Legs For A Camera Bag?

[Phil_F_NM]

I'm Phil, I'm new to the forum but have been a lurker for a few months.
Anyway, I've been involved with the cycling industry for several decades and recently have been concentrating on cycling for transport.
Look up "decaleur" for handlebar bags and supports for seat mounted true saddle bags like the spring steel supports by Bagman.
This is a relatively easy and creative problem to tackle, where it gets difficult is light weight. That said, I'd fashion up a folding shelf out of a 3 1/2" door hinge and an aluminum plate which is 75% the area of your bag. Make a stop on the bottom of the hinge to stay the movement against to the leg of the tripod. For heavier weight you could use two of the tripod legs.
Optimally, you could get a single piece of spring steel bent and tempered to support the bag against the tripod legs at just above waist height.
Fashion up a little clip to prevent the bag from tipping over towards you.

Hope this helps and I'll post schematics and a photo if I come up with something.

Regards to all,
Phil Forrest

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

[Drew Bedo]

Phill: Thanks. The most creative suggestion so far. The fabrication sounds simple but is a little out of my legue. Shaping and tempering spring steel and whipping up up a simple clip are not in my bag ofDIY skill sets. Yet there may actually be a viable product idea there. I have seen shelving that clips ontyo a pohotographic tripos intyended for a tablet. Lightweight sure, but much too flimsy for a 20 pound camera bag. . . .but the idea is there to exploit. With the right information though, someone could make up something for me.




The initial examples mentioned PVC pipe and fittings because cutting and glueing plastic is something that I can do.

[Richard Wasserman]

I just want to weigh in quickly here. I don't understand the desire to carry even more equipment than one does already. Why not, as I believe was suggested, simply hang your bag from a hook under the tripod head. I have done this 100's, probably 1000's of times and it is easy and adds mass to the tripod which I think is beneficial. I make sure the bag is not swinging when I make the exposure and I have never detected an issue with doing this. KISS...

[Drew Bedo]

I just want to weigh in quickly here. I don't understand the desire to carry even more equipment than one does already. Why not, as I believe was suggested, simply hang your bag from a hook under the tripod head. I have done this 100's, probably 1000's of times and it is easy and adds mass to the tripod which I think is beneficial. I make sure the bag is not swinging when I make the exposure and I have never detected an issue with doing this. KISS...

Hi Richard: I will re-cap and re-state my thoughts from a couple of my posts on this thread.

You are 100% right . . .for maybe 98% of LF outdoors shooters the bag-on-a-tripod-hook method is probably the simplest practical thing to do. Many of them bring LF gear into the back country on extended day hikes. Some stay out for several days at a time, bringing camping equipment as well as their LF kit. I admire and envy them for their physical ability. I have a deteriorating lumbar disk problem that may not br easily resolvable. A different condition will eventually require bilateral hip replacement surgery. For these reasons I avoid stooping and bending over. Hanging the pack on a rtripod set up for a camera still leaves it low enough to require knee-hip-lumbar flexing ranging from some to significant when accessing the bag.

I can always work a scene a bit longer when the bag is set down on a waist-high boulder, stump or pic-nik table. I have seen just this sort of product made for outdoor painters and thought to bring that concept to the LF-landscape world.

At some point this year, I intend to amalgamate some of the suggestions posted here and modify a LowePro Trekker back pack probably with eith bits of PVC plumbing or sections if tent poles to support the bag horizontally at table height.

Your observations about simplicity and weight are spot-on. Wish it was something that worked for me.

Cheers.

[Richard Wasserman]

Hi Richard: I WILL RECAP AND RE-STATE A PREVIOUS POST IN THIS THREAD.

You are 100% right . . .for maybe 98% of LF outdoors shooters the bag-on-a-tripod-hook method is probably the simplest practical thing to do. Many of them bring LF gear into the back country on extended day hikes. Some stay out for several days at a time, bringing camping equipment as well as their LF kit. I admire and envy them for their physical ability. I have a deteriorating lumbar disk problem that may not br easily resolvable. A different condition will eventually require bilateral hip replacement surgery. For these reasons I avoid stooping and bending over. Hanging the pack on a rtripod set up for a camera still leaves it low enough to require knee-hip-lumbar flexing ranging from some to significant when accessing the bag.

Sorry, I don't know how I missed that. Anything you can do to make your life easier is certainly a good and desirable goal.

I can always work a scene a bit longer when the bag is set down on a waist-high boulder, stump or pic-nik table. I have seen just this sort of product made for outdoor painters and thought to bring that concept to the LF-landscape world.

At some point this year, I intend to amalgamate some of the suggestions posted here and modify a LowePro Trekker back pack eith PVC piling or sections tent poles to support the bag horizontally at table height.

Your observations about simplicity and weight are spot-on. Wish it was something that worked for me.

Cheers.

[Drew Bedo]

Found it!

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Mark...s=French+Easel

This is designed for painting and it is built from wood . . . but that is the general concept; a camera bag with self storing legs that hold the bag at a convenient height.

Now imagine that it is acammera case or bag with dedicated or optional CF legs that can be extended. It could be a wilderness backpack(or a Pelican type hard case.

[chassis]

I'm thinking a light stand (strobe stand). The legs are foldable and the column is adjustable in height, and will reach table height. For the table there needs to be more creative thinking applied. A flange that fits a 1/2" round lighting fitting is needed, and the flange can be screwed to an 8" (approximately) square piece of wood, which is the actual table surface. The table surface can be removed from the light stand, and stored in the shoulder bag. The light stand collapses normally and can be lashed to the outside of the shoulder bag. Badda boom.

[Colin Graham]

Neat ideal, but most modern camera bags and back packs don't have a rigid core that you could use for leg attachment points. The plein air easels are built around a plywood box, so they are structural enough for legs. Painting gear is also considerably lighter. An external frame pack could probably be modified with some ball end posts to attach legs that can be swiveled out of the way. But depending on your height, the legs would have to be pretty long to be waist-high. But maybe you could use some telescoping legs from a old tripod.

When I get to the point I can no longer carry gear on my back, an idea I've always had in mind is to make or modify something like the Bosch "Gravity Rise" saw dolly for a camera pack-

[Jac@stafford.net]

Colin, that is very interesting! Among my workshop gear is a Bosh table saw, and unfortunately I find it deficient, however their carrier is very interesting! Thanks for that.
.

[Drew Bedo]

I have often thought about a modified golf bag pull cart. But I don't have the work space, tools or skills.

That idea should be a natural for Phill_F_NM though (see post #21 in this thread).


The lack of rigidity is another reason that hanging my shoulder bag on a tripod is sub-optimal. Didn't want to quibble in earlier posts. I am still thinking about PVC as a sort of exo- skeleton.