OK ladies not sure how many can answer this.
I have one of those monster type DSLR camera's. It doesn't have the Mondo lens that are 30 feet looooong, but it's heavy and bulky like them. How can I carry this and wear my noble garb. The fur is tiring enough on my arms and carring a basket around would get more tiring and old (I once carried a small wooden shield for one of my boys one year and that was bad enough) Any idea's? If I went in wench wear, Toki would make me a nice leather pouch for it. As a Tudor noble a pouch purse would not look right and having it on a leather belt would detrack too. Any ideas.
(http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/PanasonicFZ30/images/3q-001.jpg)
my camera
How about having a drawstring pouch made to match your gown. The inside could be lined witha sturdy material to hold your camera and the outside could be made of the same velvet to match your gown. I just had one made for my new court gown, and it works great for my coin purse and digital camera.
I do have a black pouch with a tudor rose on it, but it's WAY to small for this beast. Most bags are sadly to say. Besides then what do you carry it on. Wearing a leather belt would not look right, and the rope one that matches my dress that is hidden under my normal girdle belt isn't strong enough.
what if you had a pocket built into your gown? you could wear a pouch made of leather or whatever you needed to on a belt under one of your skirts either your velvet over skirt or through both that and then underskirt, it may work... but it depends on how far in the zoom goes... and which way you point it... but I think it would work... I think...
On the days I take my camera I also take my basket. It's the only way I have found to keep it safe.
That looks to be about the same size as my camera. Unfortunately, it is simply too bulky and heavy for a pouch. I've found no alternative to carrying it in a basket other than slinging the strap over my shoulder so that the camera hangs under my arm and pretending that it isn't there.
I don't have any good pictures, but this is what I did.
I bought a wicker basket from Michaels or Joanns or some store like that, padded the bottom of it with scrap fabric, and tacked another piece of scrap fabric on the inside with enough on one side to cover the top. Then I hung it from my belt with a curtain tie back from Target. (the twisted cord ones) Works really well and you can't tell I have my dslr there.
Here is one of LadieDragons pictures from RenDezvous last year where you can kind of see it. http://www.rensites.com/ladiedragon/mnrf07/wk3/DSC02547.JPG.html
Not sure how you would attach it to a non-leather belt, but i think if you had a chain one it would still hold it up and match noble garb better.
I say get a nice basket, fill it with all your needs and have a servant carry it for you:) After all, you are a noble!
Sealion has a good point about a pouch. A few years ago I made a leather pouch for my DSLR, but the leather was too thin and didn't adequately support the camera hanging from my belt. Over the winter I drew up plans for a new one. The dimensions came out to be 5 1/2" h x 8 1/2" l x 4 1/4" d for the camera and accessories, and 5 1/2" h x 6" l x 4 1/4" d for just the camera. Way too bulky to hang off a belt. But if a strap were put on the pouch it might still be possible.
*peals of laughter ring through the Shadow's Hold* Ooops, sorry.
Lady de Laney, when I interviewed Susi Matthews Cannon of Queen's Gambit, we talked a bit about a custom musical instrument bag business that she has started. Susi is a costumer who strives for historical accuracy and makes her own garb when she plays the Queen at several midwest faires. She's considering whether to create a bag which could be used for cameras and I thought you two might be able to work together to mutual benefit. I was going to send all this as a private message but ....
When I went to look up the website, I got so tickled that I just had to share part of their "Care and Cleaning Policy."
QuoteCare and Cleaning
With normal wear and tear your FiddlyBag should last for years, however...
We are not responsible for damage to bags which:
have been run over by car, truck, RV or bicycle
have been used to carry animals or carried around by animals
have been used in a Drench-a-Wench tank,
were used as a weapon during an SCA war
were involved in a custody fight over instruments or in a band break-up
used for harvesting garden produce
used for hauling rock to build a fire pit
We are not responsible for damage to bags that have been:
used to carry a rennie's entire earthly possessions,
burned in a campfire or any other fire
struck by lightning
carried away in a flood
We are not responsible for acts of gods, for mood swings of band members nor for the behavior of entertainment directors.
They then go on to provide their recommendations for cleaning the bags. Moderators, please feel free to delete this if it is too far out of the way. Sorry, I'm just easily amused. The website is Fiddlybags.com
I made a pouch that matches my lords garb....so we have the camera in a nice fabric pouch, and he carries it so I don't have to figure out how to strap it to my girdle.
Lady D is your bodice and over skirt separate? If so, you could put on a leather belt before you put on the bodice and hide it under the bodice. My wife does this for everything. She then has hangers that just come out from under her bodice and hang over the over skirt that she attaches things to like her cup, fan, timepiece, etc... It works very well and allows a great deal of flexibility. The girdle can then simply hang and not be an interference with the belt. You can see how it works in this picture of us.
(http://inlinethumb36.webshots.com/38499/2664734570096550113S600x600Q85.jpg)
No my dress while it has an under skirt, the over part is a complete dress. Which is the way the Tudor fashions work. If I put on a leather belt it would be hidden by my over dress, but there is only the small triangle shape in the front and anything sticking out there would look quite funny and wrong, not to mention be in my way.
The first time I wore this dress to fair I tried to safetypin my pounches, and fan to my girdle belt. Sdaly I broke my belt. I managed to repair it. Next time I got a piece of cord that natches my dress and is about 1/4+ in diamater. Toki tied it in the back in a decorative knot and then we attach my fan, and small coin pouches and "tudor rose" pouch and parasol (if needed) to the cord. My girdle belt lies over the colored cord so to hide it. If I were to carry my camera in a leather pouch, I'm afraid it would nhot look right and look like I am carring everything with me.
I would hope that Toki would carry it on him, but I guess he's not feeling very chivilrous to do that. :(
I guess I may have to carry a basket :( Or not dress noble. Toki is telling me to dress in my old wench outfit if I want my camera :( PHOOEY on that, I'm a Queen! LOL
Is there something you can bribe Toki with to carry the camera?
Let's see.
I could with hold his kisses. Make him sleep in the spare bed, not fix his lunch or cook his meals, not scratch his back.
I have the very same problem, a big Sony SLR camera that won't fit into anything and it's heavy.
Most of the time I just sling it over my shoulder and carry it and like Sealion does and try to pretend it's not there.
I plan on buying a more slimmer, compact digital camera at some point so that I can fit it into my pockets that I have sewn in practically every piece of garb I have.
But a basket is probably the best solution for now as you really don't want those big heavy cameras hanging off your belt, it will really hurt your back.
well if you're fairly rememberful you could shove it in a basket and then stick it behind your skirts for pictures, or under your skirts they are voluminous with hoops..
Ah, I wish I had your problem. I'm stucky with my small, shiny (read cheap, crappy) camera for now. So far, to me it seems like your best bets would be to a) ignore it, b) find an appropriate leather shoulder bag or c) hire a servant/ bribe Toki. =)
I wouldn't trust an SLR to anything that wasn't designed to hold its weight. Perhaps an ordinary SLR bag covered in matching fabric?
I'm planning on getting some type of heavy-duty leather messenger type bag and just not go period, because it'll put too much weight on my belt and I've yet to find any hard leather pouches that are large enough. Thankfully, being a cross between a gypsy, wench, and a wanderer, I can pull off having things outside the norm with my garb.
A friend of mine, Lady Stalkwell, gave me a great pointer during Scarby. Should you use a camera bag specific to SLRs or the like, a smart thing to do would be to take off anything that shows the brand of camera bag (Lowerpro, Case Logic) as it's a shiny beacon to any passing theives.
Lady Delaney, hi!
(Your new gown is stunning, BTW!) Drop me a line via my regular email address. I think I have a bit of very sturdy gold and burgundy upholstery fabric that matches your gown *perfectly* that I could fashion into a bag for you. I just need you to send me your mailing addy and I'll get that right out to you as soon as I hear from you. :-)
We also have one of those "monster" DSLRs. :) But we decided that it's just too much weight and worry keeping it safe, so we simply invested in a couple of compact digital cameras (one for me and one for hubby to carry). Even in their protective cases, they easily fit into a pouch on our belts.
The problem with the little digital cameras, they in no way can take the pictures a consumer-pro or pro DSLR can do. This weekend was a great example of that with Toki and I heading to Cheyenne Frontier days. The pictures I got from the day are fantastic (Not in my words but others who saw them already what I took) I managed to take over 600 shots most from the rodeo and Native American village and their spectacular costumes of brilliant vibrant colors and capturing them in sequances (both dancers and rodeo). The rodeo I was easily 100+ yards away and you can see expressions on the crowds faces as well as the dust flying from the bulls, bronces, steers, and everything. I have tried two other digital cameras (non-DSLR's) while mine was in the shop and for some reason I just could not get the pictures with those that compare to my DSLR. I am working to get them on my web site and posted ASAP but when you are sorting over 600 pictures, it's not easy.
I will gladly carry my DSLR even if it means the weight.
How about covering your camera strap with a complimentary fabric, and fashioning a bag attached to the strap to cover the camera? Could even make slits in bag for the lens, view screen and buttons, and buttons, or velcro flaps over them. If you attached everything to your current strap, you wouldn't have to worry about it being strong enough. Or a shawl to cover current set-up.
I have an SLR too (Nikon D-70) and being garbed as a warrior I've yet to come up with any ideas of how to conceal it. More often than not, I just don't carry it at all... which is a drag, 'cause I'd really like to take more pictures!
I know that it may not be appropriate to state this but since cameras weren't around back then you may as well just carry it the bag that you normally carry it in if you are wanting to take photos while at faire. I do agree that if you have the means to cover the bag with fabric or something to match your garb and it matters to you then do it. otherwise for the protection of your camera use the proper carrying bag for it.
There must be a bag of some sort like a shoulder bag style thing that people carried stuff in back then? The belt pouches seem to flat for anything but maybe a wallet.
I have been wondering how to conceal gadgets myself - though in Monk attire I think I could just hide it all under my robe ( though getting it back out without having to yank my robe up to my hips to reach my pockets might be an issue..)
My husband's monk robe had an opening in each side seam so he could reach through to his jeans pockets. Easy to do, even if you purchase your robe, just open the side seams a little and whip the open side down inside like you would a hem.
Quote from: CountessofPhoenix on July 30, 2008, 04:06:30 PM
How about covering your camera strap with a complimentary fabric, and fashioning a bag attached to the strap to cover the camera? Could even make slits in bag for the lens, view screen and buttons, and buttons, or velcro flaps over them. If you attached everything to your current strap, you wouldn't have to worry about it being strong enough. Or a shawl to cover current set-up.
This seems to me to be the best idea yet. It shouldn't be too difficult to cover the strap. Doing a custom cover for the case may be more challenging, but definately worth the trouble.