Homemade Macro Flash Bracket.....Part II

[marknagel]

In my quest to not buy a MT-24, I decided to go ahead and make a Macro Dual

Flash Bracket. It cost about $80-$85 and 3 hours to make, actually I made 3.

I think I could have saved $10-$15 if I ordered parts online, but I was on a

mission today. Its similar to a Novoflex i saw, but 1/3 the price ($80 vs.

$240). Here's some pictures of the final product:

 

 

http://www.nagelhome.com/IMGP2255.jpg

 

http://www.nagelhome.com/IMG_1904.jpg

 

http://www.nagelhome.com/IMG_1903.jpg

 

And the first tesy shot:

 

http://www.nagelhome.com/IMG_1899.jpg

 

Mark<div></div>

[gluteal cleft]

Very nicely done!

 

steve

[felix_ing]

Nicely done.

Care to share the parts list? Where to find them?

 

 

Cheers.

[yakim_peled1]

Very nice. Only problem I see is that you can't use a tripod with this.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[jcolwell]

Well done. I bet that it can be used on a tripod. If you check out all of the gear photos, you will see that the bottom mounting plate looks flat, which is not necessarily the conclusion you would make based on the photo embedded in the article.

[marknagel]

It does mount on a tripod. The parts used:

 

Bogen / Manfrotto 2896 Flex Arm ($18 ea) - for Super Clamp, I had to cut the arms, 24: was too long to properly support the flashes.

 

Stroboframe Shoe mounts ($20 ea)

 

The base is 3/16" steel, the middle piece is 4" x 1-1/2" and the 2 ends are about 2.5" x 1" cut at a 50 degree angle and welded to each side of the middle. This allows the arms to be mounted in front of the camera and allows your hands still hold the camera without the bracket in the way.

 

Drill 3 holes for the arms and camer mount. The camera mount screw is a 1/4" bolt with a 1/4" nut welded to the head to allow tripod mounting. The arms are mounted using 1/2" wood screws that mount into the spring/flex arm perfectly. If you decide to use the full 24" arm, you need a 3/8" bolt for mounting.

 

Cork for the base.

 

If you dont have access to a welder or metal bandsaw, I think you could make the base out of 3/4" harwood or 12ply plywood (used for cabinet and is more solid than regular ply)

 

If you have a welder, its a quick job. The metal work took about 30 minutes to make all 3.

 

Mark

[marknagel]

Mounted on tripod.

 

m<div></div>

[jnicholson]

Mark, I can't speak to your design but the Novoflex to which you compare is a piece of crap. The flex arms simply can't properly hold the weight of flashes similar in size to the ones you show and positioning the flashes is just too awkward. Yet another problem is the flashes tend to "bounce" which makes the entire camera assembly shake. I hope you have better luck with yours.

[marknagel]

Thats why I shortened the arms. 24" was too long. It also felt ackward holding the camera. This seems stable.

 

Mark

[jnicholson]

Yep, I think that was a very good decision. Good luck.

[yakim_peled1]

I'm impressed. Well done.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[suman]

You can actually save a few more bucks by using two small table lamps connected to the steel platform. I think those lamps with flexible arm go for like 5-10 bucks a piece. Anyway, great work.

[richard_randolph]

<p>Fantastic job! I'm very interested in making a similar setup. I'm not sure I understand how the plate is connected to the Camera and to a tripod. "The camera mount screw is a 1/4" bolt with a 1/4" nut welded to the head to allow tripod mounting." Do you have a picture showing this. Thanks!</p>