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Thanks a lot!!! I ordered a Manfrotto 038.I do a ton of location work outdoors and indoors ... and have gone through the expensive "learning curve" over the years.
For lighter duty location work, where I am alone without an assistant, I carry everything in a Light Caddy
http://www.thelightcaddy.com/
I don't think the stands I use in this Caddy are made anymore. They are air cushioned 11' max stands that are compact with a narrow leg knuckle that allows me to easily slide them into the Light Caddy's 4 dividers. I have two 7' parabolics and other smaller umbrellas in this kit. The side pockets hold the radio senders, sync cords, and all of the power cords for my Quadra kit. I just leave the Quadra heads on the stands with lens wraps around them and bungie everything so it doesn't rattle during transport. So I sling the Quadra battery over my shoulder and roll the Caddy.
As far as anything else, like other stands and clamps, I always look to see if Matthews makes it first. I learned that the hard way.
I use Matthews Super Mafer Clamps and Double Super Mafer Clamps. I have some Manfrottos also which came with a few of my first Magic Arms ... if you get any Magic Arms, for God's sake do not get the ones with the locking arm, get the version with the big screw-down grip.
In addition I especially like the Manfrotto 038 Double Super clamp for use on the auto poles in studio ... and their 123 Pivoting boom arm clamp for holding gobos and flags. If you want to use double clamps for just holding a larger foamcore sheet, or a Scrim Jim between two stands so you can angle or suspend the flat overhead, the less expensive Interfit, ones with flat surface insets are more than adequate.
For a compact stand I like the Matthews Medium Duty Black Maxi ... 39" closed and 9.5 max height. 9.5' allows use of shoot through translucent umbrellas that have to be angled downward ... but 11' is even better for this type of modifier application.
It's important to get strong stands if you intend using Super Clamps on them ... cheap ones are easily crushed when you crank down the clamp. The stands that usually come with lighting kits are about worthless, good for throwing your coat over and not much else ... LOL!
-Marc