Securing an off-camera Speedlite. Currently I am no longer using this method, preferring to lie my Speedlites down on a non-slip mounting board. But it does work and is quick to use. A static loop of sailor's whipping twine is secured around the waist of the Speedlite, as shown. A second line, attached to the umbrella adaptor, is passed through the loop and back to a light Carabiner hook.

The Odin ETTL/Autoflash & Manual triggers are working out really well. Phottix claim they are compatible with all Canon Ex speedlites. I don't trust hot-shoe mounting (they break) and avoid it when I can. This method allows the ETTL pins to communicate, but all weight bearing is done elsewhere. Self lit with extra cross lighting right & left (bare), triggered by Odins.

Taken with a 7D (cropped etcetc) but lit by the SX 220 HS with a little help from the 580(II)Ex gelled & bounced off the ceiling. There was minimal ambient light and all the flash illumination was triggered by the SX 220 HS. The 580 was triggered by the simple optical slave trigger device just below it. (Ex units are choosey & need 'Ex compatible' optical triggers, to avoid a lock-up phenomenon.) These have no 'pre-flash ignore' option, so all the SX 220 'pre-flashes' need to be disabled. Set the SX 220 Flash to M. The SX 220 Flash is partly hidden - but still visible as a purple bar - by an 'IR-pass' filter held in front of it. Several 580s (or similar) could be triggered, gelled, bounced or modified as you choose. They can operate in either M or their Autothyristor setting too! Any point and shoot cam with a Manual flash option that disables pre-flashes, can be used for off-camera flash - usually without the sync speed limitation too.

The Nano clamp does not have the Super-clamp style Hex lock-socket. It has 2 threaded female attachment points. An attached device may unscrew itself under gravity. The Ishoot adaptor and ball&socket unit place the wt. below the Nano, acheive an offset from the Nano and allow total placement flexibility of the speedlite.

Modification to the foot of Nikon's SG-3IR so that it can be used on Canon's 7D, 60D or 600D. A really sharp knife, perhaps with a slightly scalloped edge, would be the perfect weapon. Clamp the foot in a vice using a cloth to avoid marking. Sit down and control both ends of the cutting blade as precision is required. I started with the long cut, leaving it incomplete - then made the oblique cut - then finishing the long cut. Finally, I thinned the tab slightly, cutting a little from its lower surface. Think twice & cut once! As shown, works perfectly.

Ezy-box clones usually come with a ball & socket head. IMO, even the upgraded ones are not suitable. It's easy to swap for a D type umbrella holder. The 'L' bracket needs to be drilled, but it's an easy job.

7D hot-shoe. Sometimes the switch (red) does not return fully to its up position when a speedlite is removed. If it stays down, then the pop-up built-in flash remains disabled. You simply need to lift the thin spring-leaf stainless piece at the point X. It's easy to do.

Under Canon Wireless, this is just a way of enhancing 'pre-flash' sensing when a Speedlite is behind an 'Ezy'-style softbox. Sensor orientated away from the softbox. This augments environmental pre-flash bounce off walls & the ceiling. The speedlite is held in a metal 'Stroboframe' pattern cold shoe clamp. With these the metal is cut-away to clear the speedlite pins - and so avoid shorting. The photo shows the upgraded ball & socket adaptor which I did not like and have since changed to a D type Ebay adaptor.

Cam S95. 580(II)Ex cam left, shoot through brolly. Pop-up flash set to M (avoids 'pre-flash') & minimum power. Hama Optical trigger & RF-602 link to 580(II)Ex

Off-cam 580(II)Ex triggered from S95. S95 to M, set flash to Manual (ie no pre-flash) & low power. Hama optical slave to RF-602 link triggering 580(II)Ex (to your) right. This also works for Second Curtain Sync too. You can leave the RF link out & just use the simple optical slave alone. (But then you have to use an 'Ex compatible' optical slave trigger device. Ex units are very particular.) Optical only allows full sync up to 1/1000 +; adding in the RF link adds latency delays which limit flash sync to 1/500th. And NO hss power losses! Not too shabby!