Equipment
3D Prints for Photographers & Videographers
A few months ago, I was spending a lot of time looking for a converter ring that would convert Bowen mount lights, so that they worked for Profoto modifiers. The system seems simple enough, but like so many other times in my career as a photographer, I could not find this tool that would be so simple to make. So then I started looking for someone who could 3D print me one. Naturally, after getting a few quotes (with some PITA upcharges), I concluded that I could buy a 3d printer myself and print my own designs for about the same cost. Which is what I did, and what brought me an entirely new obsession in my workflow.
If you’ve rented from us enough, you probably know that we have a small print farm in our office, where we design and engineer different products and packaging to help our shipping services. We’ve talked about how we were able to fix a battery compartment problem on some BlackMagic cameras a few years ago, and you may have noticed that a lot of our memory cards come in 3d printed LensRentals.com branded cases. But if you’ve got your own 3d printer, you probably know how useful it can be as a photographer or videographer in your day-to-day life. From unique mounting solutions or full-on stabilization systems, 3D printing has allowed the common man to find new ways to solve problems in a studio. And since I’m a couple of months into this obsession (and have already upgraded my 3D printer to the X1C Carbon), I figured it was time to share some of my favorite 3D printed tools for photographers and videographers.
Wall Mounts
I work in a pretty small personal studio. And while I have a big storage closet that I use for softboxes and other large modifiers, I still have a dozen or so hard modifiers, speed rings, and other tools that don’t fit so well stuffed into a closet. And so for years now, I’ve haphazardly mounted them to the walls using little discs of wood that I cut myself using a circular saw. The process was tedious, and not exactly clean-looking, so when I got my 3D printer I looked for a new solution.
I was able to find one pretty quickly for Bowen mount speed rings and hard modifiers, but I wasn’t able to find a Profoto one quite as easily, so I designed one myself. These mounts end up cleaning up my studio considerably, giving me a wall of available modifiers that I can quickly pull from, and generally being a pretty interesting piece of wall art.
Product Photography Solutions
In my free time, I really enjoy doing product photography. It’s tedious, but the ability to sort of zen out on different ideas, and work at my own pace is quite nice. While I’m doing commercial product photography, I usually use small rolls of seamless or backing boards to achieve my vision… But I often have to take decent photos of things for other reasons. So I found a couple of different options for product photography that were able to be 3D printed in just a couple of hours.
Backing Board Mount
The first solution that I’d like to propose is a very simple piece of product that is been often sold with backing boards on Amazon for a couple of years now. It is simply 3D printed brackets that help you make a paper swoop or 90° angle for your backdrops. The idea of this is very simple, by using these guides, you’re able to make a quick swoop on a small seamless background to help give the floating effect you might often see in product photography, particularly e-commerce. But if you have some textured backdrops, like the ones sold by V Flat World, for example, you’re able to make fake countertops in walls that would also serve perfectly for product photography. All in all, you can print these brackets for free and for no more than an hour or so of your time, and a worthy tool to have in your bag if you do some product photography from time to time.
Photobox & Turn Table
If you’re looking for something a bit more elaborate (but admittedly a bit more limiting) I would highly recommend this 3D-printed corner swoop with a lazy Susan device to spin products. While this print is pretty large, it allows you to make 360° videos of various products (presuming they’re small) to which you can composite out the background to just about anything with ease. And if you don’t want to composite, the flat white design of this makes for a nice floating effect in the images and video.
Organization
Cable Winder
One of the inherently most unorganized parts of my personal studio is my cable management. To put it bluntly, I have cables strung around everywhere, with no practical labeling or organization done to any of them. I’m working to change that with these cablewinders. Again, a completely free print, these cable winders will allow you to wind cables up and store them in a more practical way without them getting tangled in a box somewhere. All of these winders are printed place, meaning they print as a single piece without the need to assemble and work exceptionally well for keeping your cables organized while keeping their footprint fairly small. I’ve printed dozens of these at this point, and have implemented them in just about all aspects of my life, even outside of my studio.
Memory Card Holders
As mentioned at the top of this article, we use 3d printing a lot here at LensRentals.com, but a lot of our uses are problem-solving packaging needs. One of the most common ways we do that is by shipping memory cards in small custom-designed cases, but there are a number of solutions available for your general consumers as well. The benefit of a 3d printed memory card holder is it can be branded for your company, and more importantly, can be designed to fit exactly what your needs may be – whether it’s 1 card or 8 cards. Of the memory card holders I looked through on some free databases, I think this one is the best functionally designed one, but if you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Studio Organization w/ Gridfinity
If you’ve had your 3d printer for more than a few days, you’ve probably heard of gridfinity by now. What gridfinity is, is a grid system that then allows you to stack boxes of any size you could imagine to help with organizing your studio or work space. The grid platform is 42mm in length and width, which makes it really easy to build custom storage solutions for your space. But really what makes gridfinity special, is the virtually unlimited storage options already built for the platform. Have a Pittsburgh-branded mallet, they have a storage box that fits this mallot perfectly. Additionally, virtually any storage solution can be altered to fit into the gridfinity platform. If you’ve got a 3d printer, and are looking to organize your life, gridfinity is your new obsession.
Converters & Mount Swaps
If you’re working with a few different brands of lighting equipment, having several speed rings for each brand can start getting expensive really quickly. So instead, 3D printing makes for a great solution to this problem with the help of converting rings. Much to my surprise, I haven’t seen a lot of these available on different free websites, so I designed and started selling my own – for the Bowens to Profoto mounting system. The general idea of these is simple though – it takes the mounting point for two different lights and combines them so that it works as a midpoint between your light and your modifier. The benefit is that you can quickly switch between modifiers and lights without having to swap out speed rings and other tools.
The Behemoth Camera Arm Mount
And finally, is a recommendation for only the most motivated and gifted 3d print enthusiasts – a monstrous Camera Arm Mount. Printed by YouTuber Alexandre Chappel, this camera arm system would cost well over 10,000 dollars if purchased, but it was intricately designed and built by Alexandre Chappel through the use of clever engineering and 3D printing. Perhaps even more impressively, Alexandre offers up the build designs and a list of all the parts needed on his website for only $20. That said, the printing process is going to take you a few days if running nonstop.
Those are just a few of my favorite prints. I found them when I started digging through the internet to find things to make with my 3D printer. Is there one you think I might have missed? Feel free to chime in with your recommendations in the comments below. And if you’re looking for a solution to fix your foldable V-Flats, I make and sell an option for those as well, on my Etsy store.
