Inexpensive light stands (Page 2): I've had two cowboy studios stands for years and they are fine depending on your usage and requirements.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

redhogbill wrote:

I bought a set of cowboy studio lighting kits, pretty inexpensive for the home photog!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_10/185-0853222-8471144?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cowboy%20studio%20lights&sprefix=cowboy+stu%2Caps%2C227

I've had two cowboy studios stands for years and they are fine depending on your usage and requirements.

wolfman

rpavich wrote:

Agreed...but that doesn't mean that heavy and beefy is always the answer.

The stands that I have weigh only 4 lbs. (which I do not consider heavy), extend to 10', and can hold up to 10 lbs. If your mounting a strobe plus a 47" octabox, like I am, you need a sturdy stand.
I paid $40/ea from pcbuff, and consider that very reasonable considering the quality of the stand.
Bob

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

So did I can't beat the price

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

wolfman wrote:

The stands that I have weigh only 4 lbs. (which I do not consider heavy), extend to 10', and can hold up to 10 lbs. If your mounting a strobe plus a 47" octabox, like I am, you need a sturdy stand.
I paid $40/ea from pcbuff, and consider that very reasonable considering the quality of the stand.
Bob

Great.

The stands I'm talking about weight 1.5 lbs each and can be put almost in a back pack and go to 7' tall and hold 4 speedlights each.

This isn't one-size-fits-all.

Strobist stuff = light, portable, and powerful.

Different mind-set than you are referencing.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

rpavich wrote:

That depends.

Beefy, air cushioned, heavy light stands aren't very portable if you work alone and so the cheapie cowboy studio ones work great and if you break one...the are 2 for 20.00.

If you're Joe McNally and have 4 assistants then you don't care.

I have the nice, heavy, air cushioned ones and I have the cheapies and guess which ones come with me when I go shoot and which just sit in my house?

Maybe you have the air cushioned (cheap at about $20) stands confused with C stands. I have a lot of them cheapy air cushioned stands and I have 3 C stands, which are far more stable, easier to weigh down, better build, and yes, a bit more expensive. I have one Manfrotto and two Avengers, and they are all around a hundred bucks or a little more. I think the Avengers are just a bit more solid build.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

speters wrote:

Maybe you have the air cushioned (cheap at about $20) stands confused with C stands. I have a lot of them cheapy air cushioned stands and I have 3 C stands, which are far more stable, easier to weigh down, better build, and yes, a bit more expensive. I have one Manfrotto and two Avengers, and they are all around a hundred bucks or a little more. I think the Avengers are just a bit more solid build.

No...I"m not confusing them with c-stands.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

What's a c stand?

Rancher38 Loc: Halfway, OR

Great reference, thnx for the introduction

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

OddJobber wrote:

What's a c stand?

Never mind. I Googled it. :-D

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

OddJobber wrote:

Never mind. I Googled it. :-D

now I had to google it!!!!

:thumbup: :thumbup: I have learned something new!!

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

redhogbill wrote:

now I had to google it!!!!

:thumbup: :thumbup: I have learned something new!!

Good thing for Google. :-)

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

Rancher38 wrote:

Am exploring the use of folding music stands (with removable heads) and micro pone stands to hold strob lights. Any recommendations?

Google "Paul Buff".. His company sells all kinds of light stands as well as Alien Bee and Einstein mono strobe lights.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

As an "ex" musician (decided to mangle my fingers on the left hand), I did try to repurpose some of my music stands etc. Let me tell you that it isn't a wise choise. Spend a couple of bucks and get even the light weight stands to start. By the time you figure out how to modify your current music stands, you will either have to ruin the music stand, or spend money getting parts to "rig it" so it works. Then the weighted base will work for just the light, but as soon as you put (even a home made) light modifier on it, the whole thing will tip. I'd rather spend $13 on a light stand, than replace my studio strobes. If you want to make use of music stands, use them to hold reflectors, Flags, Gobos, any number of things. If they do tip over, it won't hurt anything.

Hope that helped (from a guy who LOVES to DIY, this one is best left alone)

Good luck

klaus Loc: Guatemala City, Guatemala

bkyser wrote:

As an "ex" musician (decided to mangle m... (show quote)

Here is another very inexpensive solution to mount a flash gun and an umbrella to a (standard mount) light stand. These holders are made out of very sturdy plastic. I have several of them and they work really well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301291168183?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

klaus wrote:

Here is another very inexpensive solution to mount a flash gun and an umbrella to a (standard mount) light stand. These holders are made out of very sturdy plastic. I have several of them and they work really well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/301291168183?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Yup, I have 2 like that (not that brand) and 2 that are like ball heads. I primarily use studio strobes, which is what the O.P. was talking about. No brackets needed at all, although I'm starting to use speedlights when I'm shooting outside, thanks to Captain C. for his many fine examples using a Chimera collapsible beauty dish.