Christian Nyback wrote:
The answer is sand bags...
:-)

My stand yesterday had a Vagabond II on it, which weighs 20 lbs. and reduces blowovers at least 90%.

Once and awhile a gust still hits just right.

The only true answer is resilient materials of construction or acceptance and planning that unbrellas are "consumables".

AVD AlphaDuctions wrote:
They make monsoon umbrellas for Singapore but I've never seen one there for photographic use.  I think it would be prohibitively expensive (not just more expensive).

Blowovers can never be 100% prevented by other than extreme measures such as scaffolding, but resulting damage could be mitigated by using resilient materials of construction.

I've come to realize that there are only three viable options for outdoor lights:

1. Umbrella or other large modifier with strobe and Vagabond II.

2. Flash with small modifiers like Lumiquest Mini Softbox.

3. Bare strobe or flash.

rp_photo wrote:
Blowovers can never be 100% prevented by other than extreme measures such as scaffolding, but resulting damage could be mitigated by using resilient materials of construction.

I've come to realize that there are only three viable options for outdoor lights:

1. Umbrella or other large modifier with strobe and Vagabond II.

2. Flash with small modifiers like Lumiquest Mini Softbox.

3. Bare strobe or flash.

Have you ever considered available light only? 

I seldom take any sort of lighting because:
1)windy west texas.
2)I work too fast and in too many different locations to have the time to set lights up.
3)I never have problems with anyone other than an occasional guy who whistles, if I am shoooting a girl.

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

Specifically, the ribs and shaft could be made of fishing rod-type material that would flex to aborb the falling stand energy and return back to a straightness.

Another option would be to put flexing springs/joints in conventional ribs and shafts.

Even if it cost 2x more than a regular umbrella it would seem worth it.

Or can a beauty dish be considered the answer?

I like the fishing rod idea. I'm thinking some flow through baffles would let most of the air blow through without too much affect on the light output.

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

They do.

Larson Reflectasols are much more robust than typical umbrellas. They've been available for over 30 years--some of mine are over 20 years old.

rp_photo wrote:
Even if it cost 2x more than a regular umbrella it would seem worth it.

That's in the ballpark. $120 for a 36" square, $140 for 42" square. (They seem to have discontinued their hexagonal ones.) But you can interchange fabrics easily, so you can switch looks if you want--soft silver, reflective silver, white, etc--and they can be used flat as reflectors as well.

FKVPhotoGraphics wrote:
I'm thinking some flow through baffles would let most of the air blow through without too much affect on the light output.

I like this one.

Photography by BE wrote:
Have you ever considered available light only?

Not as much as I should and here's why:

1. I started out with natural light and took a lot of crappy pictures (not always the light's fault).

2. Other photographers introduced me to reflectors, which certainly helped but required an assitant and couldn't always get light where needed.

3. Once I got a DSLR, I began using the built-in flash on TTL as fill, which seemed to give quantum leap improvement to image quality.

4. From there I progressed to SB-600 on-camera, SB-600 off-camera, multiple Sunpak 383's, and AB800's

Click Hamilton wrote:
Unfortunately, there is no name or trade mark on them.


It looks like German manufacturing quality.




I bought them at an estate sale.

Probably decades-old, from the days when craftsmanship still mattered.

rp_photo wrote:
Probably decades-old, from the days when craftsmanship still mattered.

Exactly.




I'm surfing around to see if I can find anything similar.

http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_Prod … _Umbrella/

These are satin shoot-through and claim to be high quality. They come with a cover like I just described mine as having. The price is quite reasonable.

I would like to first call them to ask if the center shafts are solid or hollow. If solid, I would like to go see one with my own eyes.

I've had Chinese hollow center shafts before that collapse when I try to tighten down the clamp. The crappy quality drives me up the wall. Shoot through satin fabric is far superior to the nylon we see everywhere, in my opinion, and at least in terms of durability. The quality of light is very nice. 

I looked at mine again .. there is a heavy plastic grommet/washer built into the end, just below the chrome tip where the satin fabric comes together at the shaft.

So at least we know it was build during the age of plastics.

Christian Nyback wrote:
The answer is sand bags...
:-)

Yep - carry them empty and fill them up with loose dirt with a trowel from a garden or park.

Photography by BE wrote:
Have you ever considered available light only? 

I seldom take any sort of lighting because:
1)windy west texas.
2)I work too fast and in too many different locations to have the time to set lights up.
3)I never have problems with anyone other than an occasional guy who whistles, if I am shoooting a girl.

To me, available light always looks kinda flat-ish, and non-dramatic, and pretty much non-commercial. And... it forces you to work based on the sun's position, instead of any time or at any angle you want to.

For high winds, I just shoot with the 7in reflector, and then bump the ambient exposure up or down for the effect I want. The difference between a 7in reflector and an umbrella is pretty negligible in daylight if you know how to set ratio's between flash and ambient. (but both provide more drama and a neutral color balance then available light does).

AVD AlphaDuctions wrote:
the basic umbrella design was invented (i think) by da vinci.

The umbrella has been around for thousands of years before Da Vinci

http://inventors.about.com/od/uvstartin … brella.htm

Click Hamilton wrote:

Exactly.




I'm surfing around to see if I can find anything similar.

http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_Prod … _Umbrella/

These are satin shoot-through and claim to be high quality. They come with a cover like I just described mine as having. The price is quite reasonable.

I would like to first call them to ask if the center shafts are solid or hollow. If solid, I would like to go see one with my own eyes.

I use PhotoFlex. The shafts on mine are solid!

Great umbrellas, especially the removable covers which lets you shot through them.

Kevin Connery wrote:

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

They do.

Larson Reflectasols are much more robust than typical umbrellas. They've been available for over 30 years--some of mine are over 20 years old.


That's in the ballpark. $120 for a 36" square, $140 for 42" square. (They seem to have discontinued their hexagonal ones.) But you can interchange fabrics easily, so you can switch looks if you want--soft silver, reflective silver, white, etc--and they can be used flat as reflectors as well.

How do you mount speedlites or strobes on these things?

FKVPhotoGraphics wrote:
I use PhotoFlex. The shafts on mine are solid!

Great umbrellas, especially the removable covers which lets you shot through them.

Thanks Frank.

Would you say that the ribs of the PhotoFlex umbrellas are strong?

.. compared to the typical nylon Wescott umbrellas we see everywhere?




In the feedback comments to the Adorama brand satin umbrellas, I see people complain that the ribs crumple when they tip over.



I have always enjoyed the quality of my other PhotoFlex products, generally speaking.

Click Hamilton wrote:

Thanks Frank.

Would you say that the ribs of the PhotoFlex umbrellas are strong?

.. compared to the typical nylon Wescott umbrellas we see everywhere?




In the feedback comments to the Adorama brand satin umbrellas, I see people complain that the ribs crumple when they tip over.



I have always enjoyed the quality of my other PhotoFlex products, generally speaking.

In my opinion yes, I started out with a Photoflex Umbrella and later picked up the Collapsible Wescott and didn't like the build quality of it and later sold it.

Smedley Whiplash wrote:
Still, I'm not exactly sure why to even use an umbrella in the wind (or even without wind).

I shot this on saturday (senior kid), with an AB1600 with the 7in reflector. It was pretty frickin' windy out.

I did a portion of my shoot yesterday with just the "spill kill" reflector, and also noticed little difference.

Will King Photography wrote:

Kevin Connery wrote:
Larson Reflectasols are much more robust than typical umbrellas. They've been available for over 30 years--some of mine are over 20 years old.

How do you mount speedlites or strobes on these things?

You can mount them the same way as any other umbrella; an umbrella adapter.


I use a bent piece of aluminum (L-shaped) with a 5/8" hole in it and clamp that to my handle-mount flash, slip it over the top of a lightstand, and use a grip head or one of Larson's clamps to hold the Reflectasol (or softbox, if I'm going that route). That puts the flash tube in-line with the center of the modifier. I could just screw it onto the top of the lightstand, but it'd be way off-center there; that's probably OK for a shoe-mount flash, though.

Larson's clamp is just a lightweight grip head with a built-in clamp; they work with most other umbrellas, too.

Click Hamilton wrote:

Thanks Frank.

Would you say that the ribs of the PhotoFlex umbrellas are strong?

.. compared to the typical nylon Wescott umbrellas we see everywhere?




In the feedback comments to the Adorama brand satin umbrellas, I see people complain that the ribs crumple when they tip over.



I have always enjoyed the quality of my other PhotoFlex products, generally speaking.

I've knocked them over a few times and so far no problems.

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

Specifically, the ribs and shaft could be made of fishing rod-type material that would flex to aborb the falling stand energy and return back to a straightness.

Another option would be to put flexing springs/joints in conventional ribs and shafts.

Even if it cost 2x more than a regular umbrella it would seem worth it.

Or can a beauty dish be considered the answer?

Mal at Hidden Creek wrote:
In addition to using heavy stands, shot/sand bags, and on occasions staking the light stand down with tent ropes and engineer stakes -- my wife came up with the best solution.

We took two 42" umbrellas and cut & hemmed 6-inch wind vents vertically between the umbrella ribs.  Light low from winds vents is very small, yet allows wind to pass through umbrellas without getting trapped.  Helps that wife is a seamstress.

+1    Best Idea I've seen yet!

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

Specifically, the ribs and shaft could be made of fishing rod-type material that would flex to aborb the falling stand energy and return back to a straightness.

Another option would be to put flexing springs/joints in conventional ribs and shafts.

Even if it cost 2x more than a regular umbrella it would seem worth it.

Or can a beauty dish be considered the answer?

Personally, I don't worry about it as long as my umbrella can help save my much more expensive lights. 

Kevin Connery wrote:

rp_photo wrote:
After having a stand blow over again yesterday, I once again wondered why no manufacturer has come up with "tough" umbrellas that can take more abuse.

They do.

Larson Reflectasols are much more robust than typical umbrellas. They've been available for over 30 years--some of mine are over 20 years old.


That's in the ballpark. $120 for a 36" square, $140 for 42" square. (They seem to have discontinued their hexagonal ones.) But you can interchange fabrics easily, so you can switch looks if you want--soft silver, reflective silver, white, etc--and they can be used flat as reflectors as well.

Larson is much more rugged -- You also can replace either the frame or the fabric.
They also are one of the most even for beam spread and they can go flat as a reflector.

The frames are square 3/8 th inch aluminum. 

the system was origanally designed for children's story boards.

they fabrics come in gold, black, white, silver, soft silver and at one time blue for converting tungsten light to daylight.