This old dog has a new trick.
One of the biggest and most consistent frustrations I have with bird photography is finding birds on the “wrong side” (the passenger side) of my pickup. There’s a console between me and the passenger seat so I can’t scooch over to shoot out that window and I often either can’t or shouldn’t turn my pickup around because of one-way roads, extremely narrow roads, no roads or traffic. Besides, birds have a nasty habit of not waiting for “turnarounds”.
And my lens/camera/teleconverter combination weighs nearly 11 pounds so if I stopped, got out and walked around my pickup, it’s too large and heavy for me to handhold and get acceptable results. So typically, when I find birds on that side of my pickup, I just have to ignore them and drive on by, which makes me bonkers.
But recently, after more than 14 years of photographing birds, I finally realized that I had the beginnings of a solution to my problem built right into my pickup.
It’s called a stake pocket. Most (all?) pickups have them and I have four of them, one near each of the four corners of my pickup bed rails. My stake pockets have covers but…
the covers are easily removed.
So here’s my homemade solution, sitting on my table saw extension. Most accurately it should be called a “stake pocket lens support” but for now I’m simply calling it my gadget (probably a result of all the recent publicity surrounding Robert Oppenheimer and his “gadget”.)
It consists of a horizontal bar made of 3 parts – a wood dowel that’s 28″ long and 1″ in diameter, a supporting wood block that the dowel is glued into and a ‘lens stop’ glued and screwed to the other end of the dowel. The other component of my gadget is the vertical stem that fits into any of the four stake pockets on my pickup. The vertical stem has a short 3/4″ diameter oak dowel that fits into a hole drilled into the bottom of the wood block.
Here’s the entire gadget assembled on my table saw. The hole at the bottom of the vertical stem is superfluous and not a problem.
In this photo the vertical stem is installed into the right rear stake pocket of my pickup, where it fits tightly and very securely. The vertical stem will probably be mounted here semi-permanently. When I’m not photographing birds, I’ll just keep the horizontal bar in the cab of my pickup.
When I arrive at a birding location I’ll…
mount the horizontal bar to the vertical stem and leave it there all morning, so it’s readily available when I need it. The horizontal bar, the actual lens rest, freely rotates 360° (a little bee’s wax rubbed onto the short oak dowel ensures that it rotates freely) but I’ll only need about a third of that amount of rotation.
It’s at just the right height for me to use as a lens rest and its rotation allows me to shoot at a variety of angles. I actually have more freedom that way than I would if I was shooting out my window from inside my pickup.
Note: In this photo I’m actually using the prototype I built of the gadget. In that version the dowel of the horizontal bar was only 3/4″ in diameter, which had a little too much flex in it. In the final version, that dowel is 1″ in diameter which solved the problem.
So far I’ve only used the gadget in the field on one morning but on that morning it allowed me to get many photos I’d have been unable to get otherwise – including the photo of the American Avocet chick I posted two days ago.
I may not need the gadget every day but on those occasions when I do, I really, really need it. It’s that, or just drive right on by.
Ron
Oppenheimer would say you exercised the nuclear option.
🙂
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but, my dear “Old Dog,” you’re the father. 😉 Kudos on such an elegant solution!
Loved your first sentence, Marty. Still smiling, big ear to big ear.
And thanks for informing me that I have a child with Necessity. I don’t even remember her but I’ll bet she was a looker…
😂😂😂
Great invention, thanks for sharing! May be one of those in my future! Really appreciate all the little tips & ideas you share from time to time, mixed in with the great bird photos.
Thank you, Quentin. I appreciate all that you said.
Congrats on a clever improvisation!
I’ve gotten into fairly serious flying bird photography having acquired a Sony A1 and the Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II lens that focuses very fast and very accurately on flying birds.
For static birds I have and strongly recommend a much under-rated camera that is much lighter than the rig you are using and has absolutely incredibly good optics and ultra long telephoto and fabulous image stabilization-… namely the Nikon P1000, which zooms from 25mm to 3,000mm optical, and up to 12,000mm digital.
I wish your comments section would allow posting of photos… I plan to email you photos I have taken hand held at long telephotos ranging from 2000 to 3000mm with the Nikon P1000. If you have not already tried a P1000, you could always try one with 30 day return available. I think you might like it. .
Thanks for the suggestions and the photos, Bob. But, long story short, I won’t be changing lenses, or cameras or camera brands anytime soon. For a variety of reasons.
Kudos for pointing out the benefits of the P1000 which is the camera I use. I don’t have the funds for the equipment needed to catch birds in flight, but as you pointed out, this camera has incredible zoom capabilities and I also use it “hand-held” most of the time. I bought a tripod for it several years ago but still haven’t taken it out of the case it came in. LOL
Good Job!
Thanks.
SO creative! Bravo Ron! Like the paint job to match the truck – adds a level of professionalism to your new gadget. This is a VERY distant cousin from the pool noodle. The joy this gadget will bring you as you capture all the previously unattainable bird shots from the passenger side of the truck. Can see you smiling!
Kathleen, thanks for noticing the paint color. It doesn’t really match my pickup but it matches the wooden storage box in the back that I built nearly 30 years ago. Since I made the box out of wood I thought I’d be lucky if it lasted much more than 5 years or so but all I had to do to make it last this long was repaint it, twice. In all those years.
Yes, it’s ready for another paint job – especially on the top.
30 years for a wood box that is outdoors?!!!! That is some enviable skill 🙂
My dad went to carpentry school on the GI Bill. Most of what I know about carpentry I learned from him.
I believe you have civil engineering skills along with all your other skills.
Take Care,
Kaye
Kaye, I have a friend, Wayne Kinder, who’s a civil engineer. In college I marveled (and trembled) at all the advanced math classes he had to take. I actually thought of him, and that, while I was doing all the “figuring” required for this project. It’s more complex than it might look like it is.
Brilliant!!!
Perhaps a length of pool noodle to finish off the horizontal dowel?
Michael, I considered that possibility and actually tried it. But the thickness of the noodle makes the lens rest a little higher than ideal.
Fewer bonkers moments. Excellent!
That’s the plan, Pat. But then there’s that “of mice and men” thing…
Good one, Ron. A longtime problem solved!
Thanks, Kathryn. Solved or mostly solved. With bird photography there are seldom perfect solutions but so far I think this one’s pretty damned good.
Ron, I am a birder with a big scope on a tripod. There is something else you may consider if you haven’t already. My Tundra pickkup has an aftermarket “step” that folds out from under the rear bumper corner, allowing me to open the tailgate, step on the step and up into the truck bed with ease with my scope/tripod in the other hand. From standing in the bed, or sitting on the side of the bed, it is amazing how much that extra 3 feet or so of height above the ground improves your view, especially when looking out over a marsh, pond edge or field. You can see “down” into the grasses and reeds and get better views of what is out there.
Gary, I have a similar step built into my tailgate at the factory. But usually I prefer not to have that elevation because I don’t like steep shooting angles. Although I suppose there are times when it would be useful.
Wow, you can teach old dogs new tricks. You are not only a gifted biologist and photographer, you are an inventor, innovator, and outside the box thinker. Excellent work Ron and thanks for sharing with your many fans.
None of my bird photo locations have access for motor vehicles so everything I do is on foot and fortunately at 85 I can still do it although a little tiring sometimes especially in this high summer heat.
Thanks, Everett. Even if I could walk for long distances carrying my gear, my lens combo is just too heavy and awkward to handhold and get acceptable results. I love my lens in every way except for that.
What a clever way to reduce/eliminate something which must have caused IMMENSE frustration over the years.
Well done.
Thanks, EC. The frustrations were indeed immense.
It makes me a little nervous when you comment at this time of day from Australia. I hope all is well. Or at least well enough.
Voluntary work has me up well after my bed time.
A new medical challenge to face as well. But I am fine – no need to worry.
And I am going to bed now. And hope to sleep well after sparrow fart. I doubt it (I am a creature of habit).
“Sparrow fart” – 😍
I’m SO IMPRESSED ! Never let it be said that you’re “just a pretty face” ( or
“just a genius bird photographer”, for that matter ) this old dog has guaranteed
himself many more successful trips to the field….congratulations on ingenuity
and resourceful git up and go………
“Never let it be said that you’re “just a pretty face””
I laughed out loud at that one, Kris. Not a chance of that ever happening..
I like the elegant simplicity of the gadget. As I was reading, I initially thought making it out of aluminum would be stronger and wear less, but wood probably provides a better (softer) surface to rest the lens, plus aluminum would be difficult for cold (or hot) days and hand contact. Excellent gadget!
Duane, a friend and neighbor suggested aluminum instead of a wood dowel but this works just fine and I’m far more comfortable working with wood. With wood, for me, mistakes are more easily and cheaply correctable and “mistake” is my middle name…
Fantastic idea! Ingenious, Though I’d have to get a pickup to go with the gadget 😁
Joanne, I’ve been wondering if a little bit of creative ingenuity would allow folks driving at least some types of vehicles other than pickups to adapt the gadget to their own vehicles. I dunno, haven’t given it a lot of thought.
Always great to realize our brains can come up with a great solution, even if it takes a year!
A year or years is a helluva lot better than never. Thanks, Brett.
Excellent! A nagging problem solved with some thought and woodworking skills…….:) No way could one hold that lens still even after lifting it(me anyway)! 😉 Stake pockets are VERY handy things…….
Every farmer knows about stake pockets and their potential usefulness. Thanks, Judy.
Brilliant !!
Thanks, Trish. It would have been more brilliant if I’d thought of it years ago.
Very resourceful you are! Congrats!
Thanks, Terri. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.