The Wheat Bag Tripod
Have you ever been stuck for a stable camera support? Wanted that ground level point of view or found that you just can't get your tripod into that little nook to get the unique view that nobody else has?
Its actually a problem faced by landscape photographers quite often, so here is a quick tip about a very simple and cost effective solution....
'The Wheat Bag' Tripod.
Available from your local Chemist, this 180 x 190mm "heat bag" allows for easy and stable positioning of smaller cameras in either horizontal or vertical orientation on just about any surface. I have tested it with my compact cameras on coffee cups, chair arms, fence posts, car roof, coke cans etc., but to my surprise I have found that it easily supports my small DSLR also!
There is also a longer Wheat Bag available at 180mm x 380mm and I have used it to support my Canon 1 Series (that's a big DSLR) with my 70-200/2.8 telephoto attached. The beauty of the longer Wheat Bag, is that it can be folded to provide different levels to support both camera body and lens.
Similar products have been around for cameras for quite some time, but when the word "photography" is attached, something strange happens to the pricing structure and we end up paying around $60 or more, while the Chemist purchased Wheat Bag comes in at a mere $15.95..... plus you can always use it as a heat/cold pack after a hard day of lugging the camera gear around.
If you are handy on the sewing machine, these would be pretty easy to make using a couple of handfuls of bean bag beans. This would make for a lighter option if you plan to carry it in your bag at all times, but for me, the standard Wheat Bag waits patiently in my bag of extras that lives in the car.
Cheers, Russell.
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