Today, while doing a Medical product shoot in my studio (A.K.A. my newly cleared-out living room), I found myself needing a few more bean-bags to help counter-balance some light stands.
Not having the time to run down to the nearest photo-supply store (which is a 25-minute drive, each way) I needed to come up with a quick, inexpensive solution.
I visited my nearest Target store and found that they had nylon fanny-packs for $1.00 each. I picked up a half-dozen of these and returned home.
Seeing that they had the capacity of about a brick, I went outside my house a plucked a few bricks out of my yard. They fit perfectly.
I zipped up the fanny-pack with the brick inside, and checked the waist-strap to make sure it was secure, and gingerly placed the weighted bag onto the end of the boom-arm of the light-stand. Voila! No more tilting at windmills.
Now these bags are only made of nylon, so their long-term use as weight bags is questionable (the ballistic-nylon bags would be better, but I haven’t yet seen them for a buck ($ US Dollar American).
Plus, the straps and such aren’t built to support a lot of weight for a long time, so there’s another thing to be aware of.
If you lack any of the skills required in judging the either the applicability of the materials to the job, or the center-of-gravity of the accessories involved, make sure to contact a competent person to help. A falling brick can do some serious damage (and falling lights and stands have been also know to wreak some serious havoc and injuries).
Having said that, I just thought I’d share this story of what helped me in an emergency situation (with all liabilities taken into account, including, but not limited to, the fact that nobody else would be in the studio with me), and show how for $2.00 total for each weight, I was able to put off (for a short time) the purchase of some $20.00 bean-bags.
With a little competent ingenuity, the solutions are out there!