fbeaston wrote:
For those who do not have the time, inclination or skill to build the fancy rig KayakingUSA built & if cutting off a water bottle doesn't work for you, I noticed Amazon sells a stand/suction cup that can screw onto a tripod (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L3TN59S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I thought it was a good idea ... & might lessen the potential for dropping the crystal, so I'm going to try that.
The suction cup would hold the ball but it is not clear so you would have a dark stand showing in the picture unless you could remove in post processing. The other problem is that it isn't linked to the camera so holding it steady would be hard to do. The slightest movement would shift the image all over the place. With the rig everything stays steady and in focus since the focus is on the ball and the ball is linked to the camera.