DIY Projects Collection

My DIY substitute for a properly machined and expensive gimbal:



I've decided to nickname it the "Gimbaloo"   

Cost about $120 for all the parts, so far works very well as support for my super-heavyweight 600 f4. More details over here in dyxum and over there in photo.net

Fuzzphoto wrote: That looks quite ingenious! I guess you could even record sound during macro filming this way. I'd be worried about the sticky tape though. I'd use tie wraps.

I think tie wraps would work for the bottom part of cable, where you want and need to allow movement when extending or retracting the aerial, but the top part needs to stay static so that the microphone doesn't move during use. I'm not sure tie wraps would make a tight enough fit to avoid the potential movement at the 3.5mm microphone jack socket.

Why worry about duct tape anyhow? You are not taping against or with any item of material value. OK, you might get sticky residue on removal, but no risk to camera or optics whatsoever.

Man there are some pretty cool project here, I especially liked zbozic's flash bounce holder as well as berlin steve's simple mic solution for the SLTs.

I'd like to contribute with my A100 infrared conversion for about 50$. I've made a tutorial on how to do it, step by step, from cutting the glass to properly apply it on the sensor. You can view it on flickr by clicking on one of these images:




I'd also like to make it a thread in the knowledge base with all the pictures and explanations in the same post... I hope this inspires someone to do it themselves because I cannot state how easy it is, no soldering, just a bit of patience.

Ok here's another one: I'm one of those people who leaves a trail of little things around the world, including lens caps. So when I stumbled on some magnetic "Laura Ljungkvist Öliclip" packs on clearance I just knew there had to be a photo-use for those somewhere!



Woohoo, it's a lens cap hÖlder! In combination with the steel screw of the quick release plate on my a700, that is. Oh wait, if you had to turn one screw then it does count as DIY right?

And even if you don't particularly enjoy the benefits of a permanently attached QR plate on your cam, you can also wrap this Öddly-shaped-clip around one of the fingers on either hand & do this:



I cant wait for the rÖyalties to rÖll in for this brilliant idea...

Edited by pdeley - 30 July 2011 at 20:48

DIY : Slide / dia copy options and tips

This is something I've wanted to do for a while now, ever since opening my 30 f2.8 macro for reasons discussed here last september. The local drugstore carries these little toy LED lights for $3 a piece:



I bought three and opened two of them to see what's inside, then modified one for mounting on a 49mm step-up ring. The intact one is on the left in the following shot, the opened second in the middle, and the modified third is on the right - I widened up some extra space around the led to allow it to be angled, and inserted a piece of plastic coated paperclip to serve as a permanent on/off switch instead of the original switch, which kept the light on only as long as it was pressed.



Here's what it looks like when screwed onto the 30 f2.8; by way of miniature diffuser I glued onto the led one of those tiny translucent sticky feet that come with some external drives.



Angling it properly for centered fill-in light at 1:1 magnification took some tweaking, here's a 1:1 shot of a cooperative subject in a shady corner, taken at a point when the led's angle was not yet centered properly:



By the time I had things properly centered it was evening, here's a shot of some "tower of jewels" flowers just after sunset with pretty good fill-in from the tiny led.



And here's another stoic mayfly, by this time it was already well into dusk so the tiny led was just about the only light source left:



I'll probably add the two other thumb lights onto the step-up ring to make it a trio, once I've found a good diffuser solution to minimize any vignetting effect. Including the casing these button lights are still a little too big to fit directly into the open space around the front element, but it's so easy to take out the leds and batteries that I might try a little more improvisation to mount a built-from-scratch assembly into the lens front, using two or three leds extracted from their casings, along with an appropriate number of the equally tiny batteries.

Edited by pdeley - 14 May 2012 at 07:41

Great ideas in this thread.
Its not much, but I didn't see anyone post this idea before so here goes - lens cap storage the cheap and simple way.

Self adhesive velcro (hard side) on the camera strap.


Self adhesive velcro (soft side) on the lens caps.


I think you get the rest, take the cap off and just attach it to the velcro on the strap. If you get a quality velcro, the glue wont come off and trust me the caps don't fall at all even when you fiddle with the strap.
(sorry the pictures where taken with my phone, as the a200 is the only camera I have)