event / party pics - lighting bracket question.

leeroix · Feb 6, 2013

so i have an event to photograph this weekend. i have done ones similar in the past. with great results. ill be using my d700 with the 24-70 2.8 and my sb700 flash. when i can't bounce or get creative with the flash i use this...
Do-It-Yourself Flash Bounce Card
and had good results. i want to expand, get more creative and i want to incorporate some night club -ish drama to the pictures and drag the shutter more to get some light tracers and effects as the party goes on. (i also have done stuff like that in the past - with nikon CLS and holding my flash with a diffuser in my left hand above and to the left of the subjects and snapping pics with the d700 in my right) this gives me the more dramatic lighting, while giving me the tracers and ambient light streams I'm after. HOWEVER, 1 - the CLS does not always fire, -probably because I'm using CLS and not tethered to the camera with the flash cord. so I'm either covering the sensor with my hand or whatever... and 2 my arm gets tired, and i look like an idiot with my hand up in the air trying to aim the flash.
so my question is... is there a good bracket that anyone has experience with? I've seen some stuff online and it looks hokie, or to bulky or maybe I'm looking in the right place. I'm after more consistency, so ill need the flash cord and a good bracket or whatever - thats what I'm after... any help in the right direction would be appreciated.

leeroix · Feb 6, 2013

bueller?

JaronRH · Feb 7, 2013

Been there, tried that

I used a very cheap flash bracket (Amazon.com: Opteka FB-10 Camera Flip External Flash Bracket for Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo) a few years ago when I was shooting with a D90. The bracket definitely helped get the flash up and worked well for portrait shots. I used a Zeikos TTL cable and never had a problem with the flash firing. However, if you're going to go the flash bracket route, I would recommend investing in a good bracket. The one I had, after just two big events, would have problems with the camera portrait/landscape rotation getting loose, the screw hole being too big (so I had to add a washer to it), and balancing it with heavier lenses was challenging (the camera actually pointed downward slightly due to the weight of the lens!). Also, if you use a flash grip, make sure you account for the size of the grip (mine barely fit with the TTL cable attached).

If you can get over the arm fatigue, perhaps a remote trigger would be a good investment? (Odin's for TTL or RF-603's for manual)

Good luck!

leeroix · Feb 11, 2013

so i ended up just buying the flash cord. got the nikon sc-29. pretty sweet. the event went great. figured the bracket would be too cumbersome so i just manhandled the whole setup. worked out better because i could aim the flash better to bounce off walls and stuff... - the d7hun + 24-70 gets pretty heavy after a few hours in one hand...