How to optimise your mirrorless camera tilt screen for waist level shooting with a piece of wood
Jan 1, 2022
Paul Richters
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If you just want to shoot from the waist then this is a tutorial for you.
The idea spans around taking a Canon EOS M200 (or a similar camera with a tilting screen) and adding a wedge-shaped piece of wood (40x55x800mm). Together they change this camera into a Hasselblad 907x lookalike. It’s something of a follow-up to my 2015 article on how to do this with a Canon Powershot N.
The making of the kite-shaped piece of wood is described in the schema below:
At my local woodshop. I ordered 4 wedge-shaped pieces of wood (40 x 55 x 800mm) (around €10,-).
Remove the excess wood to change the wedge shape into a kite shape. The two angles between the sides AB should be 90 °. Achieving this should be easy. Your local woodshop could do this as well. Also, saw a small part from a big wooden stir stick (28 x 40 x 4mm).
The images and photos below show the concept of the build:
Tips on building the wooden body part
The camera body on the inside isn’t completely rectangular. A small strip of wood has to be removed to let it fit under the pop-up flash.
To actually enjoy holding the new wooden body part of the camera you’ll have to round the edges. For this I used sandpaper.
You might want to stop the camera screw from coming loose from the ground plate. For this, I used a small piece of an old inner tube from a racing bicycle. These are thinner than inner tubes for a normal bicycle.
The use of the AE-Lock button is somewhat hindered by the wooden grip. Removing some wood the size of your thumb would remove this discomfort.
You can personalize it by painting it in your own favorite color.
The wooden stir stick (normally used to stir wall paint) I got for free at my local DIY store.
We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.
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17 responses to “How to optimise your mirrorless camera tilt screen for waist level shooting with a piece of wood”
Is this for real? I didn’t know it was April 1st today.
Did I read this right? “Together they change this camera into a Hasselblad 907x” This is completely pointless. Am I right? ?
It said Hasselblad lookalike but still… Not very practical. Tiltable screen is supposed to be tiltable.
Why didn’t I think of that.
For a moment I thought I had taken a really long nap, and woken up on April first…
D-I-why?!
LOL … Good one :-)
What does this do for you?
Why did I find it necessary to optimize a good camera for waist-level photography?
My answer is threefold: pleasure, ease of use and confinement.
From the responses so far I think 9 out of 10 people don’t think this idea is for serious photography. Most people on the street feel the same way.
Because people tend to ignore what they don’t understand, most people ignore me.
It fits well with my shooting style. People stay relaxed.
It makes it easier and more pleasurable for me to shoot street scenes.
The responses shows that this is seen as a solution to a problem that does not exist.
That may be true for those with small hands. My hands are a bit bigger.
This part makes the camera body thicker.
This makes the camera easier for to hold and to support.
Creativity comes from limitation. Less is more.
This attachment makes shooting at eye level difficult.
By using this attachment I “limit” myself to wait level photography.
For me it results in better pictures and more fun.
I wish you a lot of pleasure with your personal way of photographing.
Looks like my first question was removed! I’ll elaborate…… The tilt screen is variable so can be positioned at any angle and left at wherever you place it. With this DIY you successfully remove the advantage of having a tilt screen. So I ask again, why?
Why is this an article
Ma man desperate to get some clicks and get them sweet sweet ad views huh
It’s a waist level finder for those times I want the lens pointed at the ground in front of my toes, yes?
I just came for the comments.
It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Make it out of black plastic and photographers will pay a fortune to buy it.
????
Sitting, eating popcorn, and reading the comments. Next.