dwashbur
Contributor
By popular request, here's my under-$5 way to mount my wife's camera to her UK Light Cannon 100.
Parts: a piece of 1/16"x1" aluminum and one 1/2" long hex set screw, 1/4" coarse thread.
This is pretty easy, since the Light Cannon has a slot on top for the optional lantern-style handle. I cut a piece of the aluminum to fit into the slot. I went with aluminum this time because a) the hardware store had some, and b) it's soft enough that I was able to cut it with my tin snips. The slot is roughly 7/8" wide; I cut the aluminum to 15/16" and trimmed a shaving at a time to get a nice tight fit.
I then drilled at 13/64" hole roughly in the center of it. This is slightly smaller than the set screw, and the set screw has a slightly tapered end. I went a little small just to be sure, but could probably have gotten good results with a 7/32" hole as well. I positioned the set screw on the hole, applied some "elbow grease" and basically made the set screw cut its own threads in the aluminum. Next, I slid the metal into the slot on top of the camera and put the set screw in the hole. I tightened it just enough to keep things from slipping away, and the remainder of the set screw is the right size to fit the tripod mount hole on the bottom of the camera case. Here are a couple of views:
Most camera cases/housings have this tripod mount hole, and they're pretty much standardized in size. I have put three different makes of camera case on this mount and they all fit just fine. So I just screw the camera onto the set screw. I like to leave it loose by a turn or two, just so it's easier to take off later. Here is the mount with the case to our Optio S5i on it:
For extra safety, I like to take the camera's lanyard and loop it around the light handle, thus:
This precludes any chance of the camera accidentally unscrewing and drifting away when I'm looking at something else.
That's it. Now I'm working on a way to rig up something similar for my C8 light. Since it doesn't have a slot on top, this is probably going to involve a hose clamp in some way...
MacGyvering my way through life,
Dave
Parts: a piece of 1/16"x1" aluminum and one 1/2" long hex set screw, 1/4" coarse thread.
This is pretty easy, since the Light Cannon has a slot on top for the optional lantern-style handle. I cut a piece of the aluminum to fit into the slot. I went with aluminum this time because a) the hardware store had some, and b) it's soft enough that I was able to cut it with my tin snips. The slot is roughly 7/8" wide; I cut the aluminum to 15/16" and trimmed a shaving at a time to get a nice tight fit.
I then drilled at 13/64" hole roughly in the center of it. This is slightly smaller than the set screw, and the set screw has a slightly tapered end. I went a little small just to be sure, but could probably have gotten good results with a 7/32" hole as well. I positioned the set screw on the hole, applied some "elbow grease" and basically made the set screw cut its own threads in the aluminum. Next, I slid the metal into the slot on top of the camera and put the set screw in the hole. I tightened it just enough to keep things from slipping away, and the remainder of the set screw is the right size to fit the tripod mount hole on the bottom of the camera case. Here are a couple of views:
Most camera cases/housings have this tripod mount hole, and they're pretty much standardized in size. I have put three different makes of camera case on this mount and they all fit just fine. So I just screw the camera onto the set screw. I like to leave it loose by a turn or two, just so it's easier to take off later. Here is the mount with the case to our Optio S5i on it:
For extra safety, I like to take the camera's lanyard and loop it around the light handle, thus:
This precludes any chance of the camera accidentally unscrewing and drifting away when I'm looking at something else.
That's it. Now I'm working on a way to rig up something similar for my C8 light. Since it doesn't have a slot on top, this is probably going to involve a hose clamp in some way...
MacGyvering my way through life,
Dave
