Hardware

BEST OF THE BEST 2008
FLASH BRACKETS

Buying a flash bracket is like buying a car. It's about use, style, quality, and there's a concern about the mileage you get from it. Don't buy a compact car if you really needed a pickup, or a Hyundai four banger mini-coupe if you have six kids. Never buy a bright red convertible for a teenage daughter with a cell phone. She'll break you with insurance and tickets.
Simply put the bracket is part of a system to improve the light you put onto a subject when mother nature doesn't provide.
Elimination of red-eye and shadows are the two side benefits a good and proper bracket provides. The other parts needed with the purchase are an extended flash cable, like for Nikons, the SC-17, SC-28, SC-29. Canon has comparable cables and extensions and there are after market brands like PRO and others.
Also, you might (will) need another component called anti-twist plates for both the flash and the camera so these parts don't twist on the frame. You are building an integrated system that makes your job easier.
Like buying a car you look at the various models and options that customize the automobile for your likes. Same thing in a bracket for your particular camera and flash. And you convince yourself you now have a "rig", not just a bracket, and all your pictures will come out perfect. Keep dreaming, there's a bit more to it. There's more to this artificial light business. Digital has less tolerance of bad exposure. I think it picks up all the bad things that can happen and can multiply it. Just the nature of the beast and the beast roars at mixed lighting. It gets everything, even things you don't want.

That's how I got interested in brackets. Trying to improve my work process, the way I shoot, simply put forced me to modify my own gear. The unit above started out as something else. A Stroboframe or something like that. The rotator joint got loose at a function, had no tools so I lobotomized it at my shop. I pulled out the hacksaw and it got snipped, found some locking washers, nuts and bolts, and some epoxy. I was so mad at it I almost got it with my DeWalt CHOP SAW!. We also shortened the SC-17 cable to prevent it from getting coiled up with nowhere to go.

MOST BRACKETS FIT INTO FOUR CATEGORIES

Wedding, Special Events
These are FLIP BRACKETS and the basic difference between Wedding, Event and Paparazzi style brackets is in the flipping. The rotation of the flash from portrait to landscape mode. Here's the scoop:
Wedding and Event brackets raise the light above the lens axis and allow the flash to be tilted for either portrait or landscape mode. The problem is if a bracket just offered elevation, the flash would be way off center in the portrait mode and you would get harsh side lighting. So we flip the flash.

In the better level of bracket or the next higher level we flip the camera. You add a few dollars to the base models and we see the mechanisms that flip the camera rather than the flash. They are more complex but a better idea.

Paparazzi and Extreme PJ
Usually use dead straight smaller brackets fitting close to the camera. They have their reasons for this, ninety percent of their work is portrait mode. Just a straight piece of stock with two holes. One for the camera and one for the flash units external hotshoe. They are like the Raptors of Photography thus sometimes they chase their prey and much of their gear looks like it went through a war.

No shooter is going into a "press chase" with a two foot tall bracket. A press chase is when someone is:
Fleeing court as in the case of one of our school principals buying cocaine in his office; a coach running from the locker room after a nasty defeat; One of our politicians running from the cameras after getting caught driving naked in a school zone; the local pastor leaving the brothel....

It's obvious, the big rig will catch on anything and everything. Many of the shots used are in the vertical position and with the left side mount it really doesn't mean a thing. In vertical that places the wide axis of the flash on top of perfectly aligned to the lens. Just look at the Red Carpet photogs. All straight gear, no flip, no flop.

Nature Trekking
Elaborate and expensive brackets made for macro flash and or large holders for better beamers and such.

Useless
The fourth category is the useless category. It is a group of lightweight aluminum and plastic 8.00 to 14.00 dollar junk and knockoffs they sell at discount stores and they mainly come from the nice folks at Aftermarket-Dot-COM, a division of Cheap Overseas Labor Division. (COLD) Inc.

HERE'S SOME POINTERS
Brackets don't eliminate all shadows. Most brackets put the light dimension where it belongs over the subject head plane. To further eliminate the remaining shadows here's a simple tip. Move the nice folks away from the wall and diffuse the light. The bracket will change things for the better but common sense will help you in further eliminating hours in Photoshop getting rid of shadows.

Next step is look at the flash. Follow this. Most manufacturer OEM flashes are rectangles. So you have to flip the flash to align with the format. When the flash is in landscape or horizontal mode the flash is usually above the bracket matching the landscape mode. That's good. In portrait mode the flash has to turn ninety degrees. But 90 degrees extends the arm almost vertical and you are turning the camera ninety degrees and canceling the whole turn out. Best bet, get the one that flips the camera.

Flipping Joints. This does not refer to throwing funny cigarettes outside the drivers side window with a cop car following you. This is the axis that the flash rotates on. The most common joints are friction joints with Teflon (sometimes) washers and they loosen. Our winner this year addresses this problem different from any other company. Custom Brackets use a spring loaded pressure joint that is self tending and eliminates wear as a concern.

Fast Releases: I also caution you about fast releases, a couple I looked at are so fast you'll be picking up pieces before you knew anything happened. Why they put buttons in certain places I'll never know. A photographers best friend might be a set of Hex or Allen wrenches and some Locktite. Or just upgrade to someone's releases that make sense. Again the design of the Custom Brackets releases are outstanding.

BEST OF THE BEST 2008

32 Alpha Park - Cleveland, Ohio 44143
Phone: 440.646.9851 9:00 - 5:00 EST M-F

There are many manufacturers of brackets out there. I have tried, looked, sampled, bought, owned, chopped and destroyed a few, OK, more than a few in my time. Each year I peruse the trade shows looking for accessories with quality construction, exceptional features, convenience, benefits, and innovation. And I am a bracket and tripod nut.

Many buy their first bracket and think that an angled piece of metal with a camera on one end and a flash on the other is all they need and the better ones are overkill. How wrong you can be. In the heat of shooting today's weddings and events every part of your gear (kit for you Brits) it should be top notch.

Some cost more and some are really less expensive than our winner. Some with quality standards far below and some just slightly better than two Stanley 8 inch angle brackets from Home Depot. With one company their catalog is an archeological study. Some of their products for sale haven't improved in a millennium, same old stuff.

CUSTOM BRACKETS year after year always seems to amaze me. One innovation after another. And if you think I'm playing favorites you are right, this is the real thing, nothing comes close.

This is a company that effects change through innovation.
They have the engineering.
They have the quality in machining.
They have the integrity to stand behind what they manufacture.

I have as I said looked at all the cockamamie ideas floating the web, most copies and cheap knockoffs. This is the finest bracket engineered and manufactured in the USA and quality wise, ahead of everybody else period.

THE BEST: Nothing worthy of second place... The New DIGITAL PRO-M
This year he got me. Custom Brackets has the ultimate bracket in my eyes. I had to have one (that makes three) and, there was no race this year in engineering and design, once again this gear is the tops in it's field being the only manufacturer with innovation. Everything else is something I've seen before, a knockoff or copy.

This is Mercedes Benz quality in a unit slightly more than the medium priced units but one that you will not outgrow nor will you get tired of. I would have called it the Rolls-Royce but the mechanical excellence far exceeds the Rolls which is image excellence and with a Rolls you'll get to know your mechanic like he was part of the family. He better be, that's where your inheritance is going. The Mercedes does perform well and is consistent in it's operation.

I showed it to five professional photographers plus friends and users in other fields, people that make a full time living at their game...comments ranged from the photographers "can I borrow it", "to how 'bout if I steal it then"... " I can't believe how the roller load bearings make it so smooth"

Digital PRO-M Kit The fit and finish is excellent. Black Anodized Aluminum richly done, both light weight and strong. Has a shiney but not annoying gloss to it. Doesn't look like the cheaper blackening processes" from a plating manufacturer who refinishes very expensive firearms.

It is the only wear-compensating bracket on the market today. It's maintenance free and no lubrication needed. It "feels right"...slick transition. "Reduction machining, made from machined thick-gauge, lightweight aluminum with a smooth black anodized finish. Top Draw. Machined not bent into shape keeps the structural strength of the Aluminum, these comments came from a machinist and mechanical engineer.

My Thoughts: Variety. With the Digital PRO-Line, the new bearing PRO line and additional options and units going from economy to first class, this line now is the most complete line in the business. New quick releases and accessory plates for the radio slaves and other add-ons completes the picture. I'll just call it a rout.

I'm not Mr. Nice Guy when it comes to reviews. Just read what I write about the fast food joints. In this category nothing else on the market compares. Everything else is basically same old, same old.

MORE COMING WITH PHOTOS, used on location, complete rig shots and a lot more... this is the ultimate bracket and the one I selected for me to use

Features:
Professional looking design
Easy to rotate using roller bearings from horizontal to vertical
Anodized black aluminum for lightweight and strength
No lubrication needed - designed maintenance free
Adjustable flash height with tilt for eliminating red eye and shadows
Comfortable foam grip on left side
Fits in camera bags using fold in legs and retractable upright
Palm grip for comfort and support while holding the bracket and zooming

**For all digital cameras using a flash with a Canon or Nikon Cord **Not recommended for use with Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, or Metz 54, 70, and 76 (Grip on bracket will block the infrared signal). We suggest the Digital PRO for the use with these products.

Specifications
Weight: 23 oz.   (652 g)
Bracket Dimensions:  7-7/8” high, 10” wide, 2-3/8” deep (storage position)
Metric Dimensions:  22.5cm high, 25.4cm wide, 6.0cm deep
Center of lens to bottom of flash: 3-7/8” adjustable.   (9.8cm)

Required items - Included
CMP Camera mounting plate
FCN Flash mounting plate for Canon / Nikon flash cords
QR Tripod quick release for mounting bracket to tripod

Optional items - Sold separately
QR-C  Camera quick release
C-SP Camera quick release subplate
CBP Camera bottom plate (bracket to tripod)
AP  Accessory plate for radio slave, second flash, etc.
MC Cold shoe for radio slave
FT-JR Shoe mount for radio slave, second flash, etc.
Battery holders