Flash Bracket Height?

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope this is the right place to post this... if not please moderator move to

the correct forum. :)

 

I just purchased a flash bracket to use with an SB800 and my YashicaMat 124G.

The height of the bracket is 11".... this gives me plenty of clearance to look

through the viewfinder.

 

On my D200 I usually use the SB800 mounted on camera, with a diffuser and I

bounce my flash... I've gotten good results this way without having to use a

flash bracket. But now that I have one I'd like to see if I can get (better?)

results using one. I'm wondering if the height of this bracket is too high to

use with a 35mm camera?

 

Not sure if it matters or not but it's a Stratos Modular flash bracket.

Apparently I can purchase other posts in 8" or an adjustable 7-11".....

 

Thanks for any insight you may have to offer.

If you normally bounce the flash with the D200, you aren't going to get "better" results with the flash bracket. About the only time it will matter is if you are shooting close to a wall and you get some shadows on the wall (however diffuse). In some cases, having the flash perched up high and bounced (the head tilts, which adds height), is worse, because you don't get frontal light. This is the worst when the subject is close to you. Since it is digital, why not just test it out in various situations...

Nadine,

 

Thank you. I wasn't sure if a flash bracket would actually make anything "better". And to be honest the bracket may just prove to be cumbersome, when doing weddings and portraits. And in those situations is not something I want to deal with.

 

The bracket while certainly needed so that I could work with my YashicaMat and a flash unit, was only a "well now that I have it I wonder if....." with 35mm......

 

Again thank you, I appreciate it!

9 inches above the lens is typically noted as optimum height. As long as you can rotate the camera (if it's a camera rotator) it is high enough. Too high and you get problems with harsh butterfly lighting unless the flash is well diffused. In either case, taking close ups requires tilting the flash downward for proper coverage from the flash. I typically tilt the flash at a small angle to begin with. 1 or 2 degrees to keep the falloff from appearing at the bottom of the image. This is especially important for rectangle formats since going vertical is different than horizontal.