My Funky Light Stands

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AlP
Posts: 323
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2021 5:48 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

My Funky Light Stands

Post by AlP »

Sadly, I don't have room for a "macro cage" in my room. And I got tired of propping up my Canon 580EX II flashes on feet with 2"x4" and 4'x4" to gain height. My solution was weighted desktop microphone stands. They go from 9" to 13" high. Tossing the microphone holders away I added 5/8 to 1/4 screw adaptors on top. Rummaging through my odds and ends shelf I discovered 3 Westcott adjustable shoe mount flash holders I had bought years ago and forgot about (now I don't need the screw adaptors). I also found three Impact super clamps, again long forgotten purchases. Powering up the Canon 580's are Godox PB960's. Godox claims 2200 full power flashes at 1 second intervals per charge on the 5800 milliamp battery (I can say bulls**t) but they do work very well through the HV plug on the flashes. They are great for uninterrupted focus stacking. Side note, I attached a PB 960 to my Yongnuo twin macro light at 8th power and let er rip at 12 fps on the Canon 1Dx and banged off about 80 RAW frames (buffer kicked in) with it not missing a beat and all the exposures were bang on. The PB 960's also act as a counterweight when I put the flashes in far reaching off centre positions, but I think I'll add some donut weights to the base for more stability. So far I am happy with the rigs. For my third light I am using an Impact super clamp to the desk with a heavy duty flex arm about 24" for the above light. The soft boxes are Neewer 6"x8" with double diffusion and for shiny bugs I add a third layer of diffusion with parchment paper in needed.
light stands copy 1024.jpg
The light stands and sample images
horse fly 3x 41 steps 150µm copy 1024.jpg
Horse fly 3x, 41 steps at 150µm
fly profile 12x 153 steps 10µm copy 1024.jpg
Green Bottle fly at 12x, 153 steps at 10µm
Orange-legged Furrow Bee (Halictus rubicundus) copy 1024.jpg
Orange-legged Furrow Bee (Halictus rubicundus) 1x single shot

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