DIY Wind Resistant Light Stand

An Exception · 31 May 2012 at 13:19

Maybe this might help some folks who are into 'off camera' flash on location...

Been looking for a light stand that was light, but that could withstand some breeze even with a 60" umbrella on it. I couldn't find any, so decided to DIY it.

In the past I had tried weighing the stand down, and that helped a little, however if I added the weight necessary to stop it falling, the stand was then extremely heavy and hard to move around. So ideally, I wanted to increase stability without increasing weight much, to do this I decided to add leg extensions in order to increase the radius of the stands base.

I had a slightly larger stand I didn't use, so I merged the stands together, to create 1 stand that the very light, but very stable.

During some testing to day in light breeze, the stand is extremely stable in comparison to a normal stand, and I imagine it would hold up well in stronger winds if you added just a little weight.

Below is the Frankenstand

This is how big the radius used to be.

Self portrait with setup

Raymond Lin · 31 May 2012 at 13:26

The outer diameter looks the same but you added a smaller inner legs to make it 6?

Doesn't that make it extremely difficult to make level...i.e. inner legs too low and outer leg to high or vice versa (which the inner leg not touching the ground at all).

An Exception · 31 May 2012 at 13:32

Sorry Raymond, no there are no inner legs, the photo looks a bit misleading.
If you look at the top picture there are no inner legs, the extra legs you see in the second picture is just for comparison, it's another identical stand to the stand I modified, and placed directly in front of the modified stand.

An Exception · 31 May 2012 at 13:35

Here is what the stand looks like without the other stand in the way.

Raymond Lin · 31 May 2012 at 13:49

Oh I see.

Then your original stand sucks lol that leg is WAY way way too short.

I got a pair of these.

http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/bowens_compact_light_stand/bw6610

Good job on the mod though

An Exception · 31 May 2012 at 14:20

I have another taller/heavier stand, but the diameter of the foot print still didn't offer enough stability as it's only 36". While the stand you posted is no doubt a much better quality stand, I would be very surprised if it's diameter is over 40".

In contrast, the modified stand that I made from a little crappy stand, now has a 64" diameter, which is larger than my largest modifier.