Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

Hi! I recently purchased a beauty dish but I can't get it to angle downwards since it bangs into my light stand. I see on some strobist forums on flickr that most everyone uses boom arms with their beauty dishes. Any recommendations for the right one? Or any other work-arounds? I don't just want to aim it straight at the subject.

Thanks!

i was told any boom arm that clamps to the stand and not to the top stud should work fine. tech support pointed me towards a westcott one on b and h that should work. i haven't had the money to buy it yet. needed new flashtubes and a grid first.

Super Clamp & arm...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... _with.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5 ... _with.html

John

A simple and inexpensive offset arm that solves this problem is being made now and should be available in 4-6 weeks. It mounts on top of the stand and acts like a mini boom arm so allows horizontal positioning of beauty dishes and OLM/Umbrellas. I'm on my Christmas trip . . . yes, Christmas . . . more details next week.

you really need the offset arm or a boom anyway, otherwise the post is in the middle of your shot.

Luap - do you mean Alien Bees is coming out with a boom arm?

"A simple and inexpensive offset arm that solves this problem is being made now and should be available in 4-6 weeks. It mounts on top of the stand and acts like a mini boom arm so allows horizontal positioning of beauty dishes and OLM/Umbrellas. I'm on my Christmas trip . . . yes, Christmas . . . more details next week."

Will it be pretty heavy-duty? I read on another forum the old boom arms were really wimpy...

Thanks!
Robin :-)

Full fledged boom arms have proven to be cumbersome, hence our discontinuation of them. Paul has described this as an offset arm, so do not expect a full boom. Details will come next week. If a full boom is required, plenty of options are available at B&H and Adorama. Be sure to get one that clamps to the column and not the top stud.

Like this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhobby ... 3/sizes/l/

Actually, the best booms do attach to the top of the light stand. I would not use one that did not (because the best ones do).

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 ... oller.html

In the case of using our light stands, we do not reccomend the stud mounted boomarms is due to the fact ours were not designed to use such arms. The weight and torque applied can damage the stand (particularly to the stud).