Manfrotto 026 Swivel Lite-Tite Umbrella Adapter,Black

I've had a few of these type of things, they are usually plastic, usually break - I've even broken some of the metal ones!The only piece of plastic on this Manfrotto adapter is the screw handle for the stand and umbrella mount, but even they are top quality strong plastic and I have no fears of it breaking at all.Be aware though that this is HEAVY! It isn't a lightweight bit of kit to be carried around everywhere, if you've got three stands and three of these, you're soon going to know about it! The upside to that though is that it will last forever and you won't be buying three or four replacements as you do with the cheaper versions. The others might be half of even a third of the price, but when you have to replace them for the second and third time, you might as well just have bought the best to start with!It comes with the two plugs shown in the photo on Amazon, which are useful and have all the necessary standard sized studs or screws that you may need for lighting, meaning you can fit it to pretty much anything!It clamps up easily with the large handles making it easy to tighten and loosen off again afterwards, all with a good solid positive feel and no wobble, strong enough to hold even the largest of umbrellas or softboxes.A great bit of quality kit, highly recommended if you're going to use this type of adapter more than about twice a year!

Currently the product description states that it is New, Black & Aluminum. I will attempt the difficult task of being more helpful than this.Firstly after removing them from the plastic carton packaging, I say 'them' because I bought two, they felt really solid. Weighing in at 406 grams each, that's nearly an extra kilogram of weight to be carrying. I previously used cheapo plastic brackets which were very lightweight but didn't feel very secure and struggled with heavy loads (ie. Softbox & Flashgun) These looked much better, and I have a lot of faith in Manfrotto gear as I've yet to be let down by them and I always appreciate their build quality.It's basically a bracket double ended with a 5/8" female mount (with tightening locks) with a lockable hinge in the middle, an umbrella hole and tightener screw and then 2 (possibly brass) adaptors of 1/4" and 3/8" mounts. One is all female and the other is all male. Each locking mechanism holds the bracket very tight. I use it with a Lastolite Ezybox 60cm hotshoe softbox with Nikon SB910's mounted and it holds them solid as a rock. I have never attached lighting units to it however I reckon that it would hold some moderate light heads. Heavier dedicated light heads would come with their own mounts and stands anyway.I combine the brass adaptors together and the Manfrotto bracket then tightens onto my light stand, and the top of the bracket tightens onto the brass adaptors which I then secure my softbox and flash mount to the protruding area of the brass adaptors. A solid set up, reassuringly solid and I initially scoffed at the price, went elsewhere, learned my lesson and then came back to these. I could have save £14 by just buying these first and not using cheapo chinese mounts. I learn the hard way, 5 stars for this product, heftily recommended.

It's heavy. That was my first impression. That means it's solid and will probably be reliable. However the way the spigots attach is not very smooth, and if you're using a brolly with it the brolly is massively off centre to the speedlite. I very much dislike the top bolt which is tightened by a bar. It reminds me of the method used to tighten the jaws in a bench vice in metal work at school. Is there really such a need to tighten so much that you need a lever? Also the lever is not the easiest thing to use anyway.The wheel below to tighten a brolly or other attachment is so close to the top lever that you have to be careful when tightening it or you'll lose skin off your knuckles. Also the main lever for locking the tilt joint is MASSIVE! Way, way bigger and heavier than it needs to be.Perhaps in a studio environment where you have very heavy gear, and you're changing it several times a day, you may need this, but for the majority of standard strobes it's just not necessary.I've got adaptors that cost a quarter of the price and are actually better to use than this one. I'll be selling these Manfrotto's on to anyone who requires them.

Sometimes it is true in that you get what you pay for. I needed a stand and flash holder for the portraits I was going to do. I didn't want to invest too much for something that I may use infrequently. I wanted to get something strong and that was going to last. After some research I went for this Manfrotto Adaptor. Is it worth the extra over a cheaper device?Yes! The construction is substantial and feels very solid. There is a lot of weight in the device both in the main body and all the levers and knobs. It doesn't use a ball joint which makes it easy to tighten in position. True a ball joint would be easy to position and aim but this device give you a lot of confidence about it staying put. There are two brass adapters that are for mounting different threaded devices on top or for mounting the adapter on a stand.This is well worth the extra money over a cheaper device. Though I haven't used it yet in anger I feel very confident about it doing what I want and not having to worry about if it is going to move and see the flash unit hit the floor because it has failed. Well worth considering.

There are many umbrella/speedlight adapors on the market. Although more expensive than most I opted to buy one of these adaptors to try out as the look of the model and previous reviews indicated this was a good choice. They weren't wrong. I have now got three of these for use with my light stands and speedlights. They are very well made and will last a lifetime. The two brass connectors have both 3/8 and 1/4 treads which make it very versatile. I would say the design is excellent and for me it ticks all the boxes. I would highly recommend these adaptors. There are other cheaper options out there but how long will they last and how secure will your equipment be? You can have confidence that this adaptor will hold the umbrella/softbox, trigger and light with no issues. Highly recommend.