Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
I just bought the highest, cheapest stands I could afford at that moment. I think one is a 13 or 15 footer that cost me $50 or so. It's got a huge base spread, thick tubes and since I only use it around eight feet or so it's really sturdy and is fine with a boom. And unlike a C stand, it folds into something that I can easily carry and isn't particularly heavy.
And sand bags. Sand bags for EVERYTHING.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mdarnton
I just bought the highest, cheapest stands I could afford at that moment. I think one is a 13 or 15 footer that cost me $50 or so. It's got a huge base spread, thick tubes and since I only use it around eight feet or so it's really sturdy and is fine with a boom. And unlike a C stand, it folds into something that I can easily carry and isn't particularly heavy.
And sand bags. Sand bags for EVERYTHING.
I'm definitely thinking about picking something up cheaply. Its just my 3.5kg strobe making me nervous. Might just be better to drop 200 and get something I know will hold it.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MilamBardo
I'm definitely thinking about picking something up cheaply. Its just my 3.5kg strobe making me nervous. Might just be better to drop 200 and get something I know will hold it.
My Hensel monolights weigh in at about 2kg. I would hesitate to use them on a spindly stand over 120 cm high. If you do get a cheap stand just use it at 3/4 or less extension. Are you planning to use a softbox? Take that into consideration, too. You'll want a wide footprint. And I definitely would not put a heavy light on a boom on a cheap stand, you have the added weight of the boom and counterweight to contend with. And no matter what stand you use, use sandbags!
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
Buy the right thing once. That's often cheaper (and less frustrating) in the long run.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
never buy cheap lightstands or light tripods is my motto
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
What's wrong with using the (petit) original Elinchrom light stands they sell with these things? they cost just over 50 EUR (here in Germany) and work just fine. I've been using my own Dlite4 and my school's Style1200 with these stands for many years. The weight of your strobe is not the problem, the big softbox pulling to one side is a much bigger problem. I use a 180cm octagon softbox with the Elinchrom stands or cheap chinese 30 EUR stands (don't buy the ones that only go up to 200cm, your lights won't go high enough). Don't overdo it, don't overthink it. Buy a bigger light stand later, if you really miss it.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
For me I bought two Quantum flash units.
They work great for me. I usually only needed to run them at 1/2 power. Very easy to move around since they are battery powered. I have a couple of extra batteries in case I needed them in a given situation.
I do have a flash unit similar to yours but don’t hardly use it anymore.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
Here is the Quantum web site.
https://qtm.com/
At some of the gigs, all I needed to do is clamp the light. I was cordless for transmission of firing from camera to flash.
Smiles.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
Those cast iron roller style stands with the pneumatic supprts are great in studio environments, easy to make small changes and less risk of the head slipping down causing the filament in the modeling light to break. Disadvantage is they don’t fold for storage or transport. C-stands are harder to make small changes due to the weight, esp. with a sandbag in place.
Re: Always go for the light stand with the heaviest weight rating?
I have used heavy lights on tripods... Just need an adapter...
Won't go as high, but harder to tip over...
Steve K