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Have you ever shot in low light conditions and noticed your shots were off level? Well I certainly have! I have been doing a lot of work lately with long exposure photography and when I am out in the field using a gorillapod I find myself running into this quite often.
I know I can buy a shoe mount camera level, but at night it is very difficult to see. I clearly needed to make my own, so please follow along in this instructable to see how to make your own. Here is a quick video walk through showing you what you can build by the end of this instructable.
-Coin Battery Holder (taken from a simple window alarm in this case) - $1 harbor freight
-2x spirit levels with holders - $2 at OSH
-2.5 x 4 inch piece of scrap sheet aluminum
-4 small green LEDs
-slide switch
-small project case - $1 at AllElectronics
-Enamel Coated Wire
-5 Minute quick set expoxy - $1 harbor freight
Optional:
-Mighty Puddy
-Spray Paint
-Felt Pads - $2 OSH
Tools Required:
-Soldering Iron
-Tin Snips
-Marker
-Ruler
-Sand Paper
-Drill and Bits
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Signing UpStep 1Building the Base
In this step we will be building the base of the camera level. We will be using the scrap aluminum sheet since it is fairly light, and thin enough to fit between a camera and the tripod.
-Take your piece of scrap sheet aluminum and place it on the bottom of your camera to make sure that the aluminum is overlapping the tripod mount.
-Trace out the shape of the base
-Now trace out some patterns for where to mount your spirit levels, and project case which will contain your switch and batteries.
-Fill in all of the parts which you want to cut out with your marker
-Using your tin snips cut out the parts that won’t be used
-Now using some pliers bend the lips you marked out to mount the project case and spirit levels to
-Take your piece of scrap sheet aluminum and place it on the bottom of your camera to make sure that the aluminum is overlapping the tripod mount.
-Trace out the shape of the base
-Now trace out some patterns for where to mount your spirit levels, and project case which will contain your switch and batteries.
-Fill in all of the parts which you want to cut out with your marker
-Using your tin snips cut out the parts that won’t be used
-Now using some pliers bend the lips you marked out to mount the project case and spirit levels to
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-Cory
Nice idea I will have to try this on my indestructable and pain to setup in quick situation manfroto tripod. Tried the Flexpod Pro and it will not support the weight of my dslr. :(
The Gorillapod Focus should be able to hold your DSLR. I have had good luck with that and larger glass.
It looks like this is the window alarm you used: Door/Window Entry Alarm . Do you have a link to the spirit levels? I'm not familiar with "OSH"...
Here is a very similar level set at Lowes:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=119596-1099-LLP002&lpage=none