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I'm not very experienced in flash photography...I do mostly DIY stuff (with paper, rubber bands, tape, the usual cheap fixes), I have two AF540 (both of which I use in wireless), the IR blocking panel (to trigger without adding light to the exposure), a flashbender, and a black foam thing (got the idea from the tangents blog).
I travel quite a bit, the kit above has served me well...now, I'd like to have a more stationary kit that I can still travel around with (and also use at home), I'd like to have suggestions for the following equipment:
1) some sort of stand (preferably that uses less space than a tripod when folded)
2) some way to hold one or two AF540s (currently I use the little black plastic nikon flash stand that has 1/4 threads, I screw that to a tripod, which is not secure at all) I haven't found a secure way to hold 2 plastic shoe flashes without risking short circuit with the contacts.
3) some sort of large and versatile modifier that I can pack in to a small space (I think a double fold shoot through umbrella is the only option)
4) hardware to hold the above together (umbrella stand, speed mount, etc that can also accommodate speedlights)
5) some sort of clamp to install the flash on strange places (please, not the gorillapod)
I'd appreciate if one of you more experienced strobist can help me out with the above...preferably with decent & inexpensive alternatives. Thanks in advance.