I was looking for a couple more umbrella holder brackets. There are plenty of designs out there, and I chose a kind of bracket I had not seen before but had good reviews, the CowboyStudio Umbrella Bracket "D." Here's a quick review.
COMPONENTS
The adapter is made mostly of metal (some sort of lightweight alloy). Build quality appears decent.
The set includes a metal cold shoe, a spacer for the cold shoe, and a spigot. The spigot has a removable bushing that can convert it from 1/4 to 3/8 inch. That means the adapter can accept a light stand with either 1/4 (as in a tripod), 3/8, or 5/8 inch stud (by simply removing the spigot).
The business end of the adapter has a 1/4-inch stud, to which the cold shoe can be mounted (with the spacer to secure it). You can also use many other third party cold shoes such as a Frio. Alternatively, the spigot can be mounted on the 1/4 inch stud so that the adapter will have a 5/8 mounting stud.
NOTES:
- The receptacle for the umbrella can only take 7mm shafts. Unlike some umbrella adapters, the receptacle is not angled (the umbrella shaft will be exactly perpendicular to the flash).
- The receptacle for the light stand or spigot is secured both by a thumbscrew as well as a button. Even if the thumbscrew is not locked down, you can't remove it from a light stand unless you press the button.
- There is a loop from which you can hang accessories such as radio triggers.
- It takes up less space in my bag than my old umbrella adapter.
So far I'm pleased with this umbrella adapter. If I need another umbrella adapter, I would probably buy it again instead of the previous one I owned. Alternatively, if you want to mount a speedlight on a light stand for use with an umbrella, the CowboyStudio Speedlight Bracket T places the flash closer to on-axis with the umbrella and can potentially be used with Bowens or Calumet modifiers, but the Bracket T will cost more and take up more space than the Adapter D.
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