Sling Your Camera With A DIY C-Loop For Under $5
The C-loop, R-Strap and Sun Sniper are three systems designed to change the way you carry your camera around.
They all share a similar idea - the strap goes inside the tripod screw. Of course, this probably makes the camera designers pull their hairs as they invested so much time in making those little two 'ears' that the normal strap goes on.
Anyhow, using a system like the C-Loop really changes the way you carry your camera around - something we have discussed before - it is way more comfortable that any "regular" strap.
In this tutorial Cameron Texter will show you how to make a DIY C-Loop for your camera. (warning, this is for a point and shoot, not sure I would trust this DIY with my Nikon D300 + the 24-70 2.8)
Parts
- 1 x ΒΌ-20 bolt (You might want a 1.25 inch bolt, because with the part on the U Bolt (below) that sticks out takes space away from the screw so you won't have enough to get the screw to be stable in the tripod slot. I got the 1 inch bolt and had to sand off the part on the U bolt that sticks out to give it more room. Make your calculations before you purchase the items.)
- 1/4-20 Extruded U Nut and another Extruded U Nut with a bigger thread size than the bolt, so it will glide right through it, but not have moving room.
- Optional, but is really good to have: Washer that fits the size of the 1/4-20 bolt
The Build
The build is actually quite simple. All you have to do it take the two U Nuts and slide one onto the other one, with the hole that sticks out on the outside, on both sides. Make sure the holes are aligned.
Next, put your screw through the 1/4-20 screw hole and it should come out the other end since the thread size is larger than the screw.
[I made the mistake of buying the same size (1/4-20) U nut, and I didn't realize my mistake that it wouldn't go through the other end because the threads were backwards on the other end, so I had to remove the threads by drilling through the hole.]
Once you get the two U bolts aligned together with the bolt going through one end and out the other end, it's finished, all you have to do is have a washer and then put your camera strap through the slots.
If you want that extra bit of safety, dub a bit of silicon on the screw so it won't scratch anything.
The last step is to thread your "regular" strap ends into the places on the U nut.
Now you have your DIY C-Loop for under $5!
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Comments
Too bad this is only for a
Too bad this is only for a point and shoot. This would be great for a DSLR.
SJCT, a really cool way of
SJCT, a really cool way of making a pseudo C-Strap is taking the bolt on a manfrotto (or similar, aka metal) tripod mount. It is build very solidly and the D ring, hooked onto the strap, supports a DSLR with a decent sized lens quite nicely. It doesn't swivel, but you still get most of the benefits of a C-Strap at the fraction of the cost.
my version
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_skazi_/sets/72157623588830625/
It works great. Heavies load I tried was old Sigma 400/5.6 (~1.5kg) + Canon 500d.
The only problem (in re-making) is that I used this aluminum plug which might be hard to find (it's some kind of military surplus suff).
That looks awesome, much
That looks awesome, much better than what mine looked like. The great thing about using a tripod mount is that it is possible to simply unhook the strap and use a tripod, that's my one gripe about the c-strap. I love the design, but I shoot with a pretty even mixture of tripod/monopod and handheld.
Re: DIY strap
Skazi, that looks amazing, thanks for sharing
Ian, I guess it is a matter of time till we'll see designs which fits a tripod. Maybe if Manfrotto entered this game... Or a design with a thread popping out like some of the DIY designs
DIY R-strap kinda thing
Hi All ,
I made one for my D300 DSLR by visiting a sporting goods store where I bought :
A money belt (black, Eagle Creeek with zipper for your cards)
A carabiner (oblong metal thingy for mountain climbing)
One metal key ring. Total cost : couple of dollars (or Euro's in my case)
Took the metal plate from a Manfrotto tripod. Push the belt through the carabiner , attach the metal plate to the camera. Attach the key ring to the metal plate and the carabiner and off you go. Production time ? 3 minutes o.k. o.k. I'm feeling generous... 4 minutes. Steady and strong as a rock.
The strap thing
I made a similar easy-slide strap using a small suitcase strap and 2 very sturdy keyrings, one about 3cm across and one about 4cm across. Remove the usual strap from the camera, thread the smaller keyring through the side lug, thread the larger ring through that one, then unbuckle the suitcase strap and pass it through the second ring. You can the adjust the strap to suit your size. I'm confident enough in its strength to trust my D80 to it. What I particularly like about doing it this way is that the camera can instantly be mounted on a tripod. Total cost was about NZ$8.00.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/5838532391_21ff874f76_b.jpg
Great ideas
It's sad that so few people try to build things today. Hats off to all the ideas here -- they show how easy it is to make something really useful with simple parts and a little imagination. Great going, folks!
Go to the hardware store and the home improvement stores and look around. A lot. The more stuff you make, the easier it is to make more stuff. Imagination and creativity are "use it or lose it" skills.
I also enjoy Instructables.com and Makezine.com
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