Vice attachment for camera

[A. Fluker]

Don't know if this should be in the Photographic section or not but thought it was pertinent to post here.

Does anyone know if there is a universal vice attachment for a camera. Thought that this was a good idea......



Be interested to learn and apologise in advance if this subject has be mentioned recently.

[mot]

not come across one, would be a nice tool but would need to be pretty robust to support a DSLR. I'd say is probably better just to use a separate tripod, provided you can get it close enough to the edge of a table.

[Cap'n Fishy]

See where you are coming from there and it does look nice.

Interested to see your results with it with regard to focusing. When shooting fly shots focusing has to be absolutely spot on, and the easiest way to do that is by enlarging the view in the LCD and then moving either the fly or the camera, 1 mm at a time, towards each other, then away from each other, while you watch for the sweet focus in the LCD. (Obviously you have to be able to take the shot without engaging autofocus when you fire it.) How does your rig fare with doing that? I kind of feel that making these microadjustments is easier with the fly on a clip (or the vice... or whatever), and the camera on a separate mount - whether it's a tripod (big or small), a beanbag, a macro rail, Scratch's ruler, a pile of books, or whatever. The other issue is lighting - I use 4 mini desk lamps, and any kind of rig would get in the way when I'm trying to crowd them round the scene - they even get in each other's way .

From a purely personal point, I don't like to photograph flies with a big vice head taking up half the frame . Fly clips for archive shots, and free standing (or hidden prop) for arty shots

Sorry - that sounds like I am putting it down - not meaning to - more just commenting on the general area of photographing flies. I do like the look of it and if you are getting good results with it that is the main thing

Col

[arkle]

It works a treat for Lawrence Finney on his Dyna-King Pro, all his video's are now done with one.

[A. Fluker]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Fishy

See where you are coming from there and it does look nice.

Sorry - that sounds like I am putting it down - not meaning to - more just commenting on the general area of photographing flies. I do like the look of it and if you are getting good results with it that is the main thing

Col

Col

If only we had your standards! Thanks for your input as a mostly compact man I thought it was a good idea to have it at hand on a swivel with a lock and focus with the auto to take a couple of shots for the forum or whatever. Not up to the glossy mag standard besides if anything can mask my poor tying then that is a bonus. Thanks for your reply.



---------- Post added at 04:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:31 PM ----------

Originally Posted by arkle

It works a treat for Lawrence Finney on his Dyna-King Pro, all his video's are now done with one.

Interesting to note that Lawrence uses one - thanks for your input.

[Cap'n Fishy]

Originally Posted by A. Fluker

I thought it was a good idea to have it at hand on a swivel with a lock and focus with the auto to take a couple of shots for the forum or whatever.

Absolutely - it's a major advantage to have it to hand the whole time. My set up has to be assembled and taken down for every shoot, so I'm much less inclined to photograph flies as I tie them.

I can see now, if it swivels freely, that you can do the micro-adjustments OK. The main issue then is that very thing - that it is going to be swiveling about an axis off to one side. That's going to make it difficult to line up the focal plane where you want it. Again, focusing is critical and the key to flies is to get the viewer's eye to check out the hook. If that looks in focus, you can get away with the dressing drifting in and out of focus as you come nearer and go further from the focal plane. So, you want to be concentrating on having the sensor of the camera and as much of the hook exactly equidistant from one another as possible. The hook point and the eye (incorporating the head of the fly) are the things to line up so they are parallel with the camera's sensor. If you can only use autofocus on your camera, you should see if you can get it to focus on the hook point or the eye/head. If you have lined it up well, it won't matter which.

Col