Godox AD-E2 - A Worthy Umbrella Bracket Upgrade

Order yours here.

New And Improved. I just started following Markus Rothkranz's channel on YouTube. At first, I was a little skeptical about his approach to photography, but as I watched his BTS (behind the scenes) commentary on lighting techniques, I started to get interested. Personally, I prefer a written blog posting over a video because text can be skimmed more quickly than slogging through the normal patois that has become a mainstay on the 'Tube. However, I came to appreciate his minimal approach to outdoor lighting, and over time, started to check his channel on a regular basis.

During one of his recent videos he described the new umbrella bracket that is currently supplied with the Godox "mini-monolights", including my beloved AD200. Shown here is the newest iteration of the humble umbrella bracket. While not visible in the photo, it has several important improvements:

Metal Construction: The original brackets were made from plastic, which I considered perfectly adequate until one such unit shattered when a light stand toppled over in the wind. I'm a little more optimistic that this won't happen with this one.

Photo Source: Click here.

Elimination Of The Spigot: Umbrella brackets accommodate spigots (short threaded brass rod stock) at both ends. When properly oriented, the top spigot recess is used to attach a cold shoe, while the lower recess attaches the bracket to the spigot on the tip of the lightstand. While the spigot adds versatility, you only need a 1/4 x 20 thread to attach nearly any accessory you would need. As you can see, the spigot has been replaced with a tripod-inspired 1/4 x 20 thumbscrew.

You can see that an AD200 easily mounts on the bracket using the flash's 1/4 x 20 threaded socket on the side. This keeps the flash close to the umbrella's axis. This makes it easier to use the AD200 with my Westcott umbrella-based softboxes in which the flash is mounted inside the softbox to prevent light spillage. My collection of Westcott softboxes haven't received much love lately, simply because the collapsing softboxes like the Lastolite are easier to transport.

Screw Retention: The original umbrella brackets had only a spring metal tab to hold the umbrella in place. This annoyed me to now end, so the addition of a retention screw is high on my "like list". However, Mr. Rothkranz gave a possible explanation. Lack of a retaining screw would allow the umbrella to slide out of the bracket if the wind catches it, This could be a good idea, as a flying umbrella is more likely to survive an episode of free flight. If held in place, the lift-off would probably drag the light stand with it, potentially resulting in the purchase of a working replacement for a potentially destroyed flash. If this is the case, I may decide to not tighten the thumbscrew if a flying umbrella is a very real outcome.

Incidentally, in these photos, the retaining screw is on the backside of the bracket. I guess it was considered unphotogenic.

Umbrellas: The umbrellas that I usually carry are similar to this Phottix Double Fold Umbrella, a 36" diameter shoot through umbrella that collapses to a compact 16" length. To save on weight, they have shafts that are thin, six-sided tubes, which can be crushed if retaining screws are overtightened. I normally force the shaft of a wooden pencil down the shaft for reinforcement. I normally cover the tip with a small plastic cap for added protection and remove it if it interferes with the umbrella bracket.. 

Inserting an umbrella was actually a fight! The spring steel retaining tab, relocated to the interior of the umbrella mounting hole, already provides a secure grip on the umbrella shaft. In fact, it feels so secure that the retention screw may be a "belt and suspenders" situation. In addition, the contour of the tension spring is easier to insert the umbrella from one specific side, while I'll mark for future reference.  This was by design because the AD200 and its subsequent variations all can be mounted on the side, parallel to the umbrella axis.

Goodbye to this kluge

Clarification: Just in case this makes no sense, here is an AD200 mounted on a conventional umbrella bracket. You can see that the umbrella shaft is secured at an angle from the bracket. This is an accomodation for the additional height of a conventional speedlight, and is designed so that the beam of the flash and the center of the umbrella coincide when the umbrella is fully extended. Notice that I needed to add an additional spigot (photo left) to provide the necessary clearance for the screw to turn.

Flash Attachment: The tripod-inspired mounting screw can be used with either the low profile AD200 flash variants or by adding a cold shoe, conventional shoe-mounted speedlights. I can now position the AD200 much closer to the umbrella axis when using a traditional umbrella bracket. If I mount the cold shoe on a small ball head, I can achieve the same results with a conventional speedlight.

So what's not to like?