posted this on another sight so some have already seen it. im sure others have not, so here it is again. If your like me, it seems everytime i harvest game its in the middle of the week. So getting someone to help with pics is not always an option. My wife works part time and is not always home or the kids are in school and my friends are working during the week. I have had to set up my camera in the crotch of trees, on fallen logs, drag in a tri pod or what ever is avaliable and its always a pain trying to get everything in the frame with out the camera falling off or moving. I recently had an idea for a portable stick to mount the camera on for timed photos. I used a couple of broken carbon express terminator 350's and a section of an aluminum 2117 to make the stick. It has elastic shock cord inside like a tent pole to keep the pieces together and can be folded up. One end has the insert and a feild point to stick in the ground. The other end has a section off a 1/4"-20 bolt epoxied in that screws into the cameras tripod insert. I can hold the top section, drop the other sections and it goes together by its self. stick it in the ground have camera on it and adjusted ready to take pics in less than a minute. All you have to do is center your/say deer through the view lense and leave enough room for yourself, turn on the timer and start getting photos. Now i wont have to drag my wife out in the woods WHEN she IS avaliable, and she never saw the need to take 30 pics so i could pic the best ones. If you make one for yourself the three sections are 10" long each and the aluminum sections are 2" long that are epoxied over the carbons. now get to building you cant loose the pieces elastic shock cord like a mini tent pole fits in a pack and only weighs as much as an arrow
That is an awsome idea. Why am I not surprised that you thought of it. I think that I will definetly have to try to make one.
OK, I've been thinking. I know that scares some of you,lol! Here is what I'm going to do. I'm going to get 3 pieces of 1/4" threaded rod and 2 rod couplings. Each piece of threaded rod will be about 1' long. The rod will screw into the base of the camera same as cricks design. I'll paint the parts and just keep them together with a couple of rubber bands when I carry them in my pack. It will weigh more but I can have it made in about 5 minutes.
That will absolutly work, nothing wrong with that. 1/4" All thread is not that heavy any how. I got to thinking, I know thats scary to :d I can also screw my mini DV cam corder on there after recovery just for enjoying at home. let me know how yours turns out.
Well I got one made and it seems like it will do just fine. I love my job. Time and material lol! I'll take some pics tonight and post em in the AM. I even painted it olive green
Well, work was slow, I was bored and I have a well stocked shop and lots of tools at my disposal so...
Alright for those of us that are challeneged with this type of stuff which version should I attempt to make?
Here is the one I made. It was too easy although without seeing 'crick's I would have never thought of it. It breaks down pretty compact. It will fit in my pack or under the seat of my 4-wheeler easily. I used 1/4" threaded rod, cut three pieces, each about a foot long. Then connected them with rod couplings and used a rod coupling as a jam nut to tighten to the bottom of the camera. I had some olive green spray paint sitting on a shelf and figured what the heck. And then a tie wrap to hold the parts together in my pack. OH, yeah, yeah, I know I need to weedeat around my pond! LOL!
OK Ferg, if your challenged i would recomend doing Tx's version. It will work just fine and looks great to (good job tx ) mine will give you fits when you try the shock cord install. TX, just a thought, how about epoxing the coupling nuts to the rods that they stay on just to make sure they dont come off!! just a thought. Ferg, here is a tip for you. before cutting your all thread to length run a nut down it just under where your cut will be. After the cut run your nut back off over where the cut was made. It helps reform the threads where the cut was made then file the edges.
Great tips! I will epoxy them on! And the nuts on the threaded rods is a great tip. I do that every time.
What an AWESOME idea!! I picked up a neat little tripod a few years ago, but invariably don't end up taking it because of its bulk -- even though it's pretty small. No need to level out three legs or anything with this sucker... VERY nifty. Thanks, 'crick!!
