A tripod is a handy tool for any photographer from the amateur to professional. However, if you're an amateur, buying a tripod can be expensive. Save money by building do-it-yourself tripods. By making your own wire tripods, you will have the steady base your camera, or cameras, require without a huge outlay of cash.
Collect Supplies
Your tripods can be sturdy as well as versatile if you press a coat hanger or hangers into use. Grab one or more wire coat hangers, unwind them so they're now long, straight pieces, and cut them into 1-foot long lengths. A pair of pliers comes in handy here, saving your hands when you unwind the hangers. Some pliers have handy-dandy wire cutters built in. If not, grab a pair of wire cutters to make nice, clean cuts. You need three 1-foot lengths per each tripod for the legs. Grab a roll of electrical tape of any color you choose and a bolt that fits the hole in the bottom of your camera, and you're good to go. The best way to make sure you get the properly sized bolt is to take your camera to a hardware store and fit it there, so you don't buying the wrong bolt have to exchange the wrong-size bolt at the store for another one. It's unfortunate but true: the sizes of holes on the bottoms of different cameras may vary.
Start Building
Reinforcement the wire to give it more strength without removing any of that much-prized bendability, to coin a word. Wrap each of the three legs (wires) of the budding tripods with electrical wire--at least seven layers' worth. Leave two inches without tape on each of the tripod legs. The pliers come in handy again--use them to make little hooks on the ends of the uncovered wire tips. Loop the hooks of the tripods' legs around the bolts that fit your camera or cameras. Secure the wire to the bolts by wrapping them with electrical tape. You'll discover the amount of tape you need as you make the tripods. Remember that each tripod needs to support the weight of your camera without collapsing or the bolt slipping. Leave some of the threads free of tape so you can screw into the camera's bottom.
To reinforce the tripod legs still further, you can wrap each wire leg with additional wire before adding the layers of electrical tape. This is entirely optional. If you are concerned about the bolt slipping, wrap a thinner gauge wire around it and the wire legs, then add an abundance of tape while leaving the upper threads free.
Using Your Tripods
The beauty of these tripods is that you can place them anywhere, whether the surface is even or uneven. You can even wrap the legs around objects like railings or fence posts to get those hard-to-shoot shots.
You can add other details such as washers between the legs to help stabilize and separate them, a hook that extends downward from the bolt to which you can secure a safety line, or decals for decoration and personalization.
Tags: your camera, each tripod, electrical tape, tripod legs, bolt slipping, camera cameras