When I started this project I had a look at the equipment I had and what I would need to make it work. I was surprised at the amount of equipment that was gathering dust or had a better, newer model. A lot of stuff I owned cost a fortune to buy back in its day but you couldn’t give it away today.
The challenge was to see if some of the kit I had could be adapted so that it would have a new lease of life.
Pocket Wizard remote triggers were the first thing on my shopping list to transform old flash guns into extra lights. The key to good photography is good lighting. These little devices would allow me to control the flashes in positions I did not have the opportunity to do before.
Another light transforming device I have not owned in the past is a reflector. My choice was a Lastolite TriGrip. To go with it I added a TriGrip Bracket which allows you to attach the reflector to a stand.
These two items are a bit disappointing to me. The handle of the reflector is the key selling point as it has a strap that you fasten so that it attaches to your hand. Only thing is that the strap is fixed by a metal pin which is hot glued into place. As soon as the blobs of hot glue come loose, so does the metal pin holding the strap in place leaving you with it flapping in the wind.
Credit to the company, after emailing them for an estimate to fix this problem they replied that they would send me a new handle free of charge.
As for the bracket, the key component that holds the reflector has a problem when you attach it to a stand or spigot, in that the hole is just too small, meaning that it is not a tight fit.
I could contact the company as they were very helpful with the previous problem but as I’m using it for hobby use rather than professional use it isn’t such a big problem that I want to waste time in following it up.
It has put a bit of a dent in my faith with their products but then I could have just been unlucky.