Sometimes you wish you had invested into a lens hood or lens shade. However, for large format cameras these items carry a hefty price tag (the original Arca hood is around 600 Euro), so chances are high that you don’t have it in your box when you need it.
Time to hit the road for a DIY market! Get two clamps – a large one and a small one, and a flexible holder like a flexible magnet with a grip or a kwiktwist.
The kwiktwist – unfortunately not available in Europe – is the better alternative. Just fix it with some cable ties to the clamps and you are ready to go. If you can’t get the kwiktwist, get a flexible magnet, remove the magnet, chop off half of the grip, drill a hole into the magnetic end, fasten it with a screw to the small clamp, and mount the small grip with a cable tie to the large clamp.
The large clamp attached to the knob of the tripod head, the small clamp equipped with a Kappa cardboard panel
The large clamp connected to the base plate
Total investment is around 14 Euro. In Europe (to be precise in Germany) you can get the flexible magnet holder at any Conrad Electronic shop (Biegsamer Magnet).
Though some people will tell you that you won’t be able to block the rays from the ground, this solution is really flexible and does the trick in 99% of the situations.
The advantage of this simple lens shade: the Kappa panel and the flexible holder are set up and oriented in a matter of a few seconds, and they fit nicely behind the foam padding of the lid of your camera case. An expensive lens shade is a delicate part, needs much more space and it takes considerably longer to set up.
Think about it – just to shade your lens the most obvious, simple and reliable solutions are the best.
Yeah, I hear some of you screaming: The wind will tear this device down! Rest assured: normal wind won’t, and I don’t think you’ll hit the beaches, roads or natural scenery with your large format camera at wind speeds of more than 100 km/h (~ 62 mph).
Oh, by the way, this holder is also a perfect tool for the beautiful night shots: just clip a flashlight into the small clamp to illuminate your bubble levels, camera case, light meter scale, roll film back for reloading, etc., etc. It’ll serve you as a third hand.
I really would appreciate if you would support me for this and future projects:
