The Silent Studio Assistants Pop Up

Getting some help in the studio when you are tackling product shots can be nerve wracking. You have to advertise the position, read the resumés, conduct interviews, choose a candidate, fill out the tax file and workers comp forms, and then wonder whether they are going to show up on time.

Some days you wonder whether they are ever going stop talking, or eating, or go home...

Well cheer up, because Cullmann have come up with some pre-packaged answers to your problem; kits of camps, holders, grips and props that can be the extra hands in your shop when you really don't want to hire extra hands.

The studio accessories from Cullmann are well-made and for the most part explicable. By that I mean they look like something that was made for a purpose and you can figure that purpose out by looking at them.Here are three kits grabbed from the shelves with slightly different content for slightly different jobs.

a. The FLEXX Tabletop Set. This gives you a clamp to grip the edge of a table or upright, an extension pole with 1/4" socket on the bottom and screw on the top, and a small ball head. The camera plate of the ball head unscrews and reverses to become a small flash shoe.

That's one hand free to do other things with - not you have three at our disposal. Like hiring half of an assistant...

b. The FLEXX Support Set. This has the clamp, extension poles, mini ball head and adds a suction cup attachment, a Copter tabletop tripod, and an accessory grip. Another hand in the mixture. Now you have a full-fledged assistant holding things steady for you as you shoot. And doing so without singing or muttering under their breath...

c. The FLEXX Assistant Set. This one has three spring clamps - a big one that grips the tabletop or a pool support,, and two smaller ones that grip products, gels, reflectors, or flags. The connection in this case is not rigid - it is a flexible gooseneck in metal. You get one of the mini flash shoes as well for a speed light holder.

With Cullmann you are really only limited by your own imagination as to how you combine the elements. Here they are in individual for so that you can plan your rig. Wise studios get several kits and keep a supply of the parts in a big box. The time that they save in positioning articles is money in the bank.

Oh, the heading image? That is from the Little Studio's pantry. It is a 60-year-old tin food canister full of rice and popcorn. It served to prop up that product boxes beautifully. Not for sale, but if you visit the studio with beer I might pop some...

A Gripping Tale Of Manfrotto

I often wonder if Manfrotto make one of everything. Their catalogs are one of the most comprehensive and well-organised documents for any shop. Of course this stuff is accessible on the net, but what a pleasure to see a well-printed book that you can refer to instantly for camera support or light support.

A particular pleasure has been the Manfrotto practise of numbering their equipment simply and then organising a number index in the back of the book. If they have been wise enough to number the goods clearly - with a number that doesn't peel off - then the whole process of sales is much easier.

A small cavil; of late the simple numbering system that prevailed a few years ago in the tripod section has given way to complex codes. We could sort out " 055 " pretty well..." MPH-54-3/PCR " is a retail misery. It may well mean something in the computer at the factory or the warehouse but out on the shop floor it hampers the affair. On the telephone it becomes worse.

Okay, back on track - gripping things. We have covered the 035 Super Clamps and the Autopoles and the fact that the form a glorious basis of stability in the studio. One of my favourite steps further is the Gripper - or the 175 Main Clamp in their catalog. I have two of them and use them constantly.

Their main duty is to grip foamcore board and suspend it wherever I want. The white board acts as a reflector and the black board acts as a flag. The 175 can attach to a 035 or to a standard light stand and will hold even large sheets of board. There are rubber teeth in the jaws of the clamp so that it will not damage the foamcore. Note that it might even be possible to suspend standard fold-out diffusors or reflectors with the 175 but you would need to hang them rather than hold them up - too floppy otherwise.

They have also served impromptu duty as product holders but really there are more delicate clamps available from Cullman for this.

Super Clamp - Super Powers Activate!

All hail the Manfrotto Super Clamp
We never shall forsake it,
It grips your bits and never splits
And you'll never ever break it.

They used to say the key to the Universe was 42*...this may be, but the key to the photographic Universe is 035.

035 is the model number for the Manfrotto Super Clamp - the single most useful mechanical device in any photographic studio. Forget the camera, forget the lights, forget the model and the makeup - all you need are enough 035 Super Clamps and you can create the world.

Now Manfrotto are a funny company - very innovative in many ways. They make changes every year to the tripods they sell, and add or remove fashionable features and styling - rather like Ferrari and FIAT with cars. As Manfrotto are Italian as well, perhaps it is in the blood. Any road, there is a steady current of good sense under the flash and this design philosophy has ensured the success of the 035.

Basically, It is a set of jaws that grasp a round pipe, square timber or metal tube, or flat board and then invites you to plug in or bolt on the rest of the studio. I do mean the rest...I have successfully attached lights, cameras, flats, backdrop holders, boom arms, umbrellas, and an f-86 Sabre Jet fighter plane to a 035 and nothing has crashed yet.

The big jaw can grasp a round or square strut. It can be modified with a small plastic triangle in the jaw - this is included with the clamp - to grasp a plank or a table edge.

There is a socket made to take further Manfrotto accessories including stand-off arms, 1/2 inch spigots for lights, and curved holders for backdrop poles.

There are 5-count-em, 5 - 1/4 inch threaded sockets for attaching anything else. I have bolted lots of things to these using standard bits from Mr. Bunnings and as we are dealing with pressure-cast aluminium the thing is sturdy.

You can even back two 035's together and bolt up a double super clamp that will deal with the intersection of two major structural members. Set building is where this comes in - rather like the scaffolding sets you see workers on building sites using. BTW it is considered unfair to undo scaffolding clamps form building sites, particularly if there are brickies up on them already...

So - provided Manfrotto do not go all stylish and exotic and turbo-charge the 035 clamp, we should all be able to make our studios work. I'm good  - I've got 9 of them already.

* only if you were a member of the Royal Highland Regiment.