Designing a Shoulder Stock

[ted_hendy]

Hi folks. I've finally decided to go ahead and make my own shoulder

stock. Yes, I could afford to buy one, but I'm one of those types

who'd rather spend a week and $10 building something instead of

buying a new one for $5. I've read most of the past couple of years

worth of messages discussing shoulder stocks. I've noticed that

quite a few folks put their own together. So here's the question.

What recommendations do you have for designing one? I'll be using an

Elan IIe, Canon 300F4 and 1.4X. There's a couple of issues that come

immediately to mind: How do you control the autofocus and shutter

release? RS-60E3? How do use your free hand to help steady the

stock? Should it be built like a traditional rifle stock using the

left hand for underneath support? Does the L.L. Rue Thommy Gun

pistol grip style work better? Is there a better way? Should I

start with an old rifle stock or start with a couple of 1x pine

boards glued together and use a non rifle stock style? I'm thinking

of connecting the lens to the stock with a long tripod socket size

screw with a large washer and wing nut lock. Well, you get the

idea. If there's sufficient interest I'll post my results and design

when I finish this thing. Thanks, Ted

[chris_hansen]

Ted, I built mine using an old gunstock. I drilled a hole through the stock and ran the cable release through it to where the trigger guard goes. I also cut out a 1 1/2 inch square area on top and inserted a hard 1/4 rubber pad. Then I drilled the center of this area out for a 1/4 20 bolt with a wing nut and a washer to tighten the camera down to the stock. I be the first one to admit though it works just fine it is awfully heavy. I recall that in one of Art Wolfe's books he made a really nice one out of either 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch flat metal barstock. I'd look into that if I was you since it will prove to be much lighter.

Good light to you

Chris

[chris_hansen]

Ted,

I just remembered it was was in one of John Shaws books on photography where I saw a shoulder mount he had made out of bar stock. Sorry for the wrong info

Chris

[ted_hendy]

Chris, thanks for the responses. I've seen the bar one in the book, the metal tube type at Kirk Enterprises and the Thommy gun type that LL Rue has. I'm concerned about the stability that you would get with a bar type. I like the notion of a rifle type stock where you can use both hands to support the stock. I've started working on it and have come up with a modified thumb hole type stock. I have two enlarged thumb holes, one in the rear for my right hand and one farther forward for my left hand. The front of my stock is sloped, like the Thommy Gun model. But instead of cutting thestock off to a pistol grip I thumb holed the stock. I like having having an angular grasp for pulling the stock back to my sholder. I think it's more natural than the flat forend of a rifle stock. I've also drilled out an area where the trigger would be and inserted my RS-60E3 there with just the button below the stock to act as the trigger. This seems to work really well. The Elan IIe doesn't use a cable release. You have to have their electronic one. To mount the lens I carved out a shallow box the size of the lens base. That worked until I thought that I might also want to mount my 70-200 on it. The 70-200 has a different base size, so back to the drawing board. I like the idea of a rubber pad, that or a cork pad. This would probably provide sufficient friction to keep the lens from turning. Thanks for the suggestions.

[frank_kolwicz]

I have a 12 year old LLRue "Tommy Gun" style stock with the front handle (they make one without it, too) and find the front handle to be pretty much useless - it is too far forward and brings my arm away from my chest, so it can't be well-braced. When it is not used for manual focussing, I normally put my off-hand under the "trigger" hand so it is closer to my chest for support.

 

The location of the clamp for the cable or other release is awkward to use smoothly as it is off to one side of the stock instead of being inline with your fingers and the grip is rather too vertical for my wrist. Maybe this is OK if you have very big hands, but it doesn't work well for me and the clamp mechanism seems designed for a limited kind of cable release. Maybe the new ones are better, but if you are making your own, plan your design around the location of the release so it works smoothly without stretching or cramping your hand, as that is likely to induce some kind of shake.

 

The LLRue stock is pretty light, but it still gets awfully heavy after an hour or so of continuous use, so weight is important, think about that before going the rifle stock route; remember a rifle is carried in a relaxed position a lot more of the time than a camera is. A sling for the stock will get its weight off your arms when it is not in use, think about how you'd prefer to carry the rig and plan the sling attachment accordingly.

 

Assuming that your lens has a rotation collar, plan for plenty of room to rotate your camera into the vertical position, in fact design for that at first, horizontal positioning will not present any additional problems.

 

Add a separate bracket for your flash, to get it above the lens and to allow the camera to rotate without moving the flash. Make it sturdy enough to accept a fresnel flash projector in case you decide to get one and figure on using some kind of small ballhead for the projected flash so you can aim it properly for every lens you might ever use.

 

There are stocks on the market made with some fairly exotic materials to make them as light as possible, but consider whether you may need to modify a stock for your own ergonomics. The exotic materials may be nearly impossible to modify without extensive equipment and specialized knowledge. Wood, on the contrary, can be worked with primitive tools and little knowledge, so you can make modifications much more easily and cheaply; you could carve it with a knife in the field, if you had to. If that super-light carbon fiber and magnesium stock doesn't fit your style, it may be nearly a total loss and the few ounces it saved of no significance to your photographs.

 

Frank

[daryl]

I just found a little web page here. The guy gives info on creating a remote release for NIKON stuff. Not much use to you, but hopefully useful to people who come to this thread looking for info. <p>

There is also a photo of a nice shoulder stock there too. You can find this stuff <a href="http://www.infomaniak.ch/~bonavolt/fo_gun.htm">here</a>. There is not much info about the stock itself, but it looks pretty nice.

[lloyd_nakatani]

Better than a shoulder stock is a short monopod whose tip is put into a pouch or socket attached to a belt around your waist. This gives you almost all the stability of a monopod with the mobility of a shoulder stock. The monopod transfer most of the weight to your waist, so the tension and fatique associated with using a shoulder stock is eliminated. Plus a monopod is lighter than a shoulder stock, and you have a regular monopod when that is what you really need. You'll need a swivel head or small ballhead on the monopod to get the angle between the camera and monopod right for comfortable use.

[donald_thompson]

John shaws version with a picture and some details is on page 38-39 of his book 'The nature photograghers complete guide to professional field techniques'.

Don Thompson.