Portable Westcott Flags

ollywood88

ollywood88

Well-known member
Hey All,

Been looking at some portable fast flags from Westcott, I have seen the Road Rags and used them before.

I liked the westcott ones.

Out of interest how do I attach them to a lighting stand [not A C Stand Via Gobo Arm]

I have seen the Matthews mini grip kit expensive for what it does. Any ideas. Do I just need a knuckle head or do I need the mini grip kit?

Thanks
 
Most standard flags have a frame made of bent metal rod; a section of the same rod is welded to the frame and sticks out like a pin. The "pin" fits into the smallest holes on a standard grip head. When the knuckle is loose, you can rotate the frame via the pin and change the angle of the grip head at the same time, very quick and easy.

Things like Westscott Scrim Jims that are more like frame systems will need a special clamp (or at least a mafer or superclamp).

HEre's a photo of the westcott flags in use - if you don't want to use a c-stand and arm, I don't know what will work. A grip head on a stand or arm is the way these are designed and it's a cheap and really useful method.

http://www.nvcmultimedia.com/lab/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DVCP-equipment-2013_191.jpg
 
Michael Carter said:
Most standard flags have a frame made of bent metal rod; a section of the same rod is welded to the frame and sticks out like a pin. The "pin" fits into the smallest holes on a standard grip head. When the knuckle is loose, you can rotate the frame via the pin and change the angle of the grip head at the same time, very quick and easy.

Things like Westscott Scrim Jims that are more like frame systems will need a special clamp (or at least a mafer or superclamp).

HEre's a photo of the westcott flags in use - if you don't want to use a c-stand and arm, I don't know what will work. A grip head on a stand or arm is the way these are designed and it's a cheap and really useful method.

http://www.nvcmultimedia.com/lab/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DVCP-equipment-2013_191.jpg
Click to expand...

Are you sure those are westcott flags in that picture you linked to? They look to me like DJ flags, including the logo etc. (I own them, btw.).
 
Yeah those are digital juice Kits.

I thought the matthews grip kit is expensive for what it does. But I will probably go for that as I need portability
 
I have the DJ kit, and although I've found most of their gear to be utterly underwhelming build-quality wise. Their flag kit works a treat, packs down neatly and offers a lot of versatility, I'm probably going to add a second DJ flag kit to my grip gear.

For attaching flags to anything you really need grip heads. The Avenger D200 is far-and-away my favourite - you can mount that on top of any light stand (or thin-ish bit of timber/metal/bracing).
 
I have the DJ Pro flag kit at home and the Matthews Road Rags kit at work. I like the DJ kit because it comes with dots and fingers, but I've had issues with their metal frames. Fortunately, it does come with quite a few frames. On the other hand, the Matthews kit only has 2 frames but I find them easier to use and the kit packs down much smaller than the DJ kit.

I definitely agree with Grug. Grip heads are the way to go. I've got a few extra that I can mount on a light stand if I run out of c-stands. If you're really in a pinch, you can use a super-clamp, but you are severely limited to the direction the flag can be placed (damn gravity).
 
Grug said:
For attaching flags to anything you really need grip heads. The Avenger D200 is far-and-away my favourite - you can mount that on top of any light stand (or thin-ish bit of timber/metal/bracing).
Click to expand...

I've got a man-crush on the Kupo grip heads (which are also B&H's sort of "house brand" I believe). They have a GIANT handle - you can tighten the living sh*t out of them. They also use a metal washer, unlike the fiber washers that are on lots of my heads and tear up eventually.

I wouldn't want all my heads to be that model, sometimes you end up making those tinker-toy messes of heads and 12" rod to get a flag or light somewhere weird and the big handles can get in the way. But they're the cheapest price around and they're great.
 
Grug said:
I have the DJ kit, and although I've found most of their gear to be utterly underwhelming build-quality wise. Their flag kit works a treat, packs down neatly and offers a lot of versatility, I'm probably going to add a second DJ flag kit to my grip gear.
Click to expand...

As mentioned, I have a couple of the DJ Flag kits. They're OK, but they do have some flaws. One flaw is that the open border - the one without the fabric trim - is rather crudely and heavily sown... you can actually see that in the picture Michael Carter linked to. The effect is that if the flag is anywhere near a light you get a heavy shadow from that damn seam. Proper flags should allow the area that is flagged to transition to non-flagged without a giant shadow creating a dividing line. That's very unfortunate, and it really limits the use of these flags.
 
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