Lustworthy Gear: The Brewer Bracket

Strobist reader Todd Brewer sent me one of his double flash umbrella brackets to test drive a while back, and I have only recently gotten a chance to play around with it. The "El Doble" dual flash bracket is designed to allow you to easily use two flashes in one umbrella, and it works great. It's built like a tank and reasonably priced, currently at $59.95.

(More after the jump.)

What I especially like about it is that it gets the flash heads right next to the umbrella shaft, for much better on-axis coverage. Actually, you may wish to use this bracket with only one flash for just that reason. (I'd swivel the head just a tad toward the umbrella shaft to better align a single flash.)

But why would you want to stick two flashes in one umbrella to begin with?

More power is the obvious reason. The second flash adds one full f/stop of light (all settings being equal) that can put you over the hump when you are trying to balance flash with daylight, for instance.

But you can also gain shooting speed. By doubling up with an extra flash you might have lying around, you can cut each flash's output by half. This halves your recycle time, which doubles the speed at which you can shoot.

The bracket can mount onto a typical umbrella bracket, as shown, but it can also hook up to a Super clamp, for applications such as speedlighting a gym. Again, you can go for more power or faster recycle.

But you do not need to have the flashes firing in the same direction, either. You can angle them away from each other to create a huge angle of illumination for your light. This would be especially handy for wedding shooters who might like to backlight a large reception area from one clamped position.

The flashes mount using (your) typical umbrella shoe mounts, with a 1/4x20 screw. Todd makes low-profile screws available (separately) or you can hit the hardware aisle at Home Depot and fashion your own. Put a wing nut on a bolt that is a little long, stick it through the hole in the bracket and into the flash shoe and tighten the wing nut underneath to secure it.

Any way you use it or mount it, this bracket is pretty sharp -- and built to last forever.

:: BrewerBracket.com ::