Weighing down lightstands - what do you use ?

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MidnightUK

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Looking for ideas or recommendations for light stand weights. What do you use , buy or make for yourself ?

I have seen some striped sand bags on Amazon but have seen no sample in real life, the bright stripe trip hazard colouring appeals. Looking for about 6, so not looking at expensive brands.

Anyone used or seen these ? One link but Amazon has lots of similar various coloured ones::
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Pho...e=UTF8&qid=1481982875&sr=1-4&keywords=sandbag
There are also water based ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Pho...UTF8&qid=1481980494&sr=1-196&keywords=sandbag

and Bessel does a black one,. Not found a Lencarta one.

Ideas or links gratefully received,
Thanks.
 
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Don't buy the ones sold for photography use, £6.00 for an empty bag is too much of a rip off for my liking. You will also have to factor in the extra cost of buying the material you choose to use as the weight e.g. sand, stones, water bottles etc.

I use wrist\ankle exercise weights as counterweights for my light stands and Booms.
The ankle\wrist weights are inexpensive, strong and work perfectly. Unlike the empty bags that the likes of Calumet, Lencarta and Bessel sell, the ankle\wrist weights are ready to use out straight out of the box.
In use they wrap around the base of light stands very easily and securely and for use on booms the hanging them or wrapping them around the boom arm works well also.

Wrist\Ankle exercise weights.
 
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Ive never tried the wrist/ankle weights approach before, but i have to say it does look like a really good approach. Thanks for that.
 
I can remember when light stands were heavy enough not to need weighing down. Boom lights should be counter balanced, and other lights should be properly balanced for their use. the best studio systems use ceiling tracks and lazy tongs. Most light weight stands should be thought of as potential accidents. Happily most lighting uses fewer cables today than before, To trip you and bring every thing down on top.
 
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MidnightUK said:
Looking for ideas or recommendations for light stand weights. What do you use , buy or make for yourself ?

I have seen some striped sand bags on Amazon but have seen no sample in real life, the bright stripe trip hazard colouring appeals. Looking for about 6, so not looking at expensive brands.

Anyone used or seen these ? One link but Amazon has lots of similar various coloured ones::
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Pho...e=UTF8&qid=1481982875&sr=1-4&keywords=sandbag
There are also water based ones
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer-Pho...UTF8&qid=1481980494&sr=1-196&keywords=sandbag

and Bessel does a black one,. Not found a Lencarta one.

Ideas or links gratefully received,
Thanks.
Click to expand...
We do have one, very stripey and hi vis, but it needs to be photographed and put on the website. Someone plonked one on my desk on Friday, which must have been a hint...
 
Garry Edwards said:
We do have one, very stripey and hi vis, but it needs to be photographed and put on the website. Someone plonked one on my desk on Friday, which must have been a hint...
Click to expand...

Any idea how much they will sell for? Will anything be photographed in house when you have gone?

Still debating the interesting ankle weights idea. Does sound an interesting option. Wondering what the best weight would be.
 
MidnightUK said:
Any idea how much they will sell for? Will anything be photographed in house when you have gone?

Still debating the interesting ankle weights idea. Does sound an interesting option. Wondering what the best weight would be.
Click to expand...
I'll ask the price on Monday.

I've been training someone for nearly 2 years, so the photography will carry on in house
 
MidnightUK said:
Any idea how much they will sell for? Will anything be photographed in house when you have gone?

Still debating the interesting ankle weights idea. Does sound an interesting option. Wondering what the best weight would be.
Click to expand...
Ankle/Wrist weights actually (kilo for kilo) work out far more expensive than those amazon sandbags and a bag of kiln dried play sand and are less adaptable than the good old saddle bag style that has been used in studio's and on film sets for, well seems like forever!

Paul
 
If you use bottles or containers, wet sand weighs double dry sand. I have a few plastic milk bottles (the handle is handy) and 1L weighs 2.1kg. I put a freezer bag in first as a bit of extra security against leaks, and a drop of bleach in the water to stop the sand going black and manky.

These are useful for all sorts of things, though TBH I'm thinking those sand saddle-bag type things (v cheap on ebay) are prolly favourite as stand ballast.
 
redsnappa said:
Don't buy the ones sold for photography use, £6.00 for an empty bag is too much of a rip off for my liking. You will also have to factor in the extra cost of buying the material you choose to use as the weight e.g. sand, stones, water bottles etc.

I use wrist\ankle exercise weights as counterweights for my light stands and Booms.
The ankle\wrist weights are inexpensive, strong and work perfectly. Unlike the empty bags that the likes of Calumet, Lencarta and Bessel sell, the ankle\wrist weights are ready to use out straight out of the box.
In use they wrap around the base of light stands very easily and securely and for use on booms the hanging them or wrapping them around the boom arm works well also.

Wrist\Ankle exercise weights.
Click to expand...

Ditto. And I sometimes use tent pegs & bungy cords.
 
the ones these guys do are pretty good:

http://standbagsdirect.co.uk/

alternatively the arri ones are very standard across the rental industry:

your ballast can't really be heavy enough to be honest, and I certainly wouldn't say that wrist weights are heavy enough to really do the job. Normal sandbags should be 5-7kg.

The best to fill them with is marine steel ballast, but unfortunately you only really seem to be able to buy that by the ton, so is difficult unless you have a lot of sandbags >_>
 
itsdavedotnet said:
the ones these guys do are pretty good:

http://standbagsdirect.co.uk/

alternatively the arri ones are very standard across the rental industry:

your ballast can't really be heavy enough to be honest, and I certainly wouldn't say that wrist weights are heavy enough to really do the job. Normal sandbags should be 5-7kg.

The best to fill them with is marine steel ballast, but unfortunately you only really seem to be able to buy that by the ton, so is difficult unless you have a lot of sandbags >_>
Click to expand...

My ankle weights are 5kg each; a couple of those are plenty for most things.
 
Most of my light work is outside on racecourses now. As a result I find a builders weight rubble sack and a ziptie are ideal. I just source the ballast on site.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I'll ask the price on Monday.

I've been training someone for nearly 2 years, so the photography will carry on in house
Click to expand...
Price, when I can get it photographed and one the website, will be £5.99. To add to the above, although I'm going to be a man of leisure after this week, I will be calling in to photograph new products as and when they arrive, and will at the same time be running in-house training courses for all staff.

BTW, sandbag or alternatives are good, but it's much better to tie the item down. All of our new softboxes have a D-ring to tie them down safely, using either paracord and tent pegs on soft ground or something solid like a tree, lamp post, car etc where possible, this is far more secure because simply weighting the stand doesn't help much when there is a softbox high up, acting as a sail, and also doesn't help much on uneven ground. In future, we will have these D-rings on some other products too.
3.jpg
 
Thanks to everyone who has added to this thread so far.

itsdavedotnet said:
marine steel ballast
Click to expand...
That, having never heard of it, sent me on a little voyage of discovery. I knew they have always put ballast in boats, having read about wooden warships at some point. I did not know they sometimes poor concrete over to keep it still in some slightly more modern boats. There is a boat yard within a shortish travel distance of me Wonder if they use it or if the boats are too small for it to be relevant?

juggler said:
Ditto. And I sometimes use tent pegs & bungy cords.
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Working indoors for time being but will keep in mind, thanks.

I probably worry too much about health and safety, but I have seen several near misses due to lead photographers being careless. I assisted a while back and ended up anchoring a very high backdrop to a netball hoop, something I was not at all happy with, but there was nothing else. The lead had refused to weigh down or otherwise anchor the backdrop, even with stand weights, despite its height. Something went wrong while I was trying to sort out another issue elsewhere and the whole backdrop would have fallen on some young dancers if the hoop had not held out. I stopped working with the guy as to me he was utterly irresponsible. I prob go for overkill now as I dont want to 'be that guy' as they say and because in my employed workplaces, H&S has always been a big thing. People say H&S has gone to far, but within reason, it must have saved hundreds of lives over the years.

Garry Edwards said:
sandbag or alternatives are good, but it's much better to tie the item down. All of our new softboxes have a D-ring to tie them down safely, using either paracord and tent pegs on soft ground or something solid like a tree, lamp post, car etc where possible
Click to expand...

This looks a very good development, clever thinking.

Garry Edwards said:
Price, when I can get it photographed and one the website, will be £5.99. To add to the above, although I'm going to be a man of leisure after this week, I will be calling in to photograph new products as and when they arrive, and will at the same time be running in-house training courses for all staff.
Click to expand...

Thanks lots for finding this out. Glad you will still have some involvement - don't want you getting idle! :-)
 
MidnightUK said:
I probably worry too much about health and safety, but I have seen several near misses due to lead photographers being careless. I assisted a while back and ended up anchoring a very high backdrop to a netball hoop, something I was not at all happy with, but there was nothing else. The lead had refused to weigh down or otherwise anchor the backdrop, even with stand weights, despite its height. Something went wrong while I was trying to sort out another issue elsewhere and the whole backdrop would have fallen on some young dancers if the hoop had not held out. I stopped working with the guy as to me he was utterly irresponsible. I prob go for overkill now as I dont want to 'be that guy' as they say and because in my employed workplaces, H&S has always been a big thing. People say H&S has gone to far, but within reason, it must have saved hundreds of lives over the years.
Click to expand...

A numpty at a studio I use took a light off a boom arm - of course the weighted end came crashing down and missed a model by inches. A little bit of care goes a long way.
 
juggler said:
A numpty at a studio I use took a light off a boom arm - of course the weighted end came crashing down and missed a model by inches. A little bit of care goes a long way.
Click to expand...

I think we've all had wobbly moments ;) The solution I now use is a sliding counter-weight, as opposed to the standard issue Manfrotto bag that is fixed to the end by a hook. It makes adjusting the weight for optimum balance easier, too. Position is secured with a mini-clamp.
 
I have used coupe of the Neewer sandbags during my Irisj Coast trip and they were great in keepig my heavy tripod extra steady in in gusty moments. I bought the smaller bags of 'play sand' as they were sold in strong sealed plastic bags and were easier to stack in the garage of my.motorhome. Not the cheaprst way to weigh down my tripods and stands but an extra tener is cheaper than a camera/lens or speedlight hitting the ground.

That said, the wind coming in pff the Atlanyic was sometimes so wild that ground anchors would be needed!

Steve
 
Never liked sandbags for weighing down stands in the studio as all our stands are on roller bases.

I just take a manfrotto g-peso counterweight and clamp it directly to the centre column of any stand that will support an off centre load. Not cheap but neat, sturdy and foolproof.
 
I've just checked the price of the Manfrotto G-Peso counterweights and a 4.3Kg Manfrotto G-Pesso costs a reasonable £39.99. I've done the maths and it would actually be much cheaper to use cold hard cash as a counterweight. Apparently 4.3Kg worth of 1p coins is £14.07 wow. :)
 
Perhaps a valid point (though given the Royal Mint spec of 3.56gm/coin nearer £12) but you still have to have a mountable container to hold them & I still feel the best 'bang for your buck' is still 25kg of kiln dried sand from a builders merchant for about £5 and some good old saddle bag style sand bags!

Paul
 
Ok My last post was a bit tongue in cheek but seriously, has anyone tried making counterweights from concrete? In theory concrete should create a counterweight that is less bulky than sand sce it is more dense.
 
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redsnappa said:
Ok My last post was a bit tongue in cheek but seriously, has anyone tried making counterweights from concrete? In theory concrete should create a counterweight that is less bulky than sand sce it is more dense.
Click to expand...

They're popular for holding down awnings, seriously big and heavy buggas with a metal hook cast in.
 
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