RRS Wedding Pro Flash Bracket Review

I was quite excited when I received the parcel from Really Right Stuff, affectionately known as RRS, and days before it was promised. My first impressions of the WPF-1 Bracket is that it's very well made, lightweight and easy to attach to the L-plate. If you've never heard of, or tried an L-Plate, you should. Information on L-Plates can also be found on the RRS site here.

I tried it first on my D200 without grip. The screw-type clamp is very secure and the knob large enough to make it easy to tighten and release. I don't feel the need to over-tighten - it's very secure. Although you can mount it to the bottom of the L-plate, I recommend mounting to the side. The flipping works better this way and if you're using a rectangular shaped flash head, the vertical/horizontal direction is maintained with the camera. It literally fits in your hand when folded together and will easily slip into a small pocket on most camera bags, tucked nicely out of the way until needed.

When using it, you simply press the release button at the joint and pop it open. It will slide easily onto the L-plate and if you don't open the clamp all the way, it will slide on from either the top or bottom - I just find it quicker this way. I use an SC-17 extension cable with my SB800 and the mounting screw to connect the flash shoe to the bracket is included and secures the SC-17 shoe very well. I then mount the SB800 to the shoe and connect the SC-17 to the D200. I have the original cord on my SC-17 so it's quite long. But the bracket has two 'accessory' threaded holes positioned on the flip part as well as the upright attached to the L-plate. I attached a couple of wire ties here and secured the extra cable from the SC-17 to keep it out of the way. Works like a charm!

I then mounted my battery grip to the D200 and attached my new L-plate (for camera with grip). Again the flash bracket mounted easily and securely. Since the L-plate is secured to the grip rather than camera, and the flash bracket secured to the L-plate, I found that if the battery grip wasn't attached well to the camera, I did get a little play. Once I made sure the grip was screwed in all the way, it was much better, but I'd still be careful if using it this way on a tripod. I'm sure if you knocked the flash in any way, you'd create some vibration and motion in the camera. But for hand-held shooting, I really don't think it will be a problem.

Using the flip action took a few minutes to get used to since you have to push a release button to allow the flip to take place. Once the flash is flipped, the bracket locks in place so that you don't get a flop once it's flipped - if you know what I mean! In other words, it's stays in place until you press the release button once again to flip it back to normal. Within a few minutes this became second nature and just as fast as without a release button, but definately more secure when shooting at odd angles.

At first I was a little concerned that there was some play in the bracket. In other words, there is a slight bit of play in the joint. Same with the flip arm. I called RRS about it to find out if that was the norm and I was informed that it was. They had tried a prototype that didnt' have any play, but then the flip locked in place too securely and it was difficult to flip it back. The little play allows you to 'unlock' the arm much easier and the little bit of play is really quite negligible... certainly not enough to affect shooting or security. It's hard to explain this in detail, but if you get one, you'll know exactly what I mean. After playing with it and shooting with it, it's not noticeable anymore.

All in all I'm quite impressed. It's light, easy to attach, secure and a pleasure to use. And most of all, it allows me to use my L-plates for attaching the camera (and flash bracket) to my RRS BH-55 ball-head. I wasn't able to do this with my old flash bracket (in addition, the old bracket wouldn't allow me to open the batter door on either the D200 itself, or the D200 with battery grip attached - now I have complete access to either).

At $149US it's not a bad price for a flash bracket, especially if you already have the RRS L-plate. If you need to purchase an L-plate, that brings up the price considerably, but I still feel the flexibility, compactness (when not in use), lightweight and ease of use still make it worthwhile.

THE WPF-1 (WEDDING PRO) IN ACTION
I used it at my next wedding and all I can say is... the bracket worked amazingly. After using it for only one wedding I'm convinced that it's the best flash bracket I've ever used (and I've been doing this for close to 20 years). I had two cameras with me - both D200's - one with battery grip and one without... both with RRS L-plates. I had the bracket mounted to the one with the battery grip since this was my main camera using the Nikkor 17-35 AF-S and 28-70 AF-S. The other D200 had the 70-200 VR. I use the 70-200 VR mainly for candids, during the ceremony and some portraits as well. But the D200 with the flash bracket was used the most.

Once you get used to pushing the release to unlock the hinge and rotate the flash, it worked very well. Actually, just using it and playing with it for about 15 minutes the morning of the wedding was all I needed to become comfortable with it. It flipped easily and since it locks into place once flipped, it never flopped.. no matter what angle I tilted the camera. The movement was quick, clean and precise and positioned itself directly over the lens at an appropriate height each time. As mentioned above, I had wire-tied the cable from my SC-17 cord to the bracket and it stayed out of the way better than any other bracket I've used.

It's also light-weight so I had no problem hand-holding the set-up at any time. The flash (an SB-800) didn't feel out of balance with the set-up and it was easy to hold. And when I did use a tripod, for the family groups, I was able to shift from horizontal to vertical on my BH-55 very quickly and smoothly. The flash bracket has the integrated Acra-Swiss style mount so switching to vertical was no problem at all.

I switched the flash from one camera to the other only once, but the clamping bracket built into the flash bracket came off in an instant and remounted very easily - and back again. I really don't need two brackets - this worked so well one bracket is enough.

And the coolest thing of all... was that when I was done, I unclamped it, folded it up and stuck it in a side pocket of my camera bag. Nice and neat, compact, quick and out of the way. I've never had a bracket do that before!

All in all.. I'm very pleased with the RRS Wedding Pro Flash Bracket. Well worth the money even if you have to puchase the L-plate to go with it. In fact, I just ordered a new RRS L-plate to go with my new D300.