Preparing the Base
You’ll need a way to attach the rig to your camera. I used the head of this old tripod. Unscrew the positioning handle , and remove it. Look a small mounting screw that holds the tripod head to the body. Remove that and the head should come loose. If there is no screw, it may be time to break out the carbide cutting disk.
Voila! The base of the contraption.
If you are going to lug this rig around with you, weight is an important consideration. Plus, cutting through metal with the carbide cutting wheel is fun! I used a small wheel attached to my Dremel (which is actually a nice quiet Black and Decker, but I digress…).
The hole where the positioning handle used to be (see above) is where the rest of the rig will be mounted. The boom arm will be attached by looping the armature wire through the hole and crimping it on the far side. To do this, you’ll need to drill the hole the rest of the way through and out the back (see below).
Exercise caution here. In this case, the hole is inset with a hardened steel set of threads for the positioning handle to screw into, and I don’t want to snag the drill on that stuff. If you run into this problem, drill a small pilot hole through the open side, with a drill bit small enough to avoid the threads.
Then, drill a larger hole from the back side, following the pilot hole. The hole should be slightly larger than the 1/8th inch diameter armature wire.
Set the base aside for the moment, and start work from the other end, the mounting system for the flashlight.
File Under: How-To, DIY, Make, Hardware, Photography, Macro, Lighting
January 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm |
Hi Sam,
That’s a good idea. I’ve got an LED ring light project that I’d like to get to one of these days, which I think would also give cool results.
Maybe I’ll go see if anyone still has discount xmas LED strings…};^)
January 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm |
Very nice idea. I might try to incorporate some of your ideas into my project. Right now I’m trying to wire 2 disposable camera flashes into the on-board camera flash for a twin-light setup on a Canon A570 with a 10+ macro conversion lens. If this works, I’ll have a “cheap” macro camera for $200, start to finish.
June 7th, 2006 at 9:44 pm |
Thanks, Phillip. And thanks too for ‘tits and bits.’ I hadn’t heard that one before…};^)
June 7th, 2006 at 9:34 pm |
Real neat thinking under your creative hat.Hat’s off to you
June 7th, 2006 at 9:28 pm |
Wow!this is some real good DIY stuff, that to with tits and bits.Congrats.Will use the idea.
June 7th, 2006 at 8:29 pm |
Awesome work…I have a summer ahead of me that I’m sure will need some more projects, so this goes on the list! Sure beats the handheld flashlight method I’m currently using.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:53 am |
Bookmarked for a later date.
I always love seeing DIY photography projects. I can’t wait to see if anyone does some mods to this.
Good stuff.