Two must haves”¦if your budget allows.

Having the opportunity to work with a great photographer like Joe McNally taught me a valuable lesson about photography, why do I own so much useless crap? There are many things on my photography wish list that I hope to purchase this year. The Canon 5D MKII, with the 580EX II Speedlite and ST-E2 Transmitter Kit (cue the Homer “Mmmmmmm donuts” sound effect) for one. Then there are the two pieces of Joe’s personal equipment that I had a chance to use in Santa Fe; his Lastolite TriGrips and his Lastolite EZYbox. If you haven’t seen the trigrips you really need to do yourself a favor and check them out. They’re especially nice if you’re working alone. They are a collapsible reflector and/or diffuser that are triangular shaped and come with a handle, so it’s super easy to hold one with one hand near your subject while holding the camera with the other. The EZYBOX is a collapsible pop-up softbox designed specifically for small flashes but don’t run out and buy one just yet. Mark Astmann, Product Sales Manager over at Bogen emailed me today with inside scoop. There is a new and improved EZYBOX on the way. The Ezybox Hotshoe will have an updated bracket assembly. The old one was made out of metal and the hole through the ring was round. The new Mark II bracket is made out of Delrin (a nylon derivative) and the hole through the ring is rectangular to match the shape of a flash head. Also the new bracket will allow mounting of additional options coming later this year. With the new Mark II bracket you will be able to mount an optional beauty dish, snoot, wide or long throw reflector. This new bracket is now due in towards the end of April. The units will cost the same as current versions, List of $183 and $242 for the 15″ and 24″. Most dealers sell them at a discount so you can usually find them for around $164 and $217 respectively. Current available options include; Short and long extension handles at a list $48 and $56 and set of three creative mask front covers (circle and two strips) at a list of $83 and $89. No idea what the unreleased options will cost yet. What kind of results can you expect from this set up?

This was shot with the EZYBOX and Canon 540EZ with PocketWizard set at camera left and a silver TriGrip reflector just out of camera view under the model, not bad for a portable set-up.