Standard light stand or C-Stand?

im wondering about what to get that will be strong enough to hold the 60" umbrella but also be a little more stable than the crappy £7 stands I use.
 
rgrebby said:
im wondering about what to get that will be strong enough to hold the 60" umbrella but also be a little more stable than the crappy £7 stands I use.
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I got some Lencarta Light stands today and they look strong enough to use with a hammock !!
 
C stands are heavy and the grip industry standard, but are only -really- stable when sandbagged.

They're not too portable either... for most photo use, a decent light stand will be fine, sandbag it well if using outside with a 60" umbrella, but they're fine. Calumet do good own branded ones, that are rebadged manfrottos :)
 
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C-Stands are neither cheap nor lightweight, but they've become my go to stand in just a week of using them.

I couldn't do this with a "normal" light stand.

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That's a Lencarta Safari head and 120cm folding Octa, the heaviest head and mod I have, and there was a breeze blowing.

It extends to about 11ft high. I still have the other stands in use for speedlights and small mods that don't need a boom.

Sandbags or similar should be used on any lightstand especially when being used outdoors so that's irrelevant really.
 
cowasaki said:
"C Stand" ?
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'C' stand is derived from Century stand, ( see Jason's photo above ), which is a Boom type stand that was 100 inches long, hence 'Century'. Don't buy cheap or you will regret it.
 
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Pete Bird said:
'C' stand is derived from Century stand, ( see Jason's photo above ), which is a Boom type stand that was 100 inches long, hence 'Century'. Don't buy cheap or you will regret it.
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The "century" comes from the ancient 100 inch reflector back in the early days of cinema and not the stand size as they're 40 inches collapsed and around 170 inches extended. ;)
 
I thought it would be something like Garry Edwards Camera stand in his studio! If you put it in the middle of a car park and drove into it it would right the car off and barely cause a detectable wobble on the camera :D
 
JasonRS said:
The "century" comes from the ancient 100 inch reflector back in the early days of cinema and not the stand size as they're 40 inches collapsed and around 170 inches extended. ;)
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I will tell Joe McNally that. Can't trust the Yanks.:)
 
Love c stands in studios, can be great outside as well if its no to much of a hike getting to location. Out of interest is that a safari head? it looks compleatly different to th one I just bought.

Mart
 
Marvin d martian said:
Love c stands in studios, can be great outside as well if its no to much of a hike getting to location. Out of interest is that a safari head? it looks compleatly different to th one I just bought.

Mart
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My Safari kit's a year old. The head casing does seem to change from time to time with different production runs.
 
JasonRS said:
My Safari kit's a year old. The head casing does seem to change from time to time with different production runs.
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I've not seen anyone else's Safari lights but my two are great :thumbs:
 
Thanks for the clarification, got mine last week, well get used in anger this week :-)

Mart
 
Good topic this,

I must have broken at least three decent umbrellas this year :(

Can anyone recommend decent sandbags please? I thought my lightstands were pretty sturdy but obviously they aren't.
 
anyone with access to a calumet student card (free!) can get 20% off their own branded stuff, including their c-stand :)
 
JasonRS said:
You can get a C-Stand for less, and they'll handle much more weight. Fine for a speedlight, but get a monoblock and a big softbox or octabank on there and you're screwed.

Regardless of the stand used, there's no escape from the need to sandbag.
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Jason, you should try a boom with that nice big Octa of yours. Get the balance right and it'll take tons of weight. You won't need sandbags, only space ;)
 
HoppyUK said:
Jason, you should try a boom with that nice big Octa of yours. Get the balance right and it'll take tons of weight. You won't need sandbags, only space ;)
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I have, and I prefer Century's, although you can get an Avenger boom arm to fit the C-Stand and that looks pretty sweet as it'll double my reach. Tomas W has one.

The manfrotto's are only rated for 2Kg extended and when the wind blows, everything goes...so I want something that's solid.

:)
 
how would you attach an umbrella adaptor/speedring adaptor to the extension arm of a c-stand? I was thinking of getting one for use with my SB900s but need a bit more information before I start spending.
 
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