DIY Tripod extension arm

Have any of you genii tried making a tripod extension arm for vertical (down) shooting?

I thought I might buy one but found the price is just out of this world. The cheapest I can find is circa £40 - going up to several hundred .

My own professional value engineering of what is no more than a simple tube with 1/4 female thread in the middle (perhaps a few more either side of the middle to allow adjustment) plus 1/4 in male thread at each end is under £10.

There are usually non-photo alternatives at a fraction of photographic prices. Perhaps I am not thinking laterally enough.

I must go down to B&Q plumbing/decorating/lighting depts and see what they have.

In the meantime, if there are any (polite ) suggestions I would sure like to hear them

Graham

Hi Graham,

for these, get hold of a couple of the cheap (around a quid on ebay) mini tripods, that have the three legs secured off a cradle. Remove the legs, and you'll have a couple of tripod ball joints for the ends, to allow for fine adjustment. You might need to do a bit of heath robinson for the attachment, but you'll have some screw holes/screws plus the main centre screw to use as well.

Or get yourself a high hat cymbal stand.. if you can find one cheap enough. It'll not be exactly portable.. mine which is modified with a 1/4" thread on the end (and not used in years) has a cast iron base on it, which although making it extremely stable is impractical for fell walking..

Something like this though.. which is a far lighter version than mine.

http://www.fotosearch.com/EYW198/msi_023/

Add one of the above tripod ball joints to the end, and it's job done. The end furthest from the cymbal (you can see where it's thicker in the photo) is a balance weight for the cymbal.. a K10D with a 100 macro may well require a couple of pounds of lead added to that.

Bound to be one on ebay somewhere.

What tripod do you have though, as my Vanguard has a three way head which gives me the ability to shoot straight down anyway. Far easier for static macro/slide copying etc.

Cheers

Liam

Hi Liam
Thanks for the tips - I kind of like the cymbal stand idea, its quirky enough to succeed, but a little outside my envelope. At least it shows lateral thinking

Several from miniature desktop to heavy not-very-portable. They all have three way heads that allow vertical shooting but the legs get in the way. I want something that extends about 6 or 9 inches beyond the legs.

The idea of canibalising a full tripod has passed across my brain - in fact Calumet do a nice little one with a centre rising column for under £20. Whip the legs off and turn the centre column through 90 degrees and there it is - plus the possibility of 3 small monopods

Ebay? Possibly, but I leave that to my daughter.

Car boot sales, charity shops ( I got my last one from a charity shop for a fiver) but I have an aversion to breaking up something that works - its a generational thing.

Still, the ideas stimulate the little grey cells, so if anyone has some more, bring them on

Cheers
Graham

Just had another thought - a 6 inch thick spacer between camera and tripod would do the trick. it would have to be fairly rigid and secure though

Here's a do-it-yourself tripod....
I call him Boo-Boo.