I had looked at brackets for several months prior to buying these.  In terms of macro brackets, the two main competitors are Really Right Stuff and Kirk Photo.  After some consideration, I chose the Wimberley macro brackets, but for those interested the following are the reasons I did not buy the other choices.

Really Right Stuff – For awhile, this was my first choice.  Only when I learned about the Wimberley brackets did I change my mind.  In order for the bracket to work with the MT-24EX, I needed to buy another flash mount.  Also, I needed at least one telescoping arm to get the flashes past the lens.  Therefore, the price came out a bit higher than the Wimberley solution.

The main reason I chose the Wimberley was flexibility.  The RRS solution is nice – but the Wimberley brackets can literally bend in almost any direction.  The RRS brackets are limited by the flexibility of the arm – which can be rotated around the bracket and extended.

Kirk Photo – This solution looks a bit more flexible than the RRS, but looks a bit flimsy.  I hesitated whether it would take a 580EX without issue or something heavier.  It is also not as flexible as the Wimberley.

Iguana taken in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.  Canon 180mm macro with two Wimberley lights. 1/125 f/7.1. 

The Wimberley solution allows you to buy parts of your flash bracket piece by piece.  I actually purchased a vertical bracket to allow one of the flash brackets to be placed directly over the lens but it really isn’t necessary – the brackets are long enough as is.

The flash brackets are an important tool – but are not always useful.  In general, I rarely use the brackets when using my MP-E 65, but almost always have them on when using my 180L.  When taking insect shots, I like the lighting effect but they get in the way more than they help.  Since my camera often sits close to the ground, having two big brackets just below it can become troublesome.  It is also difficult getting it into tight places.

On the 180L, I don’t like the lighting when placing the heads at the end of the lens using the 72C adapter.  Instead, I find that by using the Wimberley brackets I can get the lights much closer to the subject – which generally improves the lighting.  I know that in general by moving a light further away it should soften it, but that is not the case here.  I think due to the size of the subject, by moving the flash closer to the subject the light becomes larger – and therefore softer.

The brackets attach to the plate on the lens – though you can connect it to your camera plate as well through an optional adapter that I did not buy.  Note that if you want to use two of these (necessary when using the MT-24EX) you need a plate that has a double dovetail design.  Unfortunately I had Kirk lens plates at the time – which are not double dovetail plates.  Both Wimberley and Really Right Stuff make double dovetail plates – so make sure you use those if you intend to use these brackets with the lens.

The flash heads mount on the screw at the end of the bracket.  You can also mount a 580EX or similar flash on the end by attaching the small stand that comes with the flash and screwing it on the bracket.  I have used the bracket with a 580EX flash and it held the weight without issue.

The arm is relatively simple – with three ball joints joined by two ‘pipes’.  On each of the pipes is a knob that allows you to change the tension.  One minor annoyance though is that in order to place the flash on the bracket, I need to loosen the top knob, which also loosens the bar itself – so the whole thing wobbles all over the place while I attempt to put the flash head on.  Sometimes I do not tighten it all the way after I have the bracket in the exact position I want – at which point I have to loosen the whole thing, tighten the flash, then reposition the bracket.

The camera also looks a bit scary with these brackets on.  I drew more than a few strange looks when walking around with this apparatus at our all-inclusive in Mexico.

Another huge advantage with these brackets is it allows me to change the angle of the flash to the subject.  In some cases, this is hugely important.  For instance, without these brackets, the flashes would shine back at me when shooting through the glass of a fish tank.  Instead, they enable me to angle the flash just right so as to illuminate the subject without getting hit by the flash.

Canon 180mm macro with MT-24EX mounted on two Wimberley brackets. ISO 800 1/200 f/11

I take advantage of this ability as well with drops and my MP-E 65.  This is the only time that I use my MP-E 65 with the Wimberley flash brackets – but in this case by moving the lights at an angle that is closer to the sides of the drop, I don’t blow out the drop as much.  Here is a shot without the brackets.

Falling drop taken with MP-E 65 at 1.5x magnification.  Lighted using MT-24EX.  1/200 f/11

Compare that to this shot with the brackets.

Falling drop taken with MP-E 65 at 1.5x magnification.  Lighted using MT-24EX and two Wimberley macro brackets.  1/200 at f/11.

Therefore, I am very happy with my Wimberley flash brackets and they are always in my bag when shooting macro.  Along with my macro lenses and MT-24EX flash, I consider them essential tools of the trade.

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Today wasn’t a great day as far as drippies go.  Most of the ones I found were either too difficult to get at or weren’t dropping at a quick and predictable rate.  I did find this one in a rather unusual place though.

This shot was actually taken by our car exhaust.  I found a good drippie there that was dropping at a good rate.  Due to its location under my car, I was unable to hold the camera vertically.  However, this is a 21 Megapixel image, so if I cut it in half it still wouldn’t be that bad.

Although I caught the drop in the above shot, I like this shot a bit better.

This was the first time I used my Wimberley macro brackets when photographing drops and I like the lighting effect much better.  It took a bit of time to get the lights into a position I liked, but once I did I avoided blowing out the drop as I have in past attempts.

I normally use the Wimberley brackets all of the time when I shoot with my 180L – unless I am shooting flowers with a tripod.  However, I almost never use them with my MP-E 65 – where they just get in the way.  This was the exception though, as I found the lighting effect a strong improvement.  Here’s an example of a drop I took last year without the Wimberley brackets.

I like this shot, but the blown out area on the top of the drop is very annoying.  As you can see, the Wimberley macro brackets made a big improvement.

Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to find some good drippies and improve on this shot.

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Lets get some basic definitions out of the way before we start.

Tripod – Those things, usually with three legs, that we use to hold our camera still.  Note that when you talks about professional tripods, only the legs are considered.  The head is sold separately.

Tripod Head – There are many types of heads you can buy for tripods – ball heads (the most common), panoramic heads, gimbal heads, panning heads, etc.  However, the important thing to remember is the tripod isn’t very useful without a head.  The head is what you put the camera on.

Plate – There are a number of different types of plates, which I will explain in more detail later in the post.  The short definition, though, is a plate is what allows you to place your SLR on the tripod head.

Bracket – This is a general term, but when I write about brackets here I generally mean something that holds something for the camera.  Usually, brackets hold lights – and flash brackets are among the most common types of brackets.  Note that macro rails and panoramic heads are not brackets.

OK, now that we have some basic definitions, lets look at what types of plates there are.

One of the original and most popular ball heads to be released is called the Arca-Swiss ball head.  These ball heads are still made, though they are no longer the most popular ones out there.  Still, they revolutionized a technology where metal plates are attached to the camera that allow one to attach the camera to the tripod head very quickly.  As other tripod heads were released, many of them followed the standard introduced by Arca-Swiss by making their heads compatible with the metal plates used for Arca-Swiss.  Therefore you’ll see a lot of tripod heads and plates advertised as Arca-Swiss compatible.  Most of the main manufacturers are compatible, but that doesn’t mean they are interchangeable.

There are two main types of plates.

a) Those that attach to the camera itself.

b) Those that attach to telephoto lenses with lens collars.

Typically, you will need both types of plates.  You will need one camera plate for each camera you own and one lens plate for each lens you own that has a tripod collar.  If the lens does not have a tripod collar, no lens plate is necessary – but you will still need a plate for the camera.  All plates are manufactured for specific cameras and lenses, so you will need to look on the plate manufacturer’s web site to see which ones you need.

There are two types of camera plates available.

a) Standard camera plates.  These fit on the bottom of the camera.

b) L-plates.  These also screw onto the bottom of the camera, but also take up the left side of your camera.  Each side has a groove, which allows you to place the camera on the tripod both vertically and horizontally.

Which type of camera plate should you buy?  The main disadvantages with the L-plates are the higher price and more bulkiness.  However the better L-plates are barely noticeable on the camera.  Personally I use an L-plate and never remove it from the camera.  From researching online I decided to buy the RRS L-plate and am very happy with it.  Better L-plates will allow you access to all controls on the camera and will allow the camera to sit in your hands almost unchanged from when the L-plate is not attached.

Before I get more into lens plates, I thought I would discuss the main companies that build these plates.  There are essentially three main companies out there that build top end brackets and plates.  All of them are very similar in terms of quality.

Kirk Photo – I currently use their lens plate for my MP-E 65 (though I will have to replace it as you’ll see below), and their macro rail.  I like the macro rail a lot and find it much less bulk than the RRS rail.

Wimberley – Probably most known for their gimbal head and car bracket, I do not currently own anything from them.  However I do plan to purchase their macro flash bracket and I plan to use their lens plates.

Really Right Stuff – I currently use their L-bracket.  Their stuff tends to have the sleekest designs, though I find some of them a bit less practical than Wimberley’s and Kirk Photo’s (for instance their macro flash bracket and macro rail – though don’t get me wrong – they are still top notch).

When you get into lens plates, things can become trickier.  The reason is many brackets are attached to lens plates.  In the absence of a lens plate, many attach to the camera plates, but there are fewer compatibility issues here.

Therefore, if you solidly believe that you will never purchase a bracket for your camera, then you’re probably safe assuming that it doesn’t matter what company’s lens plate you buy.  However, if you do buy a bracket you may be in for a rude surprise.

The particular issue I ran into is I plan to buy a macro flash bracket for my MT-24EX.  For those not familiar with the MT-24EX, it is a dual headed macro flash.  Therefore, I need actually two flash brackets instead of one.  I’ll go into detail some other time why I want to do this, but it came down to deciding between the RRS flash bracket and the Wimberley Shape-Shifter macro flash bracket.  The Wimberley makes use of two separate flash brackets – one for each head.  The RRS flash bracket uses two separate arms – each of which attaches to a bracket that goes around the lens.

If this is confusing, here is the RRS flash bracket – note that for the MT-24EX you need to add another head and two extension arms.  You can see the Wimberley solution here.

After some research, the Wimberley came out the clear winner as it is more versatile and about $200 cheaper.  However, because I am using the MT-24EX, I need two flash-brackets.  To accomplish this, Wimberley lens plates are designed with double dovetails.  Basically this allows you to attach something both to the top and the bottom of the lens plate – which allows me to attach both flash brackets.  The RRS lens plates are also double dovetailed, but the Kirk plates only have a single dovetail.  The RRS flash bracket needs only a single dovetail – because both arms attach to the single ring, but I had to be difficult.  Therefore I will have to sell my Kirk plate (which luckily also fits the 100mm 2.8 macro) and buy a Wimberley one.  I could also buy a RRS lens plate but I prefer to put one order in.

I should also note that some people, rather than using lens plates, replace the entire collar or just the foot of the lens.  RRS and other companies offer a number of replacement collars and feet, and this is a bit more compact as you do not have the extra plate on the foot (the replacement collar/foot have the dovetails built in).  Personally I find this to be an overly expensive solution.  Most lens plates cost around $50.  A replacement collar with foot costs around $200.  For $150 I have no issues carrying a few extra grams of weight.

In general, it seems that RRS lens plates support Wimberley brackets and vice versa.  This does not seem to be the case with Kirk plates.  However, if you buy a Kirk bracket, then you will need to have Kirk plates – RRS and Wimberley plates will not work.  As Kirk does have very interesting macro flash brackets and flash brackets in general, it is worth considering what type of plate you want.  As I like the Wimberley brackets a bit better, for me the decision isn’t very hard.

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