The beast is unleashed!

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STM

Senior Member
This is my "backyard engineered" bracket I will take with me to AZ to use for fill flash when shooting wildlife. The Sunpak's alone are very powerful flashes (out to 70' in auto or manual) but with two of them I can add a whole stop to that. I will be getting a couple of "Better Beamers" to go in front of them to add even more light. I should have no problem going well past 100' with this rig with a -1.5 f/ fill. Both strobes are triggered wirelessly from a transmitter in the hot shoe. The construction is simple, a piece of 1"x1/8" steel bar stock, drill and tapped to 1/4" x 20 threads. The bottoms of the Sunpaks are also threaded threaded so I just used the screws they use to attach the camera to the bracket. I attach the camera to the bracket with my spare Bogen tripod camera mount. Minus any lens, this beast weights 9.5 pounds. Throw on the 14 pound 600mm f/4 AIS and you are now just shy of 25 pounds, which is why this will be tripod mounted (on the lens) for all shoots.

 
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alex6speed

Senior Member
I'm blind just looking at the current setup. However, I will bid you good luck in your pursuit in replicating a supernova. :p

On a more serious note, what part of AZ are you going to? Night photography, I imagine, is awesome out in the desert areas of AZ, though I've heard how dangerous they can be as well.
 
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STM

Senior Member
I put the 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye on the D700 and fired off this setup (with the diffusion attachments on each strobe) and the illumination was perfect, corner to corner with zero fall off.
 
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STM

Senior Member
alex6speed said:
I'm blind just looking at the current setup. However, I will bid you good luck in your pursuit in replicating a supernova. :p

On a more serious note, what part of AZ are you going to? Night photography, I imagine, is awesome out in the desert areas of AZ, though I've heard how dangerous they can be as well.
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Springerville is 7000 feet MSL. I anticipate having a good case of altitude-induced anemia, going from sea level to 7000 feet MSL, for several weeks before while my system catches up, but taking iron supplements will speed up the recovery.

AZ is an open carry state so rest assured I will not venture into the wilderness without my trusty Colt 1911 on my hip. Of course that is what I do here in FL as well. Never bring just a set of teeth and claws to a gunfight! By the time I get up there pretty much all of the reptiles, with and without legs, will have headed for their dens to hibernate.
 
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cwgrizz

cwgrizz

Senior Member
Challenge Team
Low temps are getting into the mid to low 30's. Highs are about 75. That's what I love about most of AZ. It can get cold at night, but usually warms up in the daytime.

With that setup, you should really be able to get photos that have a deer in the headlights look. Ha! Have fun.
 
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