Confessions of a Strobist Obsessed with Contrast: My New Cinema Rig!!

Now you might be asking why does a strobist need a cinema rig? My answer to that is I really don’t need it, but the hardware that made up this rig is of particular use to me!

What I bought was a rig that utilizes suction cups to mount onto any useable flat area. That can be anything from glass windows, flat wood tables and doors, or even metallic surfaces like cars! And since the pictures I have been taking are cars these days, it will work well for my hot shoe flashes!! Some of the suction cups have studs that are usable for anything that can clamp onto a stud and some have tripod heads screwed onto them and that is really useful for a camera or anything that uses a ¼ threaded screw!

Here is a close of the suction cups with studs. What I could use these for is my super clamps that can hold objects, umbrella brackets for my flash and modifiers, or to use joints to hold up arms to make a rig like this:

The kit I purchased is using allot of high end Mathews clamps and rods to make the jointed arms. I can slide them in and out, and articulate the joints to suit my mounting needs. The cups are Woods Powr Cups that I press on initially, and can pump out more air to get a stronger suction bond. Since my 7D can do video, this could be useful when doing actual video's.

Many think that suction cups have specific roles, but that is way too closed minded. These can be used for what I have described and beyond. The other three suction cups are the exact same cup but instead of a stud screwed onto the base it instead has a tripod head. This can be used for anything that uses the ¼ screw and that can hold a camera or a flash bracket. Here is a close up of those cups:

Here is a picture of these things in action on my bathroom mirror! What I am planning to use these on is a car so when I do action rolling shots I can still use flash! Updates on that will be coming later!