There will be times when you will be in the field without a camera. And, you will see the most glorious sunset or the most beautiful scene that you have ever witnessed. Don’t be bitter because you can’t record it. Sit down, drink it in, and enjoy it for what it is!
DeGriff
The best camera is the one you have with you. So I was trying to find ways to have my camera more easily available. Given that it is an X-T4 with a 27mm F2.8 pancake lens, it’s not exactly small, but not large either, I was looking into a bag for the belt. There are a few commercially available, but I was wondering wether a DIY version might fit better.
TL;DR: No it does not. Well, at least version 1 does not.
The idea started — as usual — with a couple of sketches, e.g., this one:
Which were turned into a pattern for cutting:
Cut out, it was rather easy to cut this pattern in different kinds of fabric:
The idea was to use Cordura as outer layer (not shown), followed by a latex sheet (blanket for wet games — don’t ask ;-)), some cushion foil from a delivery, and another Cordura layer for the inner layer. Yep, my sewing machine was not happy, esp. considering it had to go through a double layer of this material.
To aid with the folding of the material and to stitch the layers together, I started with sewing in the fold lines:
Trying to fold the pocket worked out well (left side out):
Before sewing the material together, I added the loops for the belt and velcro straps to keep the bag closed. I waited with sewing it on the flap, as I did not yet knew how it would fall when closed:
I also folded and did sew the borders of the bag:
With only the flap to be done, it seemed to work out:
And here the flap is done, with velcro on the inside to keep the bag closed:
The belt loops on the back work out well, I did measure the belt loops on the trousers beforehand:
But how does it work on the belt? Well, kinda clunky. It did turn out rather large, even a bit too large for the camera. I can put some cushioning material on the inside, but it clearly is not something for everyday wear.
Another problem, I had drawn the top flap as large as the body — well, that was a mistake. I was wondering why the bag was hard to close, yeah, noticed it when trying to fall asleep:
Yep, still a beginner. And in principle, it did work. Not sure about V2, perhaps a stretch version, perhaps again with cordura-latex-foam-cordura, perhaps with cuts for a thermal mat like the Twin Lens Bag, not sure.
Well, it was a good learning experience in any case.
