[cadmus]

Does anyone know of a hard/rigid SLR holster?

Preferably minimalist and small with a large strap that will fit the thick belt from my backpack.

How rigid are the Think Tank brand SLR holsters?
Holster Camera Bag - Digital Holster Camera bags for Nikon, Canon
Any stiffer than the lowe pros? More padding? I can not find them locally.

If anyone has a favorite minimalist holster please shoot me a name &/or link.

[crazysaint222]

you can fabricate your own from glass fibre if you have the time. made a custom case to take my K-X plus tamron 80-250 (a 10" lens) attached. works well, waterproof, tough and light. mould a fabric zipper into the GRP at the top.

[ramseybuckeye]

If you can't find something suitable, maybe you could go to a leather shop and they could custom make you one, with a padded inside. Leather can be pretty stiff.

[Steinback]

Pelican sells hard cases in all sorts of sizes, though they may not conform to your camera body as tightly as you would like.

Example: Pelican*Products*1430*Top Loader Case

If you input your camera body dimensions here they will give you a list of the closest case sizes: Pelican Products | Case Calculator

[cadmus]

Thanks for the posts Crazysaint222, Ramseybuckeye,and Seinback. I found someone with a think tank online and it was described to be not as tough as i wanted. nor were the lowes i found in town. This morning i started fabricating one, as you guessed, out of fiberglass and foam. It will not be pretty but it will be tough and slim. Not sure if I will rivet straps straight to the glass or sew a nylon sheath for the glass holster and sew all webbing to the nylon sheath.

I always jump the gun. I started glassing and then realized i had not acetone. Douhhhh. Made a huge mess and got a big hunk on my table saw's miter gauge, Ahhhh. My hands were sticky but now have an exoskeleton.

I will post photos when done. I also made some lens cases out of PVC.

Still happy to hear any opinions on commercial holsters now or in the years to come.

[crazysaint222]

Great, can't wait to see it. I'm sure it will be a million times prettier than mine lol. looking into making an even tougher one that can take the weight of a truck. I'll keep you all informed with the progress

[cadmus]

This thread turned into more of a DIY topic than the original request. Probably because no one makes a truly hard holster case. But if anyone finds one let me know. I define hard as 'will support a human body when one lands on it after a high speed ski crash.' I did a push up on this home made one with no flex. I am confident i could stand on it. It is slimmer than the low pro holster i found at the local shop. Now sure if i am going to simply rivet some webbing to it or sew up a nylon sheath.

Used a military surplus closed cell foam sleeping pad as the male mold. Sewed the foam to the shape i wanted and inserved some temporary cardboard to make it rigid. Fiberglassed with polyester boat resin around it 2-3 layers. Sanding in between each coat. Plus one final coat without glass mesh. To save money one could use polyurithane for that last coat. If you do this make sure you put masking tape on the inside of the foam over any seems to prevent epoxy from dripping in and don't sand too much away, the foam gave the illusion of it being thicker than it was.

(wow, only been on this site a few weeks and i am almost out of picture space, this post might not stay up for long)

Attached Images

     

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Last edited by cadmus; 03-01-2011 at 08:27 AM.

[crazysaint222]

I used the same stuff as padding. its also great for making your own deviders in the numerous rucksack style camera bags, when you sew it into a fabric pocket. What's next? arctic camo spray job?

[cadmus]

....What's next? arctic camo spray job?

That is a dilemma. I swore that i would never again (unless on sale) buy black or camo gear. I loose black things and can never find them in my bag at night. hats, gaiters, gloves, tripods.... I now intentionally buy the brightest mix matched gear i can. This trend for climbing gear to be natural colors is silly, clearly these climbers are faster than I am and have never been stuck on a rock after sunset, but that is a different forum.

The camera is often the most expensive piece of gear I carry. The plan was to use up some heavy duty black nylon for the sheath but have LOTS of red webbing and red reflector tape all over it. But is the reflector tape and red color bad for the same reasons many nature photographers use camo? How important is camo/black color? I am guessing i will never be that hardcore of a nature photographer.

[cadmus]

Hey, Is there any way we can change the thread title? This should be called "DIY hard SLR holster" or "DIY fiberglass SLR holster" I started it when i was trying to buy a hard case and then found that they do not exist.

[crazysaint222]

That is a dilemma. I swore that i would never again (unless on sale) buy black or camo gear. I loose black things and can never find them in my bag at night. hats, gaiters, gloves, tripods.... I now intentionally buy the brightest mix matched gear i can. This trend for climbing gear to be natural colors is silly, clearly these climbers are faster than I am and have never been stuck on a rock after sunset, but that is a different forum.

The camera is often the most expensive piece of gear I carry. The plan was to use up some heavy duty black nylon for the sheath but have LOTS of red webbing and red reflector tape all over it. But is the reflector tape and red color bad for the same reasons many nature photographers use camo? How important is camo/black color? I am guessing i will never be that hardcore of a nature photographer.

Believe it or not, I saw a series of tests with different color camo, red, orange, yellow, etc... all bright to the human eye, but a lot of mamals can only see monochrome.

Hey, Is there any way we can change the thread title? This should be called "DIY hard SLR holster" or "DIY fiberglass SLR holster" I started it when i was trying to buy a hard case and then found that they do not exist.

I'm pretty sure a site admin is the only one that can change or relocate a thread, but don't quote me on that lol

[cadmus]

If anyone does this I would recommend painting the fiberglass to prevent UV damage and riveting straps to the body. Sewing a sheath was a HUGE time sink. (squares are inches, looks bigger than it is because of wide angle)

2 big belt loops that fit my cushy backpacking back pack.
loops for shoulder strap and 4 point harness.
extra Velcro and loops for accessory bags that i might bild later. I intentionally had no pockets on this because I wanted it a slim as possible and do not want to crush the accessories.

(sorry, low light and i couldn't use flash due to the reflective strips)

[Vylen]

Nothing really comes to mind aside from "That's impressive"

Seriously.. that looks like something you could sell

[crazysaint222]

much better than mine. great job

[Ratmagiclady]

*Nice* job, btw, Cadmus.




For a less-ambitious hard case, though, one thing that's nice is the cardboard or metal tubes that bottles of whiskey and such sometimes come in. You can add packing material to those and have something fairly protective. I haven't made carryable cases from them but use such things for my equipment drawers. IT wouldn't be too hard to add one to a holster bag to make things somewhat more rigid. (If you use the cardboard, though, you won't want them to be too exposed to moisture for long. )


As for colors, as far as spooking wildlife, the common thing about it is breaking up the contour, more than the bright colors, but that depends what colors the animal in question can see.

The red shouldn't hurt much, as a color, itself.

You could always drape a more neutral piece of fabric over it if you want to hide it, and uncover it when you want to see it yourself.