Final Assembly
As the last step the loose end of the boom is attached to the base. The tubing can be an impediment at this step, so a clothespin or a carpenter’s clamp can be used to pull and hold it away from the base.
Untwist enough wire to pass through the hole you drilled, with enough extra length to twist off at the end. Once the far end is secured, twist the entire boom arm to tighten the wire’s grip on the base.
You may find this is a solid enough attachment, but you may want to go the extra step and epoxy the wire in place. Use caution, if you get epoxy on the tightening wheel, so doomed are you!
The Finished Rig
Here is my finished rig. Note that I did go back and epoxy the wire at the base, though it is not pictured here.
And here is the whole rig attached to the camera.
The picture below shows the way I thought I would be using the rig (one handed), but as I play with it, I find myself using the boom as a handle, once I get the light in the right spot. This gives me much more stability, and fine control over where the light actually shines.
Unfortunately, by publication time no insects had crawled into the house to act as test subjects for the new rig, so I had to make do with a small box of matches. The area shown below is about the size of a nickel.
I hope you find this project useful. Sound off and let me know what you think, and if you come up with any cool modifications or enhancements.
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.