DIY photography gear...

Freddeh

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...who uses it? Or maybe a better question to ask, who ever made photography gear themselves?

A few days ago a friend of mine sent me a link to diyphotography.net. On this site there are loads of home built photography gimmicks, like softboxes, lightboxes and so on. While browsing this website I stumbled upon a "origami lightbox". Just check out the website, there's a better explanation than I can give you. This "origami lightbox" is one of the things I am planning on making. I think it may come in pretty darn handy for macro pictures, which I just luuuuuuv taking :lovey:

Righty-oh. Somewhere on this website I found a link to lenshoods.co.uk. This website really got me thinking. My wallet's not loaded, neither is my wife's. So, instead of getting me a €20 lenshood, why not making my own?

Today I made a print of the lenshood they have on the site for the stock Nikkor 18-55 lens. When I got home from work today I took some scissors and cut it all up to see how it would look.

1) It's white, white is not good.
2) It's paper, not sturdy at all.
3) The stock lenshood does not cover enough light blockage.

Time for improvement, right? After some thinking it occured to me that somewhere around the house and at work we have some cheap paper binding "portfolio's" made of quite thin and flexible plastic "foil". Not sure what to call it otherwise.

I'm going to photoshop it up to make the hood a bit larger on one size, to make it adjustable for light blocking. Besides that, I'm going to make it out of the plastic foil, to make it flexible and easy to put away in the camera bag. It will also have an easy "locking" mechanism, that keeps the hood together when there's put a bit of strain on it, e.a. when it's shoved around the lens. As a finishing touch the plastic foil will get a few coats of matt black spray paint that I already have as well. So basically, instead of €20, the hood will maybe cost me about 6 hours of my spare time, and maybe about €0,10.

I've thought it all out and it actually looks pretty darn foolproof. Am I
the only one on these forums pondering on ideas like this?
 
Am I the only one on these forums pondering on ideas like this?

It's certainly a possibility. I can though account for one bean bag (with real beans - great when caught out and you need an emergency stock of dried pulses) - and also a semi-complete (still, before anyone else mentions it) light box.
 
I have looked through that site from time to time...surely some good ideas there.

I have often thought about and sometimes made my own DIY photo gear...however, I have found that if I search around, I can usually find something for a god price...that is better quality than I can make.
 
Of course €20 for a lenshood is affordable. I've got to agree on that. But, does it actually meet the requirements that you have set for for the lenshood? I've been looking at some pictures I made today in the sun, and I could use a larger area on one side to prevent from more light shining into the lens.

Though, since I am going to buy a Lowepro Slingshot AW100 before our holidays as well, my wife isn't allowing me to spend even more on camera gear, so I'm doomed to go with low/no-budget solutions. Well, at least for this holiday. To be honest, that's one of the important things that got me thinking about making my own gimmicks. Same goes for the lightbox, it saves so much money by making me a simple one.

But of course, those DIY solutions are only temporary. Quality may cost some money, and I don't think I am actually able to make the same kind of quality for about €0,10 as Nikon does for €20 (which aren't even the actual costs...). So after a while, my DIY gear will leave the scene again, but for now it would come in pretty handy.

(I feel like I'm repeating what I say again and again and again. Do I?)
 
I just bought a few cheap (four for a buck) kid's telescopes. All I need now is a body cap and a new lens will be born
 
I just bought a few cheap (four for a buck) kid's telescopes. All I need now is a body cap and a new lens will be born

That sounds like it will produce some very interesting results.

As for my own DIY, I've made a pinhole lens out of an extra body cap I had. It work quite well, and then I thought I could make it better, worked on it a bit more, and now I kinda wish I had left it but oh well. And I also made my own remote for my camera which uses an electrical cable release. I also built it a timer, adjustable from 9 seconds to 30 minuets between frames, to easily do time laps photography, which isn't even made for my camera, at least not that I've been able to find.
 
I'm excited now (more than I normally am at least). I'm gonna try to make stereoscopic prints using two special moments cameras and a board.
 
I try to make lenshoods out of various plastic bottles and jugs, I just cut the upper part by the bottle/jar neck and then I paint it flat black. If the rim of the bottle (opening) is too wide I glue some non grabby part of a velcro ribbon inside. And there are quite a few sizes of jars/bottles to experiment with.
 
True... true... But it's not foldable.

No, it is not. It will take a little space but it's fast and easy to make, also cheap. And recycling is good too. ;)
 
Could you perhaps post a picture of your recycled plastic bottle?
 
Hmm, I have a softbox made out of a box with a ripped up white t-shirt over the front. Does the trick nicely when straight on is too much and bounced is too little.
 
I made an electronic flash trigger for special effects shots, and a sound activated flash trigger from kits a few years ago. I plan on making a "light wall" this winter. As a kid we all made wooden tripods, wood frame lab sinks and big developing print trays, and flash bulb reflectors. Probably a few other things too that seem to escape my "remembry". <LOL>
 

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