Best place to find cheap Boom for a light stand?

[birdie]

I'm looking for a decent boom and light stand combo, I bought a boom off ebay recently, and the boom itself is reasonable quality but the swivel is only made out of plastic, so it can't really handle anything more than just a straight flash on boom, which i want to be able to mount my 24"x24" softbox to for over head, or up high softbox shots without getting it the way of the camera...

Now I'd love a C-Stand but even from Image Melbourne they start at like $250, which is a lot of money for a light stand, esp when you compare it to the rest of my strobist gear (3x Nikon SB-28's (all from ebay), a set of Cactus V4 triggers (1 trans, and 4 receivers) (direct from GI), 2x 43" convertible umbrellas, 2x nano light stands, (brollies and stands from ##############), 3 metal umbrella holders for my light stands (from ebay), and a 24x24" softbox (from ebay))

So i really would rather not have to spend as much money on a light stand as what i have on the total for most of the rest of my gear...

I could probably just use my current boom from ebay if i could find a better swivel bracket... I would attempt to DIY but I don't really have the facilities at my current Unit... so unless I go over to my parents and do it there... but I'd rather buy something if i can find something reasonable...

Anyone use a boom? cheap one? expensive one?

[Analog6]

On another forum someone said they bought some stands from the hardware store and adapted them - not sure what they were used for originally, but might be worth a look.

[bigdazzler]

Unfortunately nowhere mate. Quality stands, and particularly booms, are $$$$. Fact of lighting life

[birdie]

On another forum someone said they bought some stands from the hardware store and adapted them - not sure what they were used for originally, but might be worth a look.

Got a link to that forum? I'd like to see what they used :-)

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Birdie

Before going too far ... .pop into an audio shop and ask about microphone stands

For $60-odd you can pick up a tripod base, boom stand that goes to about 1.8m max and whose boom is maybe 750mm long. It will have a microphone socket (5/8" thread) on top so via a simple DIY connector you could/should be able to connect your softbox

Bigger models with longer arms are available at $$+ prices

Hope this helps a bit
Regards, Phil

[birdie]

OzzieTraveller, thats a good idea... would a mic stand hold the weight though? how heavy are the heaviest mic's? I wouldn't have thought they would handle the weight of a small softbox (60x60cm...)

The boom I bought off ebay seems to be working better now... (haven't tested it outside again though, only inside) I put the boom through the hole on the underside of the bolt that way its pushing down, and pushing against the mount rather than being above and being wobbly... also I've tightened a few of the screws and bolts on it and it seems much better now... now it seems the wobble is in my nano light stands... so i need to get a heavier duty light stand... which is fine as i only have 2 stands and I have 3x SB28's plus a Metz 45-CL4 which I'm working on a method to mount it to a umbrella swivel...

This is the boom I got off ebay: here, its not too bad now that I've tightened a couple of the screws up and now putting the boom on the bottom side...

[OzzieTraveller]

G'day Birdie

Matey - you ask "would a mic stand hold the weight though?"
I can't answer that as I don't know the weight of what you want to hold up there, but in my case, the lights I am using weigh in at about 1/2kg, with the diffuser on, add another 75grams ~ overall not much

Here is a recent pic showing them in use with my portable lighting outfit. Note that the hair light in the rear is almost touching the ceiling



To balance the forward weight of the boom, the 12v transformer [weighing 1kg] is attached to one of the tripod feet and is always at 180deg to the boom - so that it provides a counter-weight

The locking mechanism for the boom is a 5/16" metal bolt thru a pressed metal frame squeezing two thick rubber pads ... ie: not plastic, so won't crack under pressure

These small portable lights are used when I'm doing home-studio-portraiture tutorials with my on-the-road workshops, so for me overall weight is critical, as it all adds up when travelling

Best I can suggest is for you to pop into your local audio place and sqwiz what they've got. I asked for 'small portable units' ... they may have larger, more solid units - why not ask 'em

Hope this helps a bit
Regards, Phil