Patti
The camera tripod socket is made for a 1/4" by 20 standard thread. Just get a bolt of this size and long enough to go through a chain or nylon twine. These bolts, I think, some in course and fine thread so if it doesn’t fit don’t force it just get another. The chain should be long enough to reach the floor from you shooting position. Screw the bold throw the chain and into the tripod socket. Drop the chain to the floor and place the camera close to shooting position. Next step on the chain and pull up. The tension you will create is as good as a monopod. It only takes a few shots to get use to the set-up. The advantages is it is small, light, cheap, fits into a pocket and you can use it almost anywhere. The disadvantage is it is not much of a status symbol.
Grant
Thanks, Grant! I don’t care what it looks like, I just want to have my camera steady when a tripod isn’t handy. I think I’ll opt for the nylon rope — a little more fashionable as it comes in lots of colors. 😉 This is something I can keep in my camera bag all the time. I think what I’ll do is take the quick release head off my tripod with me when I go to the hardware store.
Patti
Take note that the stabilizer is patented …. don’t believe me … notice the subject line and they never ever lie. And I do extract payment. Hugs and kisses from the ladies and shots of single malt from the men when I track them down.
Grant – aka – dirty old drunken man
Grant,
That is a great stabilizer … and so cheap 🙂
Wendy
One word of warning. I’ve read, at least on Camcorders, that it is possible to put too much pressure and pull the tripod socket out of the camera.
Wonder how it would work with very thin shock cord? Have to try that.
Leen, Great link. I particularly like the tips about using a slide viewer for an LCD hood and a Fuji film can for a diffuser. Now where did I put that old viewer?
Bob
It is a great site indeed.
Quite remarkable:
He used to live about 15 miles from where I live now; I used to live about 15 miles from where he lives now. 😉
Bob, don’t be afraid to pull the socket out of the camera, provided you don’t apply too much power on an angle. The way I attach my camera to my tripod means quite some more power on the socket than you will ever be able to use.
Leen
Grant,
"Hugs and kisses from the ladies and shots of single malt from the men when I track them down."
If this is to be a succes, I suppose you will soon need a stabiliser for yourself. 😉
This morning I read with interest Grant’s instructions. With that I went to my neighborhood hardware store, two doors from my office. This is not a big box store. I knew that the manager was an amature photographer and asked for the bolt. He said what I really wanted was an eye bolt. An eye bolt is a bolt which has a loop such as you used to string clothes line through. That bolt permits any type of chain or cord to be used. He then suggested that I put a wing nut on the bolt so that the bolt would hold tight to the camera. The purpose of this is to eliminate the slight wobble between the bolt and the camera. The wing nut is screwed in wing down.
When I asked for the cost of the bolt, nut and six foot of nylon cord he said that the idea was payment enough.
Robert Daniels
Robert,
I like it 🙂
Wendy
I cans see a lawsuit now … the antagonistic nut was part of my plan that I never revealed … I can see it now there is at lease a bottle of single malt in this for me.
Grant
Grant,
I would hold out for more than one 🙂
Wendy
I finally got around to trying shock (bunji) cord.
Leen’s link described the simplest form of rope stabilizer as being a string with a loop at each end one going around the camera and the other around the foot. Borrowing from that to eliminate the time to attach the screw (speed is essential in wildlife shots) I purchased 6 feet of 1/8 inch shock cord from a camping store (US$1.80 plus tax) and tied it into a single 3 foot loop. I put the loop over my camera support hand (left in my case), step into the other end and pull up to shooting level. Instant steady hold without having to attach anything but at 5’10" I really need 7 or 8 feet of cord to reduce the strain somewhat on my old muscles.
Bob
Bob,
"I put the loop over my camera support hand (left in my case)"
Not just only in your case. On almost every camera the release button is on the right side. If you can press the release button with your support hand, I will be pleased to come over and see you do it.
Quite remarkable, about 15% of the population is left handed and there are hardly any left handed cameras in the market.
Fortunately coffee cups are made for both right and left handed people. 😉
Leen
(who is right handed but left minded.)
Leen,
I’m one of the lucky ones who is almost ambidextrous (eight early years of violin lessons?) but I have a close friend who only has the use of his left arm and hand due to a birth defect. I am awed by his adaptation to a right handed, two handed world. He plays a mean game of tennis, golfs in the 80’s, somehow does most of the maintenance on his home (how do you replace a light switch with one hand?), and even handles camera’s and camcorders very well.
On the other hand my left eye is dominant. I’m forever smearing the LCD with my nose using right eyed viewfinders. Landscape right eye, portrait left eye, hard to keep it straight.
Bob
Bob, I still don’t understand why there are no cameras for left handed people any more. I suppose 15% market share would be quite nice. The only one I remember was a Yashica, but it never got much publicity, so nobody stored it.
Just imagine, something like the "Pentax left handed camera shop". It would be a great success!
My fee for this great idea: just like Grants, but without the alcohol. 😉
Leen
Leen
You miss the point just turn the camera over and you have a left handed camera with the controls on the bottom.
Grant
Grant, that might just only be a good solution for people living down under. Not on the northern hemisphere. 😉
Leen
In the old days, lefties often used a left-handled flash bracket with cable-release trigger. The release was mechanical back then, but I don’t see why you couldn’t rig something for electronic release on digital cameras.
John, You have the solution. Lefties should buy a camera with a remote release.
Just to clarify the bolt thread question that Grant discussed earlier:
There are two standard thread pitches in the US for bolts…Coarse(also called SAE) and Fine. In 1/4" bolts, the pitch is 20 threads/in for Coarse and 28 for Fine. The tripod thread is Coarse.
I really like Robert Daniels idea…eyebolt and wing nut. That is a very clever and elegant solution. Thanks, Robert!
Bert
