Friday, January 21, 2011

Strap in...

For the last couple months I've been trying to catch up with the current DIY camera accessory community. I've mostly been looking for shoulder mounts, steadycams, and sliders, but I've also been picking up other small tips along the way. One such tip I got from the Cheesycam website. Here is the original video they posted:


DIY Quick Camera Strap from emmagination on Vimeo.



Basically, it is quick release method for going from any type of mounted setup to hand-held or just resting by use of a strap. You place key rings where you would normally attach the strap to the camera. Then you find a strap with hooks that swivel so it's basically impossible to tangle or twist the strap. The hooks also make removing/attaching your strap take a couple seconds instead of a couple minutes.

I thought this was an awesome shortcut because I love to have a strap when I take my camera on family trips or just out to take a few quick photos. However, when I am shooting on a tripod or in other situations where the strap might be more of a pain or get in the way, it would be nice to just get rid of it. So, this seemed like a great, simple DIY project... until I went looking for a strap with swivel hooks.

It turns out that companies and stores that sell these types of straps are pretty proud of them. The cheapest strap that I felt wouldn't chew a groove into the back of my neck came in at about $13 before Shipping. So that was out. Then I found some lobster claw hooks that I could add on the end of a strap I already had, but I wasn't able to find any on a recent trip to Walmart (In true Walmart fashion, they were probably in a completely unrelated section of the store). Before I could go on a hardware store excursion and track some down, my wife reminded me that we had a couple of those bungee cords that they give you at the casinos. They are meant to attach to your players card so you don't leave it when you walk away from a slot machine. Lucky for me, the casinos go the extra mile and put nice swivel connectors o these hooks. My T2i came with all of it's original accessories, so I had a free Canon strap to attach them to. Here are the results:


As you can see, I didn't have two of them that matched, so that was depressing, but if I go to the casino again, I'll try to pick up some matches. Best part is that it didn't cost me anything, unless you count my casino losses... which I don't.

Thanks for reading! Keeps your eyes peeled for more progress in the DIY department. I'm finding a lot that I want to try and build so I'll keep you all updated.
##

No comments:

Post a Comment