Firstly let’s just quickly cover why you might want to make a twin flash bracket. Using two flashes where you might normally only have one has several advantages. Firstly and most obviously you have double the power, useful if you are trying to overpower the sun outside. Secondly if you use both flashes at half power, you’ll have the same total power as with one flash but with a much faster recycling time. The third advantage is that at half power you will also have a much faster flash duration. The exact factor of duration increase will depend on the type of flash you are using but it can often be half the duration at half power. Very useful if you are shooting fast moving subjects as I often am.
You can buy twin flash brackets that range from $50 up to $100. For me this is excessive for something so simple. I needed 4 and there’s no way i was going to pay hundreds of dollars so I decided to make some at home. Total cost for 4 brackets….$10
Firstly you need to make a quick trip to the hardware store to pick up a box of screws. You’ll need 1/4 – 20 screws and i used ones that were 1 inch in length. You are also going to need some threaded inserts, again with 1/4 – 20 thread.
Next you need to take a trip to your closet and find some hangers from your pants. Hopefully you have some wooden ones similar to the ones in the photo below. With a bit of twisting and pulling you should be able to remove the metal hanger leaving you with two flat wooden bars. Now mark the centre point of the bar and mark points 2 inches in from both ends. With a 1/4 inch drill bit drill holes right through on all these marks. With a 1/4 inch hole in the middle , the threaded insert will be a tight fit so you might need to give the drill a wiggle to widen it very slightly but you still want it to be tight. With a rubber mallet bang the insert through the middle hole, the spikes will help to secure it in the wood.
Next you need to mix up some epoxy glue ( or something similar). Push the screws through the other two holes and add a couple of washers on one side. The washers just make sure that theres a nice flat surface for when you screw on the coldshoes for your flashes. A generous helping of epoxy around the base of the screw should secure it all in place and voila! You have yourself a twin flash bracket for about $2 each.
Now they may not be quite as slick as the $50 ones from Paramount Cords or the $100 ones from Really Right Stuff but they do the job very nicely.