Today’s post is about the unsung hero that’s been around for at least 25 years, the Bogen Super Clamp. No studio is complete without a few of these sets. You hardly hear about it. It’s not sexy and it’s certainly going to test how coordinated you are when you set this up for the first few times.
So what is it? It’s a piece of what we call, grip equipment. Grip equipment is for rigging stuff like lights, cameras, things on set, things off set that are supporting things on set, and on and on. It’s really a third arm that never gets tired.
Bogen was bought by Manfrotto in the 90’s, so the Bogen Super Clamp is still called that today, but sold by Manfrotto.
What I’m actually showing you in that image above is an awesome combination I put together with three separate parts.
Part 1 – The Bogen Super Clamp
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Ok so, this is the Super Clamp part. You can buy it with or without a pin or stud in it. The stud shown in this clamp did not come with it. The one that can come with it is shorter, so you can use this clamp by it’s self and have that stud go into a C-Stand arm to hold stuff.
You take that super clamp and clamp that to your base, your table, your tripod will even work, you clamp that thing onto anything, lock it down and it won’t move.
There are other brands knocking off this clamp. When you read the Amazon reviews of those, they say they don’t tighten down as much as this clamp does. That’s a huge issue if you are rigging it to hold anything.
Part 2 – The Articulating Arms
The articulating arms have three tightening knobs to really lock this thing down. You can literally put a fill card or shiny board anywhere you need it to go to kick in light on your set.
Same story here with the knock off brands. There’s a couple for a few dollars less, but they get the same complaints about not being tight enough.
Part 3 – The Spring Clamp
Above is the spring clamp that holds your fill card, or small flag, or lots of other things. So you attach the black screw end to the arms and lock it down where ever you need it.
This equipment is not very cheap. I’m sure you’re learning that nothing about photography is cheap. Here’s the thing though, I’ve had about 3 sets of these super clamp arms for about 25 years and they might be a bit banged up, but work just as great as they did from day 1. They really are awesome to have.
If you want to rig a camera off of something then you can use this – the Camera Bracket. People use this to put a camera in places where you can’t get a tripod (hello chefs in crowded kitchens).
There’s loads of uses for this type of gear and I just wanted to share it with you as this particular set, the two clamps and the arms, are something we use almost every time we shoot food.
Here you can see the clamp in action. The spring clamp is holding onto a metal tail that is rigged inside the taco. There’s actually a thin, aluminum shell inside that taco to help give it support as it would get soggy on the bottom and not be able to support itself after a while. So the clamp is holding that taco up. Then in retouching everything is removed in photoshop.
Photo by Lynne Hemer of Cook & Be Merry
Here I am rigging a shiny board in one of our food photography workshops. I’m rigging the board up high above the set to block light from hitting the top of something that was getting blown out highlights.
Photo by Lynne Hemer of Cook & Be Merry
In the image above, you can see that a gold shiny board is being used in a Bogen Super Clamp to kick some warm fill light into the shot being worked on.
So, there you have it! A third arm that will never talk back to you, disagree with what you are doing, and will never get tired on set.
Happy shooting everyone!
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Renz
Ooh.. this explains a lot. I won’t have to try to use a foot here, a hand here, a hand here and try to use another hand (not sure from where) to take a pic. Thanks for sharing as always. Putting this on my “to get” list
Christina Peters
Hi Renz! Yes, ha! that’s right. These are super handy to have laying out.
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
I mean, look up “what is a bogan in Australia”!!!
Christina Peters
Sooo – Australian trailer trash! Awesome. Every culture has them!
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
PS Also love the name, look up “what is a bogan” 🙂 We use it as a term of affection here in Australia!
Christina Peters
Hilarious! I just looked it up – that is so funny. I’m sure my post title is getting all the Aussie laughs right now!
Robin
I made the same observation but just laughed quietly to myself… 😉
Christina Peters
Ha! That’s funny. Well, at least it wasn’t something crazy and x rated!
Life Images by Jill
LOL about the word “bogan”! Thanks for this post Christina. There is certainly heaps of stuff around if only we knew what! I really need to get a boom stand.
Christina Peters
Hi Jill, yes, there is probably equipment to do anything you want, it’s just figuring out it’s weird name to hunt it down.
Peter Murphy
Hi Christana,
I always learn new ways with your posts. I look forward to reading them, as I use some of the info for product photography.
‘Life Images by Jill’ instead of investing in a heavy boom stand I use the Manfrotto 131D & 131DB Accessory Arms on my good old & heavy Manfrotto 058 (Silver as black was not available when I purchased this) on a Tripod Roller with wheel locks. I put a couple of sand bags on the roller.
This works & Tether Tools even sell part of this combo, it is lighter, portable & cheaper than the big camera stands although maybe not as rock solid, but with modern digital cameras I don’t see a problem. And it also never complains lol.
Christina Peters
Hi Peter! Thanks so much for reading the blog. Glad to help.
Nagi@RecipeTinEats
You mean it won’t give me attitude, won’t complain when I make it stay in the same position for hours and move one inch to the left, half an inch up and 2 inches closer? HECK YES!!! 🙂 I love this Christina, thanks so much for sharing! These are the types of gems I want to but don’t know how to find out about. My biggest logistical challenge at the moment is figuring out how I can set up a semi-permanent overhead rig for shooting videos without using a tripod on my kitchen bench. SO handy to be able to video and shoot on the kitchen bench without a tripod around!!! Dreaming on….but seeing set ups like this help give me hope that it’s possible!!!
Christina Peters
Hi Nagi! So nice to hear from you! Rigging stuff is super handy and very hard to find unless someone tells you about it. Manfrotto makes loads of gear for rigging. Yes, the overhead rig. You know, that would make a great blog post. There’s several ways to do that Nagi. It’s one of the trickiest things to rig for sure. You can use what’s called a boom stand, then have to get gear to rig your camera head to the end of it OR get two light stands and a pole to go between the two, then rig your camera onto that pole using gear like what’s in this post. You can always email me if you have questions about this stuff. It’s endless the options we actually have!
Peter Murphy
Hi Nagi,
I am in Australia (Melbourne) and I have bought some of this Manfrotto gear from Videoguys, Notting Hill, prices are quite often very competitive. It is also convenient for me to drive & pickup what I need (25mins away). Even cheaper is John Barry Sales, South Melbourne (much further away for me). John Barry Sales are also in NSW & Qld.
The Bogen name is not used here, Manfrotto or Avenger.
But these are not as much fun as telling a “Voice Operated Light Stand” to move a little to left, now up a little, out a little…………lol.
Christina Peters
Hi Peter, thanks so much for these resources! Very helpful.