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Butterfly
Bean Bag and Flying Saucer Ball Head
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I often
photograph birds from the window of my vehicle in situations
like a wildlife refuge, where you can drive around and see plenty
of opportunities to get good shots. I've made two double bean
bags for this type of photography, both sewn from the pattern from an article
by Scott Fairbairn.
The first one I made by the pattern size. Later I made a second
one about 50% larger to use with my Canon 500mm lens. While these
basic double bean bags worked well for general use, there were times when I needed something a little different.
Problem #1-
Even in my full-sized truck,
the camera and lens sat too low in the window to shoot comfortably. The bean bag
needed more height. I tried stacking two bean bags, but they would slip apart. I
had to slump down into the seat to see through the viewfinder. I didn't dare use
the window to raise the bean bag, camera and lens. That much weight on the power
window mechanism seemed a very bad idea. It was designed to raise a piece of glass,
not 25+ pounds of deadweight.
Problem #2-
When panning left and right,
the tripod foot would bind in the bean bag, and the lens wanted to flop over on one
side all the time. When I panned right, the side mirror was at the same level as
the lens and in
the way. It made following the action a bit of a hassle. Spinning
the
tripod
foot up out of the way helped, but I lost what little height advantage it offered,
making the lens sit even lower.
I had looked at every bean bag
I could find on the web, including the "Molar
Bean Bag" by Vertex Photographic. I liked the way it hugged the vehicle door,
but it simply did not provide enough height above the window for comfortable shooting.
Also, the photos on the Vertex website showed the beanbag with a camera mounted on
a plate, with what I presumed to be a panning head attached. I found such a device
at another website, but it wasn't cheap. It did however give me the impetus to come
up with my own solution. After pondering these problems for awhile I designed a one-two
combination to solve both problems. . . . .
The "Butterfly Bean Bag" and the "Flying
Saucer Ball Head"
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| The
Butterfly Bean Bag and Flying Saucer Ball Head in
use with a super-telephoto. |
I will start with the Butterfly
Bean Bag, so named because the cutting and sewing pattern for it looks something
like
a butterfly, although the bean bag itself actually looks more like a "molar" than
the Vertex product. I used the basic back-to-back "double bean bag" construction
technique from the bean bag on the Scott Fairbairn website, and combined it with
the general "molar" shape of the Vertex design. The advantages of my design are:
• Weighs less for its size than other designs
• Stands taller than other designs of same weight
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The
molar-like shape
of the Butterfly Bean
Bag is evident in this
shot. |
The
tubular bottom
design improves rigidity
and cuts the weight by
4 pounds. |
To accomplish these improvements
I made the top half taller (above the "V") than the Vertex design, and added stitching to shape the sides and make them stand up stiffer.
Otherwise the extra height would have been lost due to the sides bulging out and
drooping. I also closed off a large portion of the bottom half so it didn't fill
with unnecessary beans.
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| How
to make your own |
This created four
tubular colums, providing a firm base hanging
over the vehicle door so the bag stands up taller and firmer. Without this design
feature, the extra height would have required an additional 4 pounds of beans to
fill it.
In essence, it weights the same as the Vertex "molar" product, but gives
greater height, while retaining the bulk necessary to handle the super-telephoto
lens. I don't pretend the material I used is as rugged, or that the stitching is
on a par with the Vertex product. That part of the construction is up to the discretion
and skill of the do-it-yourselfer who is making one. Mine is quite rugged enough
for my use.
If you would like to make one for yourself, follow
this link to a separate page with full details and instructions on how
to make your own Butterfly Bean Bag.
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| Shown
here with the tripod foot from a Canon 300mm telephoto
attached. |
The Flying Saucer Ball Head?
Yup, that's what I call it. I think you'll
agree it's an apt description. I never would have thought a piece
of wood with a bolt in it could be so useful, simple and effective,
but I believe this idea is the epitome of simple design form and
function. It's really only half a "ball", but that's all it takes
to make my big, heavy telephoto lens pan and tilt smoothly while
resting on a bean bag. It screws on and off the lens tripod foot with the flick of a
wrist. Even if you have to go out and buy a stainless steel 1/4
20 bolt to make one of these, it'll only cost a couple of dollars.
To the left are photos of the
top (showing the 1/4 20 stainless bolt I used), and the bottom (showing the countersink hole). To the right you can see the edge-on side view.
The bottom left thumbnail links to a large diagram explaining how
to make the Flying
Saucer Ball Head. It's relatively simple to make with simple tools, although
a wood lathe is by far the easiest and fastest way to make one. Even making one the
hard
way with hand tools took me less than two hours of work. The only thing I haven't
done is to seal or stain the wood, or paint it. Unless you think it will get wet,
you won't really have to do that.
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| The
Flying Saucer Ball Head mounted on a 500mm lens |
If you should decide to put any
kind of finish on yours, I recommend leaving at least a one to one-and-a-half inch
radius area on top (around the stud) clear of any paint or finish. This is the area
that will rub on the bottom of your lens tripod foot when you screw on
the Flying Saucer Ball Head. The paint or finish here will probably get rubbed off anyway,
and
you don't
want
that coming off and staining or marking your lens finish. Just leave the wood natural
and unfinished in that area.
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