Flash Bracket

[cobby1]

Gday People
I am after a flash bracket grip to mount my SB600 on my D80 can any body point me in the right direction?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but wasent sure where else to post it

Cheers Cobby

[gstark]

Doesn't it fit in the hotshoe on the camera?

What are you trying to achieve with this?

[cobby1]

Yes it does fit on the hot shoe

Want to get it to one side for some macro shots hand held

Cheers Cobby

[Pa]

what i do to achieve a similar result is mount the camera on tripod and shoot the flash into a piece of paper held to the side.

[gstark]

Yes it does fit on the hot shoe

Want to get it to one side for some macro shots hand held

What Pa said; care needs to be taken in attempting this

The SB800 is a reasonably powerful unit, and for macro work, you're going to need to control the power and direction of the light.

In using it on a bracket off to the the side of the camera, you're running the risk of getting shadows from the camera as it stands in the way of the subject from the flash. You will find that the flash needs to be moved forwards and closer to the subject, making the light even more overpowering relative to your subject.

If you place it too far to the side, you may end up with too strong side-lighting of the subject.

Consider, with it mounted in the hotshoe, turning the head of the SB800 to one side and then bouncing it off some white paper or card: this will have the effect of changing the direction of the light source, plus diffusing it, plus reducing the power.

There are some simple brackets that you can buy at camera stores - Hama I think make some - and it's probably pretty easy to fabricate one yourself.

Or you can just hold the unit with one hand, for better and more flexible placement.

If you happened to get a free tripod in a kit when you bought your camera, as some stores do, this would be an ideal use for such a tripod - they're certainly unsuitable for putting any sort of a camera on.

[cobby1]

Thanks for the input people

The idea was to be a bit more mobile when chasing incests
I have a diffuser for the SB600 so wasn't thinking about holding tracing paper in front of the flash
Do you think it would be better in this case to mount the flash on the hot shoe?
I was thinking of having the SB600 of to one side and forward if that makes sense
Is it possible to reduce the output of the SB600 or would it be better to use a smaller flash unit?

Cheers Cobby

[ATJ]

Why not build a soft box? You can knock one up in around an hour and then just use the flash mounted in the hot shoe. I find mine perfect for insects and spiders. Here are some recent shots: recent additions (most taken with the softbox on an SB-800.

The soft box diffuses the light over a larger area, reducing the intensity and softening the light. You should be able to use the SB-600 in manual mode, or you could even go for iTTL which means you generally don't have to mess around too much.

[Pa]

with my d50 and sb600 turned on by pressing the flash up and exposure compensation buttons and turning the wheel I'm able to adjust the output of the flash unit...

i'm not sure how the d80 operates

hope this helps.

[cobby1]

Thanks for that Andrew looks intresting i will give it a go

Cheers Cobby

[MarkW]

Can't the SB600 and the D80 be used in CLS mode?

If its too overpowering just back it out of the shot further and further but you may need a reflector for the CLS to go back to the flash.

[Grev]

Kast makes a neat flash bracket, now you only need the SC29 or SC28 cable.

[jamesw]

Doesn't it fit in the hotshoe on the camera?

What are you trying to achieve with this?

I've always thought that artificial light tends to look better (as a rule of thumb, and only that), the further away you mount it from the lens. I have a few flash brackets that make the flash sit at least 20 or 30 cm away from the lens... although I rarely use them, as i'd rather just tripod or lightstand mount

plus its bloody heavy... D200, Grip, 18-70, 555 flash on bracket, pocketwizard... meaty combo... see photo

[ATJ]

I've always thought that artificial light tends to look better (as a rule of thumb, and only that), the further away you mount it from the lens.

Depends on what you are trying to achieve. The lighting will be more "even" the closer the flash is to the lens access. You will get larger shadows the further the flash is off the lens access. Either way, raw electronic flash tends to be a bit harsh for macro work (which was Cobby's intention). What you need to do is spread the light over a larger area so you get softer lighting without harsh shadows. This is the idea behind both soft box diffusers and light tents.

[cobby1]

Hi All

I read Andrews link and the link to the home made softbox

This is exactly what i want to achieve for my macro shots

Being a novice i thought mounting the flash of the camera was the way to go I WAS WRONG by the looks of it

Cheers Cobby