The camera drum mkII - construction (part 2) A watertight drum (or is it barrel?) is the ideal place to store your expensive camera during a canoe trip. But storing your camera gear loose in the drum is not wise. Everything clatters and shake up and so your expensive equipment will damage. You have to re-pack your gear in the drum. Wrapping it into some kind of protective material is a solution, but not user friendly if you also want to make pictures in the middle of the lake during paddling. This drum is going to be transferred into a super camera "bag" for the Olympus E-1, E-3 or the new E-5 with all associated lenses and other accessories. I made a study for other model drums than the one used for my "mkI" drum, because my camera drum "mkI" didn't had enough room, see The camera drum mkII - study (part 1). In this part I will give you instructions, tips how to construct your own camera drum together with pictures. It will show clearly how its put together and adapting for an other model or brand is not difficult. The first thing you have to do, also outlined in "The camera drum mkII - study (part 1)", is making the choice what you take with you during the trip. Everything have to be stored in the drum. Place the chosen items in a circle, not too tight together because of the protective material and you still have to take the items out of the drum for usage. Now you know the about diameter of the drum. Take the largest part and note down the length, the diameter or thickness and width. This part has to go through the opening (neck) of the drum. With this information you can go to the store (outdoor shops, naval stores, canoe shops) and you are going to look for a drum with the right size. Be sure that you can stow your new drum in the canoe! As an example; the maximum height in a Yoho II (Gatz canoes, Germany) with deck is just 30cm! The drums are white with a red lid, but you have also blue with a black lid, grey with a blue lid or totally grey. The white drums with a red lid are made by Curtec (www.curtec.com). The so called "total opening" drums are very suited for the purpose and the shown 17 litre model in the picture does have very handy dimensions. The height is including the lid, the usable height is 195mm. Technical data At the bottom ref.nr 00-6945 Diameter ± 338 mm. Total height ± 250mm. Maximum usable height ± 195 mm. Height to the "shoulder" ± 164 mm. Neck/opening ± 295 mm. I show you in this story how you can construct your own watertight camera drum with the above showed model. We're not there yet. We still need material for making the interior of the drum, or is it barrel? I have used the following; Evazote mat 9mm (3/8') thick (outdoor shops) Evazote mat 14mm (4.5/8') thick (outdoor shops) Evazote is a brand name from Zotefoams. Evazote is a closed cell cross-linked ethylene copolymer foam. Evazote foams are tougher and more resilient than Plastazote foams and are mainly used in a wide range of sports & leisure and footwear applications. Evazote foam is durable and resilient under repeated impact. Its colour is black/gray, its dense, it feels warm and because of its closed cells also very good for making a small sitting mat, you don't get wet knees or bottom. You NEED the 14mm for everything heavier than about 350 to 400 grams. A Zuiko 14-54mm or 50-200mm, 14mm mat. For the Zuiko 50mm macro, EC-14 or EX-25, 9mm is okay. If you have more pro gear you may even need the 18mm mat for shock absorbing, but you also need a drum which is higher. About two meters (34cm x Pi (= 3,14) = ± 107cm x 2 = ± 214cm.) self-adhesive Velcro (hook and loop) 2cm width (hobby shops, haberdashery shops) About one meter (34cm x Pi (= 3,14) = ± 107cm, but reed my remarks first) self-adhesive Velcro (hook and loop) 5cm width (hobby shops, haberdashery shops) Velcro, also called hook and loop, consist of two parts. If you can buy them separately its better to buy at least two meters of the "tooth or hook" part and stick it complete around at the bottom and just under the "shoulder" of the drum. Between these two rings you will have room for the 2cm width part. The smaller Velcro part of 2cm. width is coming off due to that the sides are tapered or conical towards the bottom of the drum. I'm not pleased with my first setup of my mkII drum layout with one ring of 5cm width and two rings of 2cm width Velcro. So its better to have about 2 meters of 5cm. width Velcro and just one meter of 2cm. width Velcro. These lengths are what you really need, so if you make a mess of it you need much more, on the other side, it won't cost you. Self-adhesive cloth tape or gaffer tape, it needs to be water and tear proof, colour preferable dark grey or black, 19mm width (Tesa, DIY shops). You need two to three packages for fixing the bottoms on the lens tubes and "first time" fixing of the tubes. Self-adhesive cloth tape or gaffer tape, it needs to be water and tear proof, colour preferable dark grey or black, 38mm width (Tesa, DIY shops). You need two to three packages for covering(?) the outside of the lens tubes. Self-adhesive cloth tape or gaffer tape, it needs to be water and tear proof, colour preferable dark grey or black, 50mm Width. One roll is 10 meter of the stuff, more than enough and its used for covering(?) the outsides of the bigger lens tubes. (Tesa, DIY shops). Next we need some tools for transferring our thoughts in real usable pieces of material and for cutting, trimming the materials. The only thing I bought was the knife to be sure that it was super sharp. During cutting the foam the knife becomes blunt, with a pair of small tongs/pliers you can break off (please wear safety glasses) the tip for the next piece of super sharp tip. I already owned the rest of the tools. A felt tipped pen or a fibre-tip pen with a strong point, not too wide and not too fine (breaking), permanent A pair of compasses for a normal pencil (green on the picture) A normal lead pencil A ruler, because of the size of the drum it has to be a 50cm. model made from steel (don't know if they exist in plastic.) A straight T-square, the longer the blade the better A marking gauge A measuring tape For this purpose I bought a knife with replaceable blades A very big, super sharp household pair of scissors. The interior of the drum starts with the fabrication of the lens tubes. But how do you make such things? First you need all the dimensions from all your lenses, these are diameter and length in millimetres (mm) and is including lens caps. Its far better to take your own measurements. The height of lens caps are never given in the specifications, but they are a part of the total length of your lens. With this design it turned out that it is very important to measure exact the dimensions of the 50-200mm lens if you want to close the drum watertight! The margin is just a few millimetres! As an example, the Olympus Zuiko Digital 50-200mm ED SWD lens has a diameter of 86.5mm and a total length of 157mm. The measured length with both lens caps is 183mm. With this information you can calculate how much material you need for the tube. Normally I add 5mm to the length of a tube, but in this case this is not possible because it won't fit in the drum. I had to cut off my extra 5mm when I was finished with this lens tube! With all other lenses (50mm, 14-54mm, 7-14mm, EC-14 or EX25) this isn't an issue an you can add 5 to 10mm to the length for better protection. The Evazote foam have to go around the lens. How do you calculate the length of the Evazote foam part? If you want to take out the lens from the lens tube you have to add some space. I added 10mm to the diameter of 86.5mm. I does do it just, better take 15mm. Next we have to add the thickness of the foam we want to use. For this lens I already pointed out that you need the 14mm mat. The calculation is done in this way; diameter 86.5mm + grip space 15mm + material thickness 14mm = 115.5mm, rounded 116mm. This result have to be multiplied with PI (  = 3,14 ) and this will result in 116mm x 3.14 = rounded 364mm. click image to enlarge We have to cut out a piece with the dimension 36.4cm x 18.3cm from the 14mm Evazote mat. Try to cut as accurate as possible, you don't have much margin with the 18.3cm. Always use a sharp (hobby)knife and be sure that you are allowed to cut in the underground, take a thick piece of cardboard. The cutting has to go very easy, be aware that you don't shoot out with the knife, therefore ALWAYS cut from you. Now cut three 19mm pieces of self-adhesive cloth tape with a length of 3cm. each. Stick them on the rim of the drum in a way that you can easy take them off when needed. Take the lens carefully and wrap the cut piece of Evazote mat around the lens. See to it that both ends bump against each other. Now stick one of the three pieces of tape over both ends near one side, an other piece on the other side and the third piece somewhere in the middle in such a way that the piece of Evazote mat is fixed. Cut a piece of the 38mm width self-adhesive tape with a length of 18cm. and stick it over the seam. Now you can remove the lens from the tube. Time to make a bottom for the tube. The bottom for this tube is only 9mm thick due to the lack of space in the drum. The bottom has a diameter of rounded 130mm. Draw the circle on Evazote mat with the pair of compasses for the normal pencil and trace it again with the felt tipped pen. If you find this difficult you can make a circle from cardboard and use it as a model. You can put the model on the mat and than draw the circle with the felt tipped pen. Now you can cut the circle, if this gives a problem you can cut a smaller piece from the mat and then draw the circle. Cut 4 pieces from the 19mm self-adhesive cloth tape with a length of 30cm. click image to enlarge The just cut circle is the bottom and it can be put on either end of the tube. Now stick the bottom on the tube permanently with the 4 pieces of tape by sticking them crosswise over the bottom, see the picture. Now you have to wrap round the complete tube with the 50mm width tape. Be careful, this tape is of a thinner quality and therefore less stiff than the other two. Stick the start of the tape on the rim of the drum and unroll a piece of tape, be careful that it is not going to twist, its very sticky and once together its very difficult to separate them again. Wrap round the complete tube and be sure that the rings of tape overlap. If you wish you can do it for a second time, there is plenty of tape. You can take the smaller tape of 38mm width if you have to cover the tubes for the smaller parts like the 50mm macro lens. Now proceed in the same way for every lens or teleconverter or extension tube. click image to enlarge I have been out now for a few times and the experience is that one layer of 50mm width tape is not stiff enough. After a few times getting the body out and back again in, the sides of the tape are going to curl or even turn loose. Not only on the end of the tube, but also somewhere in the middle. So you can put more layers on it or do what I did and that is putting on a layer of 38mm width tape. There is one advantage of the 50mm width tape, the surface is so smooth that the sticky clue is still "fresh" and when you tear it off there are no remains left behind of the sticky surface. click image to enlarge We have to make a "connection mat" for the longest lens because it can't stand under the "shoulder" of the drum. Between the tube and the side of the drum is a space which we have to fill. With the "connection mat" we can give sufficient support for the tube. Its made from a piece of 9mm Evazote mat and it measures 14cm long x 5,5cm width. On both sides we stick over the full length a piece of 5cm width Velcro (hook and loop). On the walls of the drum we stick the tooth or hook part of the Velcro. On the tubes we stick the loop part. On the "connection mat" we stick on one side a tooth or hook part and on the other side a loop part. On the tube you have to stick also a loop part of the same size as on the "connection mat". In the picture this part is circled in red. click image to enlarge click image to enlarge The bottom of the drum is in two pieces. Because the drum can be stacked the bottom has an smaller diameter then the drum itself. However this edge is not wide enough that we have to take care of it for all the parts which are going to be used inside the drum. Take the 9mm thick Evazote mat and cut a floor with a diameter of 27.5cm. You have to take the measuring tape because the bottom is not flat but a little curved. At first the floor won't follow the curved bottom. It will do so after some time. Until then we have to force it to curve with the bottom. You can do that with the aid of small pieces of 2cm width Velcro. Cut about twelve pieces and stick them evenly spaced on the bottom and the floor, but NOT under the place where the big lens tube is placed. Stick the floor on the bottom. After a few months the floor will be in shape and the pieces of Velcro can be removed, there are not needed anymore. Now we are going to make a second floor, this time its made from the 14mm thick Evazote mat. All equipment is on this floor except the long lens. It has to be 14mm because in the middle we have a heavy body on the floor and its only protection is the two floors and the space between the lens tubes and flash. The second floor does have a diameter of 30.0cm. Because of the different construction the part for the longest lens have to be cut away. Lay all bottoms in the drum and mount the largest lens tube as far as it goes with the "connection mat". Now draw with the pencil or the felt tipped pen the position of the large lens tube on the bottom. You have to draw a line around it. Take all items out the drum and cut the part of the lens tube. On the picture the second floor is marked red, notice the cut part for the lens tube. Now the bottoms and the lens tubes are ready. click image to enlarge But we are not there yet. If we take the drum and store the lens tubes with lenses in the drum then there is still a change that we damage the lenses or the body. So we have to fix the lens tubes to the wall of the drum. I used the Velcro to do just that. But things are a little complicated. The drum hasn't a straight wall, its tapered towards the bottom. I was unable to buy a Velcro which had some amount of flexibility to overcome the differences in diameter. So there is some work to do and do it with the sticky part still covered with the protective paper. There are two ways to do this job. One, you cut lots of small individual pieces. Downside of this approach is that they can come off easy. Second approach is to use a complete ring and cut small "V-shaped" parts on a regular basis in order to compensate for the differences in diameter. Downside of this approach is a lot of work and your pair of scissors might complain about the sticky clue. What you going to do is up to you. If you examine my picture close enough you can see that I started with two rings near the bottom made of 2cm width Velcro. Near the top of the drum I had mounted a ring made of 5cm width Velcro. But as you already know this wasn't the solution. The best way is to use as much 5cm Velcro as possible. I suggest you make a ring on the bottom and more on top made out of 5cm width Velcro. In the middle you can take or 5cm or 2cm width Velcro, depends on the available space. The middle ring is only for support of the smaller lens tubes. What you going to do depends also greatly on how you are going to arrange the tubes. Whatever you do, its best to put the hook or tooth part of the Velcro on the wall of the drum and the counter part on the lens tubes. Therefore you need a lot more hook or tooth parts. If you don't cut "V-shaped" parts you will get ridges. If so try to make as much ridges as possible so they are small. Before you are going to stick the Velcro in the drum, it might be wise to clean the drum thoroughly and be sure to degrease it. Next, there are no markings inside the drum. It might be difficult to line up a nice circle of Velcro. With a ruler and the felt tipped pen you can add dots on a regular basis. With those dots you can align the Velcro. The upside of the process is that it isn't super critical. A lens tube will also stick on a ridge. Now that's done we can take the lens tubes and give them a large part of the leftover loop parts of the Velcro. The reason for this approach is that dirt won't stick in the drum when we take a part in or out. The sticky tooth parts of the Velcro are all on the wall and we never reach there unless we have to. Are we done? No. click image to enlarge click image to enlarge click image to enlarge The next part depends greatly on how much you want to store in the drum. If it is about the same as I have you have a bit of juggling before everything is on its place. The body stays on its side in the middle of the drum with the grip up. The lensmount is pointing to the biggest lens tube. The back of the monitor rest against the hood. You can see an open space in the line up of lens tubes. That space is filled with the huge lens hood LH-70C from the 50-200mm lens and the FL36(R) in its own soft carrying case. To proceed with storing your stuff into the drum you have to go this way. First install the "connection mat" above the cut out space in the second floor mat. Now connect the lens tube to the "connection mat". Next, I'm left handed, don't know if it matters for next steps, may be you have to start on the left side. Greatly depends with what hand you hold the body and with what hand you put on the lenses. That hand will also pick the lens of your choice from the drum. On the right side I did mount the lens tube of the standard zoom lens. Press the lens tube firmly against the Velcro strips. On the right side of the biggest lens tube I have the lens tubes for the 50mm macro, the converter and then the extender. The lens tube for the converter is mounted higher because I created a space beneath it for storing less used parts. This is a Hoya set with two close-up lenses and the B&W filter. If all lens tubes are mounted in the drum you have an open space between the lens tubes. The huge lens hood LH-70C is placed next to the lens tube with the extender. The widest opening pointing up. In this lens hood you can store the lens hood of the macro lens. But before you do you have to make a lens tube for the hood of the macro lens without a bottom. Cover it with the 38mm width self-adhesive cloth tape. I used a piece of the 9mm thick Evazote mat. In this way you prevent damaging the inside of the LH-70C, its an expensive hood. See the picture. There is room for your flash between the huge lens hood and the lens tube of the standard zoom. There is some room left between the wall of the drum and the biggest lens tube because it is mounted on a "connection mat". There is enough space for the tripod collar from the 50-200 zoom lens. I choose to store it in the space between the lens tube for the 50-200mm lens and the lens tube for the standard zoom 14-54mm lens. Ring down and tripod mount up. I have stored a spare BLM-1 battery and the LBH-1 123 battery holder with 3 123-batteries on the side of the big lens tube and the lens tube for the 50mm macro. On top you can store a reasonable sized ballhead. The space between the extender and the converter is used for storing the IR-remote control. In the free space in the lens hoods I stored the omni-bouncer for the FL36(R) flash and a small Kaiser blower brush in a plastic bag. In the space between the hoods and the lens tube I have a package of lens tissues and a package with micro fibre cloth special for lenscleaning. Finally you can store the body in the middle. Everything is stored rattle free. Finally the test. Store everything in the drum, close the drum with the red lid and turn it tight. For my test I choose the waterside of a Swedish pond with clear water. Not too deep, I want to draw up the drum if it would go all the way to the bottom of the lake! I dropped the drum with gear into the water wildly, silently say a few prayers. Wildly because this will happen with accidents. The drum submerged, but comes to the surface and stays there. It is floating under an angle, about one third under water, two thirds above water. That it will float under an angle has to do with the heavy lenses on one side. Tips When not in use its tempting to leave the body and the lenses in the drum. Leaving in the drum is an option, but closing is strictly forbidden. When the drum is closed there is no air circulation and moisture can't vaporize. The latter is responsible for fungus, you won't notice first time, but after some time your pictures become blurred and the lens coatings are affected. The contents of the drum must be able to breath. So setting it away, lid off and leave it all open. You can also put some small beams between drum and lid. In this way air can flow but no parts can fall into the drum and damage your gear. But best practice is still to store the drum totally empty and store the gear in a closet. Once on the spot were you take your picture you have your mind with that one, may be unique, shot. So its not unthinkable that you forgot where you left the lid. This sounds odd, but in Sweden its not unthinkable that you can't find your drum due to the vegetation. Also the lid has not enough weight to stay on its place and can be picked up by the wind. Because we are on the waterside the lid might get into the water. Notwithstanding the red colour of the lid, it might be hard to find it or spot it when its in the water. On the drum there is a small hole for a rope and you can find several holes in the lid special for this purpose. With a nylon rope with the right diameter and length!, after mounting you must still have the ability to open and close the drum, you can prevent that the lid may be separated from the drum. The lid can't go more away then the length of the rope. Webmaster: Joop Nijenhuis (remove the digits for a working address) This page is made in eComStation® with WebWriter/2 v1.2 - Copyright© 2005-2011 Joop Nijenhuis Above mentioned text and pictures/photos may not be altered, multiplied, used for commercial purposes or used without written permission from the author. Print this page