HOT SHOE Innovation - Part 2

Picking up from the last post, we were getting ready to modify the Cheap Strobe Mini-stands so they will allow a secure mounting to a location Speed Ring for a softbox, such as the Chimera shown.  The Hot shoe mount that came with the Speed Ring is awful and practically BEGS the strobe to fall off unless extreme care is taken to exactly align the strobe.  The distractions and thinking on your feet of working on location do not allow for that.

Here is the end product goal.  A SECURELY mounted strobe with the sensor available to an optical transmitter like the Canon ST-E2  Line of sight is not necessary with a Wireless radio transmitter.  For simplicity, the Softbox is NOT SHOWN.

Looking at the Cheap Mini-Stands from the previous post, here is our goal:  Use a hacksaw or Electric Jig-Saw to easily trim the edges of the plastic ministand to fit on to the Speedring Flash arm.  This is why modifying the metal Canon ministand is not recommended.  This is the top view.

Bottom view.  You want to make the cuts as close as possible with out ruining the INTEGRITY of the tripod mount or show itself.  Here is the bottom view.  I used the close-in plastic rails as my guide to keep them intact.  They call it a hacksaw for a reason.

Voila, the Secure Hot shoe is attached to the flash arm of the Speed Ring and is ready for the Strobe to be mounted securely.  Note the angle can be changed to the left or right depending on the location of the Master Strobe or Transmitter.

My preferred location strobe is the Canon 580 EX.