Bar between c-stands?

Chris Messineo

Chris Messineo

Veteran
I have a bunch of c-stands and lots of arms to hang lights off of. But every so often, I would like to be able to attach some sort of bar between two c-stands and hang a light off of that (so I can get the light further away from the c-stands).

I'm sure they must make some bar like this that can attach to the grips at the top of the c-stands, but I can't seem to find it on BH Photo's site.

Anyone have any suggestions/links?

Thanks,

Chris
 
The one issue with speedrail is it's a lot fatter than the 5/8 baby grip size - 1" is about the smallest standard for grip gear. This, of course, makes it stronger.

You can do a lot of things with baby hardware - filmtools sells 5/8 stainless pipe up to 4' lengths, and they have enough adapters and whatnot that you could build a giant truss out of the stuff if needed. In your case, some 3 and 4' lengths of tubing, a connecting sleeve, some sliding baby-pin adapters may be great. I wouldn't hang a 2K junior from it, but it should hold decent sized lighting quite well.

5/8 pipe will fit perfectly in your existing grip heads - if you go with speed rail, you'll need some grip gear to attach it to your stands.

A bonus to stocking up on 5/8 is the pipe makes great booms for cards & flags, and the fittings are cheap and allow you to build all kinds of last-minute mounting rigs. Not as strong as speedrail, but extremely handy. Think of 5/8-baby as indie/DIY and speed rail as "hollywood", bigger bucks, etc.

Aluminum pipe for speed rail is very easy to find locally; I'm in Dallas and have a tough time finding 5/8, and I have family in the stainless pipe business! WTF??

Speed Rail is dynamite stuff, but it's heavier, bigger, pricier - and also much stronger. Think about the kind of weight you'll hang and decide. Either way, sandbag and ropes are a wise move.
 
Go to your local metal supply house and buy 1 1/4 aluminum pipe. Schedule 40 I believe. This is speedrail. They will also have 1 inch pipe if you go that way. Then go to the page I sent you and buy the mounting hardware.
 
I used pvc pipe, one inside the other so it cant bend and can section for storage. Costs like $10 or something ridiculous.
Used superclamps with u-hooks t mount on stands.
Bit of gaff to stop them popping over the u-hook if given an unforeseen bumb
 
easiest way is to use two c-stands, grip heads at the top of each one, then go to Home depot and but a piece of galvanized metal conduit for 10 bucks, they have it in 1/2, 5/8, 3/4. This works well for hanging fabric, or mounting lights that aren't very heavy. OF COURSE THE PRO WAY IS THE SUGGESTIONS ABOVE MY POST. but for quick cheap spand my way works to.
 
J Davis said:
I used pvc pipe, one inside the other so it cant bend and can section for storage. Costs like $10 or something ridiculous.
Used superclamps with u-hooks t mount on stands. Bit of gaff to stop them popping over the u-hook if given an unforeseen bumb
Click to expand...

I guess if I was absolutely 100% broke I still couldn't see PVC & duct tape to support lights... you might as well use conduit, which I've installed permanently in studios I've owned for backgrounds and diffusion.... but...

maranfilms said:
easiest way is to use two c-stands, grip heads at the top of each one, then go to Home depot and but a piece of galvanized metal conduit for 10 bucks, they have it in 1/2, 5/8, 3/4. This works well for hanging fabric, or mounting lights that aren't very heavy. OF COURSE THE PRO WAY IS THE SUGGESTIONS ABOVE MY POST. but for quick cheap spand my way works to.
Click to expand...

I've yet to find any conduit that works with 5/8 hardware. What does work is 3/8 steel plumbing pipe - the 1/8 wall thickness makes it a tight fit, but it will pass through a grip head. However, it's been pretty much discontinued as developed countries have ditched steel pipe for water supply lines.
 
Michael, you read my post wrong.

I used 1 pvc pipe inside the other so its double thickness and becomes pretty much unbreakable and unbendable. Its cheap but heavy so I only use it in my studio. If you need a crossbar to lug around locations just buy a manfrotto or avenger.

My use of gaff tape is purely to stop something from bumping over the edge of a u-hook - same deal with a manfrotto or avenger cross bar in a u-hook. Fine in the studio. My use for a cross bar is to support heavy background rolls of paper.

If you want to double up on superclamps at right angles an avoid u-hooks then go right ahead - I've done this with doubled pvc crossbars as well.
 
Chris Messineo said:
But every so often, I would like to be able to attach some sort of bar between two c-stands and hang a light off of that (so I can get the light further away from the c-stands).
Click to expand...

What size light are you hanging? And how high are you hoping to go?

A goal post is great for lots of applications, but for a small light I'd first try a mini boom counterweighted with shot bag, & for greater reach I'd go with Manfrotto's Mega Boom, or Menace Arm, on a bigger stand.
 
Yes, the rig you want is called a goal post and most of the time I rig one with Mafers on each light stand and a 3/4" 10' length of Home Depot steel conduit . Of course, speedrail is stronger but you can hang up to a 650W fresnel or 2' 4 bank Kino from the conduit just fine. Perfect for a China ball or two. One virtue of getting a good length of speedrail is that you can do a menace arm where you use the pipe as a boom to hang a substantial fixture off the end of.
 
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