Came across the CheetahStand site the other day while researching some options for Speedlite compatible softboxes. Their gear looks impressive – I’m especially tempted by their octobox, which is something I’ve long lusted after. But what caught my attention right away was this: the Cheetah Speed Pro Bracket.
Photo credit: CheetahStand.com
Pretty ingenious – by mounting the Speedlite horizontally like this, it’s able to rotate a full 360 degrees around it’s base, which means that even with the head stuffed inside softbox, the wireless sensor window is left outside and can be positioned to best see a master flash unit’s wireless pulse.
Not so cool? $63 price tag. Yeah, I’ve heard it before, we spend thousands on cameras, lenses, and lights – why not drop some “petty cash” on the accessories? In cases like this, the reason why is simple – as much as I admire the Cheetah unit above, it’s by no means part of the Space Shuttle. I look at that and the first thought into my head is, “I can build one of those.”
Of course not everybody is a DIY sort of person – but I am. I enjoy mulling over how to build things like this, and then prowling Lowes and the local hardware store for a couple of hours finding parts. In fact, that’s how I spent my Monday night. I came home with a bag full of odd stuff that I’m pretty sure I can merge into a working final product. Total cost so far? About $20. At that rate, I could build one for each of my Speedlites for the cost of a single Cheetah unit.
This is a project that I hope to have tackled by the end of the weekend. I’ll post the results – either a working DIY flash bracket, or a pile of useless junk. But I’m pretty sure it will be the former.
Of course, being the geek I am, I couldn’t just look at the photo and go from there. No, I had to sketch out how I planned to build my own version. And since sketching is inaccurate and painfully low-tech, I installed Google SketchUp, watched the tutorials, and then used it to design my version of the bracket.
DIY Flash Bracket - Frontal View
DIY Flash Bracket - Overhead View
Hell, I’m impressed by how good it looks rendered like this! Sure, it’s a bit rough and not quite to scale. But spend some time using SketchUp and you’ll find (if you’re technically inclined) that it’s addictive. And the things you can render once you learn some skills are just amazing!
Perhaps I should have been an engineer…
Please note: I’m not bashing the folks at Cheetah here at all. They came up with a great looking product and are entitled to make a profit on it. I suspect that most people will be more than happy to buy one if they need it. Aside from being occasionally cheap, I embark on these DIY missions for fun – that’s all.
And for this one, I did in fact order several of Cheetah’s Slide Lock Cold Shoes, which look very nice, and are quite reasonably priced.
