Just about any photographer will tell you that you’ll get better results from getting your speedlight up and off your camera. There are all kinds of ways to do it including full blown solutions like my “Westcott Terry White Travel Portrait Kit.” It seems that Westscott has done it again with a handheld solution that can also be mounted on a stand. The Westcott Speedlite ProGrip shows that someone was thinking about this problem and came up with a way to not just accommodate your speedlight, but also a modifier such as a softbox or umbrella and even a second shoe for your trigger. It’s also nicely angled downward to give you better results if you simply hold it straight up. In the picture above I have the Westcott Speedlite ProGrip PocketBox Kit. I have a Nikon SB 910 Speedlight on it as well as a PocketWizard Plus X trigger. Of course the speedlight and pocketwizard are not included. I’ll be the first to tell you that while I think this is a great solution that I’m not accustomed to holding up a speedlight for my shoots. If I use a speedlight I’ll more than likely mount it on a stand or some other mount. The other thing you probably wont see me do very often is use such a small modifier because I typically like the much softer light achieved by using larger softboxes. However, I wanted to give this solution a shot since it’s so portable and even smaller and easier to travel with than my RapidBox. I was already doing a portrait shoot in studio over the weekend with my full sized regular strobes, but I decided to take a couple of shots with the ProGrip and supplied PocketBox. I handheld the ProGrip in my left hand while shooting the Nikon D4 with my right hand. Here are my results:
I took a few shots to get the power just right. I ended up at 1/8th power on the SB 910 and probably could have taken it down a bit more to control the hotspots a little better.
The Bottom Line
The Westcott Speedlite ProGrip has a great feel to it and solves a real problem by letting you either easily handhold a speedlight, modifier, and trigger or by letting you mount it all on a stand. It’s very lightweight and small enough to put in just about any bag. The sell these in three flavors. You can get just the Speedlite ProGrip Handle without any modifiers or you can get the Westcott Speedlite ProGrip PocketBox Kit or Westcott ProGrip Umbrella Kit.
