, flash shoe swivel bracket [which also holds the umbrella] and the shoot through umbrella all for £30 [around €35 euro]

With the bracket plus flash unit on it stands around 7' It's actually not bad at all, pretty sturdy, easy to use, extends to full height in seconds, Haven't had any trouble mounting flash or umbrella.

JayEnnis

Ah thanks a million, never thought of Amazon! I'll be ordering that set. Seems quite reasonable.

pete4130

The brackets they recommend are terrible for flashgunes. You have to mount them backwards (the ones I have don'thave a clamp) so you mount them on the upper side of the clamp and hopefully your flash can rotate 180 degrees to fire into thr umberella. Cheap is true but you get what you pay for. They do the job on a small scale.

Thecageyone

Ah, see I have my flash unit mounted on a wireless receiver:



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Which slides on easily either way around.

The trigger/receiver cost €18 on ebay. That cheap flash also had swivel head, all combined I can pretty much aim it at any angle, whole set up very cheap.

Maybe OP, just get the stand alone, it's only €12 and it's quite sturdy. Get the flash fixture elsewhere maybe? Or ... but the trio I suggested, and also get the cheap wireless trigger on ebay. Total, around €50 but you're set for basics.

pete4130

I use pocket wizards which are the Industry Standard.....it still doesn't make flash guns (regardless of price) more able to clamp to cheap brackets.

JayEnnis

Thecageyone wrote: »

Ah, see I have my flash unit mounted on a wireless receiver:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Which slides on easily either way around.

The trigger/receiver cost €18 on ebay. That cheap flash also had swivel head, all combined I can pretty much aim it at any angle, whole set up very cheap.

Maybe OP, just get the stand alone, it's only €12 and it's quite sturdy. Get the flash fixture elsewhere maybe? Or ... but the trio I suggested, and also get the cheap wireless trigger on ebay. Total, around €50 but you're set for basics.

I already have all the basics, I'm just replacing a set up that got knocked over by a bmx in a skatepark and the stand/sb-600 broke. The triggers I have, have a cold shoe on the bottom so they should be fine as they can slide in any direction. Although I may invest in a better mount as I'll hopefully be making the switch to pocket wizards/skysports sometime soon.

hopelessOne

Barker Photographic in Cork do lots of lighting equipment. I went in before Christmas looking for a lightweight Manfrotto stand. Not only did they have it in stock but they also recommended a cheaper Elinchrom one as an alternative. Can't fault their advice as I was able to compare them both in the shop and saved myself money.

If you're not around Cork, they are online too: http://barkerphotographic.ie

Thecageyone

pete4130 wrote: »

I use pocket wizards which are the Industry Standard.....it still doesn't make flash guns (regardless of price) more able to clamp to cheap brackets.

The cheap triggers are obviously better for mounting then. As mine slide on and off either way around with ease.

JayEnnis

hopelessOne wrote: »

Barker Photographic in Cork do lots of lighting equipment. I went in before Christmas looking for a lightweight Manfrotto stand. Not only did they have it in stock but they also recommended a cheaper Elinchrom one as an alternative. Can't fault their advice as I was able to compare them both in the shop and saved myself money.

If you're not around Cork, they are online too: http://barkerphotographic.ie

They're very dear compared to amazon! They're only ever going to be holding speedlights as I shoot in the streets a lot so I've no need for an amazingly high quality stand.

hopelessOne

JayEnnis wrote: »

They're very dear compared to amazon! They're only ever going to be holding speedlights as I shoot in the streets a lot so I've no need for an amazingly high quality stand.

Yeah, I agree that they're more expensive than Amazon but my point was that I actually saved money (even compared to online prices) from their advice. I was under the impression you wanted a local / Irish store but there are of course lots of UK-based online stores which work out cheaper. In fact, I was going to get my lighting equipment from FotoSense because they had what I needed and apparently in-stock. In fact, they lied and sat on my order for 3 weeks before finally admitting they wouldn't have stock for another month i was now under deadline pressure hence my delight at finding Barker's just down the road!

Can anyone tell me, if i want to stick a flashgun on a stand, but also have a softbox on there, too, is there anything in particular I need to look out for when buying the stand or such? Or will all lightstands & flashguns be able to work with a softbox?


Suppose what I'm really asking is how does a softbox actually attach to the flash/stand.

Might pick up the one cagey linked to and the receiver/trigger, too. Seems a cheap and cheerful set up.

Thecageyone

It does the job, the stand is actually fairly sturdy. It's not quite as strong as the manfrotto tripod I got, but that's a given. But I have dragged it through the house, grabbing it one handed around the top end, the kids have already knocked it over with the flash and umbrella attached, and all is still good.

For a softbox I think you may need a different type of bracket, not too sure. You'll have to look into that. I have a softbox here with no bracket, it screws onto a studio light, which just stopped working a while back. Will be looking into some kind of bracket for that at some point, though the shoot through umbrella essentially does the same job. The umbrellas are very cheap.

This is the trigger set I got:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190465916647&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

I've tested it out by triggering from another room, where it couldn't 'see' the receiver, Doors were open though, and it fired from 2 rooms away.

The hot-shoe attachment is flat, so slides on easily either way around.

You get a short pc-sync cable with the set, but I've never needed to use it.

That trigger, together with my YN-460 flash unit, the light stand/bracket/umbrella cost me less than €90, and that includes the €13 charge by customs on the flash.

SusieQue

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002XKPJDI/ref=oss_product

I got this one for Christmas - seems to be a nice sturdy stand & s type bracket which is very handy!

Fully extended its over 8ft

Here's more info on the range of stands -

http://www.karlu.com/interfit-air-damped-stand-30m-118-p-4093.html

Thecageyone

Nice one Susie, a little snazzier than my set up Look forward to seeing the portraits you do using it.

SusieQue

Thecageyone wrote: »

Nice one Susie, a little snazzier than my set up Look forward to seeing the portraits you do using it.

Cheers Keith... Haven't had the chance to really experiment with it yet! The softbox isn't quite the same as the one shown in the pic but it will do for now.

What I need is a model - someone to experiment on - that might help. You have plenty of willing models in your house... Me not so lucky!:(

Thecageyone

SusieQue wrote: »

Cheers Keith... Haven't had the chance to really experiment with it yet! The softbox isn't quite the same as the one shown in the pic but it will do for now.

What I need is a model - someone to experiment on - that might help. You have plenty of willing models in your house... Me not so lucky!:(

Get himself to sit, stand and wave about for you! And what about your lovely niece!?

I did some self portraits last night because the kiddies and herself get a bit tired of me asking, only tricky bit is pre-focusing, need to pick a point around where your head will be

SusieQue

Thecageyone wrote: »

Get himself to sit, stand and wave about for you! And what about your lovely niece!?

I did some self portraits last night because the kiddies and herself get a bit tired of me asking, only tricky bit is pre-focusing, need to pick a point around where your head will be

Tried a bit of selfies earlier but found it too difficult, maybe if i was used to the off camera flash, positioning etc, it might be easier, but really feel I need someone to practice on as I want to try different poses too... Got a few new books for Christmas too with ideas I want to try.

Don't get to see my niece as much as I used to as she is in school now so I don't mind her & poor Mark has to listen to me banging on about apertures & flash powers etc enough without sticking him infront of the camera Will hopefully get my sis to help me out some day soon

Thecageyone

Those selfies are tricky to do alright. Out of say, 30 shots, I had about 3 decent ones to work on, mostly because of soft focusing issues. It takes a lot of patience, and a decent remote ... which I do not have. The one I have is hit and miss, you have to keep pressing it to get it to beep and then you're out of pose, even using 10 second timer you're re-adjusting just before it clicks. A lot of running to and fro to check the LCD too. Definitely so much easier with a willing model.

ValueInIreland

Thecageyone wrote: »

Those selfies are tricky to do alright. ...... Definitely so much easier with a willing model.

Keep an eye out for discarded Mannequins in skips outside shops - They are very patient and really allow you to fine tune your lighting.

Thecageyone

I have used the kids dolls when the kids weren't in the humour