Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I was wanting a good flash bracket for Macro Photography and had settled in on the Wimberly M-4/F-2 system, but was really having a hard time justifying the expense when I have seen some pretty creative DIY solutions using old brackets or flat aluminum and ball heads when I came across a post on a different form about a guy making his own Wimberley type system from componets ordered from Ram Mounts. That seemed like a reasonable solution to me so that is what I did... I just ordered components from Ram and built my bracket for less than 1/2 the cost of the Wimberley system. All components are heavy aluminum and very sturdy. These are 1" rubber balls on aluminum studs.

One thing that I really like about this system is that it is so flexible, there are 4 balls in it so I can turn it and reposition it in any direction so that as I shoot at different magnifications I can reposition the flash head for best results. I also shoot both with 100 and 180mm lenses which have different working distances and am experimenting with 50 and 28mm lenses reverse mounted onto my macro lenses for large magnifications up to 6:1 so getting light to the right spot becomes more important.

Any thoughts on this system are welcomed. I am still awaiting a heavy straight bracket which will hold both my camera and my not so DIY Wimberley knock-off, as well as mount to a tripod.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Looks pretty handy!

Rip Tragle Loc: Estes Park, CO

Looks nice to me too!