DIY Camera Case Customization

The Poor Man’s Halliburton Case

I’ve never been satisfied with a single camera case for all the formats I use on camera outings. There’s just not a one-size-fits-all solution for me. For some years now, I’ve taken to customizing cases to accommodate a particular camera kit. As a result, I have multiple cameras cases Tailor made for what I’m carrying on any given outing.

Years ago, when film would survive air travel, I had the idea of customizing carry-on bags tough enough to be thrown around without damaging the equipment inside. Scottsboro, Alabama has an unclaimed baggage store where I paid less than $10 for each of the three carry-on bags that I use as camera cases and all were in excellent condition.

Two of my carry-on style camera cases. They have Velcro straps to secure a tripod to the outside.
Left is for my Shen Hao 4×5 and right is for my RB-67.

The padding is foam rubber and terrycloth supported by double thick corrugated cardboard and then covered in fabric. The gray fabric was a faux suede that was perfect: very soft and tough, but no lint. To keep it simple, I glued the fabric rather than sewing it. They’ve held up well for 15 years, now.

Checking the fit. The floor of the case below the cardboard is 3/4 inch thick dark gray foam.
Glued the padding materials in place. Camera and lenses get the most padding. Film holders, get less.
Both the floor and closure were also reinforced with double think cardboard.

But, carry-on cases are not what anyone wants to be dragging along behind them on a walking tour that involves stairs or bumpy terrain. I have, however used the 4×5 case for walk around shooting because setting up field camera is a bit more stationary than handheld work.

Customization of Shoulder Bags: Case #1 Rolleiflex Hy6

So, as someone who has spent much time doing online shopping and forum research looking for the perfect shoulder bag solution, I was never quite satisfied. For 35mm, I have been using an Ape ACPRO1200 bag with the included partitions for years. It fits either my Nikon F100 or F6 with a 24-120mm Zoom attached and three or four additional lenses, plus filters, adapter rings, remote release, film, batteries, etc.

Ape ACPRO1200 holds my Nikon F6 and 3 or four lenses, including my 70-300mm zoom.

Once I got the Rolleiflex Hy6, I became more motivated to do local walking expeditions with medium format equipment. The camera is light and compact aside from the handle which is not removable, making it an awkward fit for a shoulder bag. After a few measurements, I calculated that I could fit it into an Ape ACPRO1400, which is slightly bigger than the 1200 model. The challenge is keeping the individual items from banging into each other inside the case and the partitions that come with Ape cases seem to be targeting the digital SLR market, not the medium format with large protruding handle market.

I turned to the same solution I used with the carry-on bags: custom foam inserts designed specially for the shape of the Hy6. Another issue that factored into the design was the fact that the Hy6 handle can be rotated which offered some adaptability to a camera case compartment. But, given the lack of success I’ve experienced in trying to get the Hy6 reliably serviced, I avoid rotating the handle position just to minimize wear and tear on the electrical connections between the handle’s electronics and the camera body. My goal was to design the partition to accommodate the camera body with the handle prepositioned for use with the 45 degree prism and the 80mm or 40mm lens attached. It also had to have compartments for the large 50mm AF lens and which ever lens (40 or 80) was not attached to the camera.

Stack-up of foam shapes to required height. The 3″ thick Amazon foam was also a stack of thinner pieces
Fitting the foam. It consists of three pieces to make it easier to cover with fabric.
The edges of this closed-cell polyethylene foam sheds particles. Another good reason to cover it with fabric.
The three pieces are covered and ready to be glued together for installation as a single piece with Velcro.
Finished. Hy6 with 80mm lens on left, 50mm lens on right, and 40mm lens under the 50mm lens.
Removed the 50mm lens and the half inch foam separator to expose the 40mm lens below.

The fabric used in this Hy6 case was a synthetic pressed “weave”. The huge fabric store near me is gone and the remaining fabric stores in town cater to the quilt market. Synthetic fabric is plastic and thin. It’s not scratchy and it prevents foam particles from leaking into the case, but it melts if you try to glue it with hot glue and it sometimes stains all the way through when when you use fabric glue. I still need to cover the small square that separates the 50mm lens from the lens below.

Customization of Shoulder Bags: Case #2 Hasselblad 501CM

The Hasselblad has no handle, so the case is simpler. I divided another Ape ACPRO1400 case into three compartments. The body with A12 film back and 45 degree meter prism in the center, my 100mm lens on one side and my 40mmlens on the other.

The Ape 1400 divided into three compartments with fabric covered foam attached with Velcro.

Beyond that, I merely added some shapes to take up the extra space to keep the components from shifting around. The smaller 1200 model case may have been large enough for the Hassy kit.

Blocks to take up extra space in lens compartments and a raised floor for the 40mm front overhang.
501CM case finished. Added two spacers in body compartment. One keeps the shutter from firing.

I have used both the Hy6 and Hassy cases on photo walking tours and they work well. One small problem with the Ape 1400 cases is that the part of the case that acts as a hinge for the lid will kink when it’s opened or closed. It likes being open or closed, not in between. It’s kind of annoying when you want reach in and pull something out without raising the lid a full 90+ degrees. And they are like that right out of the box, so it isn’t due to the customizations. The 1200 case does not have that issue. On the other hand, I knew of that problem before I ordered the second case and decided to use it again anyway.

Final Thoughts and Links to Photo Sets

As you might have guessed, I don’t have much variation in what I carry on a medium format photo outing. I don’t use and don’t have any long lenses, so a normal and one or two wides will always be my loadout. For 35mm, I still shoot wide or “normal” focal lengths almost exclusively, but I do carry a 70-300mm for rare occasions.

I should also note that the 35mm case which I’ve been using with my F100 and now with my F6, will also accommodate my D850 with the 24-120mm zoom attached. It’s a bit of a squeeze, but I don’t take the camera body in and out of the case very often because it’s around my neck (well, in my hands). I have yet to take the D850 out on a walk-around outing. I’m a film shooter and there’s apparently no cure for that.

Below are links to my other site, Cityshadow.org, with additional pictures:

Gallery News: The New Commercial Gallery has Dropped

The Commercial Work gallery is comprised of 29 photos that are a sampling of photography I did part time during the 1990s while working as a career electrical design engineer at local high tech manufacturing businesses, including some for whom I also did photography. I was a better engineer than I was a photographer, but I was conveniently accessible. I could do acceptable work, but was something of a one-trick-pony. The marketing people I worked with were talented and pleasant, while I have most of the more unappealing personality challenges associated with autism. The vast majority of my work was for TxPORT, a telecom manufacturer, and Phoenix Microsystems, a maker of telecom test equipment, both located in Huntsville, Alabama.. My company name was Krueger Photography and it was officially in business for 11 years and contracted with eight companies, several of which were affiliated with each other at some point.

During the time I operated the business, I had nothing to do a lot of the time and suddenly too much to do by a given deadline. That was mostly due to procrastination. Back then, everything was shot on film, color studio work was shot exclusively on Ektachrome EPP, most often 4 x 5 in. and some 6 x 7 cm, and 35mm on the few occasions I worked on location. B&W was most often 6×7 cm. I did the B&W darkroom work myself and used a local lab for the color. The transparency film originals were turned over to the customer, so the gallery pictures are almost all scans of small to medium sized halftone images in the few publications I kept as memorabilia of those days. The B&W images in the gallery are scans from 8×10 darkroom prints.

The world has changed since then. During those years of doing commercial work part time, I virtually never did any personal photography. That came back after I closed the business and planned trips specifically as photo expeditions. I also added a dedicated studio, frame shop, and darkroom to my house. I did some work for modeling schools and a local agency as well as head shots for local theater groups. I’ve exhibited in a few local venues and had work published in a national print magazine and online by Italy’s la Repubblica. I no longer do any work for hire, nor do I market any of my work. Finally realizing that digital photography is not just a passing fad like cell phones and the internet (haha!), I bought a D850 digital camera last year.

But, I still shoot film almost exclusively.

The Commercial gallery was an experiment to familiarize myself with embedded image metadata which none of my online B&W images have since they are scans of darkroom prints. My F6 Nikon film camera collects that exif data, but my other cameras do not. I plan to add XMP metadata for search engine optimization. I will be adding a gallery dedicated to work from my day-long local photo expeditions which I do a few times a year. Long distance traveling has become less appealing the older I get. Also, TSA airport scanners make film inconvenient.

Gallery News: New gallery coming soon.

In a previous incarnation of this site, I included a gallery showing some of my work from the 1990s when I did commercial photography part time.  I will be bringing that gallery back and have already scanned in the images at a higher resolution than the original JPGs.  Since most of my work back then was on color transparency film which was turned over to the client, most of these images will be scanned from half-tone illustrations in the final 30 year old print publications in which they appeared. Unlike scans from analog prints, they had to be descreened and defects, from their less than pristine condition, corrected. But, there are a few images from 4×5 Ektachrome transparencies and black and white darkroom prints. Since I virtually never do digital image editing, it was a time consuming learning curve and the results less than perfect, especially from the smaller original halftone illustrations. The gallery name will be labeled “Commercial” and all that remains is to add the image metadata (something else I’ve never done before). I hope to have it completed within a week, probably around January 13.