DIY Photography Gear

[Nicole]

Ok, so you might also read that as cheap photography gear but sometimes you don't need to spend $200 on something that you can make for $2 that works as well.

For a full list of the DIY projects we've talked about on the site, see below.

Bail showed us how to make your own light tent for just a few dollars.
Merlyn suggested using food covers to cover your lenses and camera with.
jhawksley showed us how to make a film can diffuser and colour gel holder.

What other cheap / DIY solutions have you used in your photography?

I'm a big fan of the ziplock / snaplock bags for putting my camera in when it's raining. Cut a small hole in one corner, stick the end of your lens through, and if you've got a lens hood, put that on to keep the rain off your glass. You might not be able to see perfectly clearly through the view finder, but the auto-focus still works, and you can take a picture while keeping your camera dry. I was very thankful for this over the weekend while taking pictures of a jousting tournament in the rain!

(sorry for the bad quality of the pics, used my phone)

Share with us what other DIY gear you've used!

[mdwsta4]

haha! i love it. much easier than trying to hold a camera and an umbrella!

[alissasanderson]

Well, I don't always (OK, usually) like to pack a tripod around with me. I'm lazy .

One of my good friends hunts, and he's got several little beanbag-type thingies that he uses when he shoots a rifle to set the rifle barrel on. They're leather, and sort of form little pouches. I know they sell little beanbag things just for photography for this purpose, but when I can just borrow this thing for free? It works great! I use it all the time to prop the camera on a fence post or a rock or in the branch of a tree to steady a shot. They come in different sizes and you can add or remove fill as needed, and even if you purchase one new I'm fairly certain that they're more inexpensive in the hunting supply at ~$20 that in the photography supply that I've seen at ~$30-$40.

[Nicole]

Originally Posted by mdwsta4

haha! i love it. much easier than trying to hold a camera and an umbrella!

No kidding! I've tried that one too, somehow I seemed to be short at least one arm to hold the umbrella as I tried to shoot

Originally Posted by alissasanderson

One of my good friends hunts, and he's got several little beanbag-type thingies that he uses when he shoots a rifle to set the rifle barrel on. They're leather, and sort of form little pouches.I know they sell little beanbag things just for photography for this purpose...I'm fairly certain that they're more inexpensive in the hunting supply at ~$20 that in the photography supply that I've seen at ~$30-$40.

Great suggestion to get the little beanbag thing from a hunting store rather than a photography store

Keep the suggestions coming

[Saralonde]

If some of you are interested in DIY photo projects, checkout this site:
http://www.diyphotography.net/ You can find some interesting ways to save money.

BTW, my only DIY is a white index card attached to my flash with a rubber band for bounce. I'm not too creative in that area.

[smc1377]

I used the ziploc bag trick w/o the hole cut in it during a white water rafting trip. I had my nephew, who was 12 at the time, take the pictures and video clips. My only fear was the bag slipping out of my nephews hands. I have some great rafting videos thanks to Zip-Lock.

[Nicole]

Another thread on aquariums made me think of this cheap and easy tip that I saw online a while ago.

If your camera can't take filters (e.g. a P&S) then you can still use a polarizing filter with the help of a pair of polarized sunglasses. As long as the lenses are polarized this will work. When you want to take the picture, hold the sunglasses up in front of your lens so that you can't see the frames or anything else strange, then rotate the sunglasses in front of the camera until you get the look that you were hoping for (and if they're not a pair of sunglasses you wear, you can always pop the lens out and just keep that with your camera bag). This can produce a darker sky or cut out reflections the same way a normal polarizer would. You might feel a bit silly giving your camera sunglasses, but hey, this is coming from the same person who has walked around with their camera in a big ziplock bag

[mdwsta4]

figured i'd put up some pictures of my DIY flash diffuser

here's the original link for the inspiration: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/1427850
but then stumbled upon this one which even has a template you can use: http://dslrblog.com/blog/chris-garre...ounce-diffuser
i sort of combined the two versions and this was the result:

front


back


on the flash


for some reason i didn't think of taking a picture with it all on the camera. ah well, but here's what the flash looks like on the camera (taken with my camera phone)


the diffuser defintely helps push light in the right direction and makes a huge difference. i've only messed around with snapshots in my living room so nothing worth posting, but for a total cost of maybe $3 (which is enough materials for two diffusers) why the hell not.

cheers

[Saralonde]

Well done! Certainly better than my index card.

[Nicole]

Over at Photodoto, they had a recent post on how to Build your own 42"x78" free-standing lighting panel for about $40.

It uses PVC pipes and a translucent fabric panel to create the lighting panel that you can use to diffuse light for portraits, either indoors or outdoors. The instructions are complete with photos to help you build it. Just thought I'd throw this link up here for those who are interested in portraits and want a DIY solution to lighting.