bean bags

[sleipnerofasgard]

anyone have any advice on where to get them,have been looking for a while and haven't had any luck

[BillyPilgrim]

A Google search brings plenty up but they seemed a bit pricey to me so I got a cheap one from ebay. It cost about £6. Only snag being that it was filled with polystyrene beans and I'm sure it would have blown away if it had got caught in the mildest of breezes

So I went down to Aldi and bought a couple of bags of dried split peas - total cost about 78 pence - refilled it and the job was a good 'un

[GerryNick2]

Several suppliers about but a bit expensive, Wildlife Watching Supplies £21+ for a double, Smart Images £15 for a single. This is for the cover only and you fill them yourself with lentils,bird seed etc.I use polysterene balls for lightness, a bag filled with bird seed can weigh 3Kg.

We make our own, just purchased a piece of material,velcro and bag of polysterene balls.My better half sews up the material to make a small pillow case the opening is then closed with velcro and I fill with the poly. balls etc.The beauty of this is that they are cheap and you can make a range of sizes to suit different needs.

Gerry

[John D]

Agree Nick. I have two 'home made ones', one large the other smaller. Cost very little time and 'pennies' to make and they do the job very well. I have beans in both of mine but have thought of trying polystyrene beads as it would be a bit lighter to carry around.
I mostly use a monopod so the bean bag is just a 'back up'.
John D

[big bill]

Why pay the exhorbitant price for a bean bag apiece of material filled with beans and sold at rediculous prices because it carries the TAG PHOTOGRAPHIC make your own from a waste piece of material then fill it with dried peas or lentils price £1.00 better than the price at the photo shops

[ron1863]

Originally Posted by big bill

Why pay the exhorbitant price for a bean bag apiece of material filled with beans and sold at rediculous prices because it carries the TAG PHOTOGRAPHIC make your own from a waste piece of material then fill it with dried peas or lentils price £1.00 better than the price at the photo shops

Great point, some shops sell medium size bags for £25 - without the beans.

[mh68]

A cheap pair of DPM waterproof trousers from the likes of Ebay are ideal for making beanbags, just cut the legs into the desired lengths.You could make a few bags of varying sizes eg single or double beanbags for different size lenses, or make spares for very little cost. One thing to bear in mind is that if you dont use waterproof material, and fill the bag with dried beans or similar, is that if the bag gets wet, the beans will either swell and burst the bag, or rot after becoming damp.

Mark H

[peterjclarke]

I use a beanbag with a floating hide so it gets quite wet sometimes. Anything organic would swell up and go mouldy pretty quickly so I use polypropylene granules (plastic pellets). This is recommended by Niall Benvie and they are of medium weight so you get a pretty light weight bag compared to using a material like rice and gives a pretty stable camera support compared to polystyrene balls. If there is a plastic factory nearby then this would be your easiest way of getting some as most on the internet are bulk buys (industry useage quantities).