lighting cage with CAMVATE clamps and arms

[rjlittlefield]

I have recently been watching a lot of Allan Walls Photography on YouTube (some links below).

One series that particularly interested me was about his lighting cage, which is basically a cube of rigid plastic pipe to which one can attach lots of other stuff using small clamps and articulating arms.

The clamps were of a design and brand that I had not known about. They looked pretty spiffy, and Allan's manipulations of them were convincing, so I bought a sample and tried them out. They far exceeded my expectations, so I bought a bunch more of them and built a cage to fit around my existing high-mag platform.

Cutting to the chase, here is what I'm now using:



The above setup is pretty much as it was for my recent knotted-hair post, except that I've removed the camera and focus block and swapped in a gray background panel for clarity.


Here is a closer shot that shows all the key bits.



The cage itself is made of Schedule 40 PVC pipe, nominal 1/2" inside, actual 0.85" outside, fastened together with standard PVC elbows. I've painted it black for esthetics, using an extraordinarily tough paint.

The clamps are CAMVATE brand "Super Clamp". They have a lot of mounting holes, mostly 1/4" x 20tpi, and they have plastic-lined jaws that hold really well on the pipe.

Into each clamp I screw typically a CAMVATE 11" Magic Arm, to which I've added a clamping cold shoe.

Then into the cold shoe I clamp either a flash unit or a DIY adapter that consists of a piece of 3/4" x 1/16" flat aluminum, epoxied to a 1/4" bolt, with a nylon wingnut added for locking. The adapter, in turn, lets me easily attach other things that have a 1/4" thread, either naturally like that small camera, or added like those Jansjö LED heads with the nuts and wire lashing epoxied to them, or the hemispherical diffuser with a 1/4" nut glued to it.

The picture also shows a couple of flexible arms, to which I've epoxied 1/4" bolts so they screw directly into the clamps. Those are held rigidly in place with locking thumbnuts.

The Jansjö lamps used to be the desktop model, with the heavy weighted base. I've replaced the base with yet another 1/4" bolt, which is screwed loosely into a clamp to keep it in place while also allowing it to rotate freely as needed to align the cold-shoe adapter. (Sadly, Jansjö lamps are no longer available. I bought these several years ago.)

Following is a closer view of some of the adapters:




And a closer view of a modified Jansjö (shot by the camera shown in the second image):




One last detail, which I overlooked initially, are these 1/2" spacers that hold the bottom pipes above the large plywood base. The extra space gives a lot more options for placing the clamps. In Allan'sYouTube videos, space is provided by the elegant plastic conduit clamps that he used. I could not get that style of clamps, so I used simple metal straps instead, only to discover in use that the extra space really does matter!



Providing some links for future reference...

• Allan Walls Photography, YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3N1Bv ... 3SSthhzReA
• videos specifically about the cage:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhHSUc3PoH8 The DIY Macro Photography Light Cage - Part 1 - Making It
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jUC1eJduDc Macro Lighting Cage II - let there be light
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKLSS4uX4_Y The Macro Lighting Cage - Part 3 - Continuous Lighting
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU1bLj3Rb_E The Macro Lighting - Part 4 - Speed-Lighting
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW6Z9P5m42I Macro Cage Adaptations - for high magnification focus stacking
• CAMVATE Super Clamp with screw converter -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWTL7LC
• CAMVATE Super Clamp with ballhead (bundle) -- https://www.amazon.com/CAMVATE-Super-Cl ... B01N20RT82
• CAMVATE 11 inch Adjustable Articulating Friction Magic Arm -- https://www.amazon.com/CAMVATE-Articula ... B06XRHN5HX
• gooseneck arms with alligator clips (non-magnetic bases) -- https://www.amazon.com/Gooseneck-Alliga ... XH3JT?th=1
• clamping cold shoe adapters: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154864355072
• Rust-Oleum "Universal Advanced Formula paint & primer in one" (245198 flat black) -- https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-24519 ... B0016HLAGE

Miscellaneous observations...

1) If you buy any of these, be sure to check the orientation of the thin black locking thumbnuts. The big flat side comes with a rubber coating, and in all my units that coating was oriented to face the end of the screw. The rubber coating may seem like an aid to holding things together, but it's not. What happens in that orientation is that the rubber prevents properly tightening the nut, so that the nut and whatever it engages end up rotating together on the screw. Simply flipping the nut over, so the contact is metal against metal, with the rubber touching nothing at all, allows the nut to tighten properly so everything stays locked in position.

2) I also have a set of Noga arms in several sizes, like the ones described HERE. Compared to the Noga's, magnetically clamped to a steel base, this plastic cage with CAMVATE clamps and arms is much less rigid. However, the cage and clamps is rigid enough, and it gives a lot more options for fastening things, and the CAMVATE stuff is so cheap that everything you see in this post is about the price of one large Noga arm. I have shot only a few setups with this new equipment, but at the moment I'm liking it a lot. I'll let you know if that changes.

3) Allan's videos suggest to not paint the pipe, noting that paint flakes off and the natural white color does not present any functional issues. As mentioned, I did paint the pipe, for reasons of personal esthetics -- this thing will be kept out all the time and I have lots of painful associations with white PVC pipe due to working on underground sprinkler systems. So, I read the paint labels carefully and tested on samples before painting the real cage. This particular paint seems to play very nicely with PVC. Even isolated droplets cannot be dislodged, and actively scraping through a solid paint layer leaves a clean margin that has no tendency to peel or chip. The stuff is not very resistant to solvents, however, so for example I will not be wiping it down with ethyl alcohol.

4) For size, I tweaked Allan's suggestion to fit my space better. He suggests a 20" cube; I shrank it down to 16x18x20, same height but 4" narrower.

--Rik

[soldevilla]

An elegant solution, very easy to build. You've already told me what my next DIY project is going to be. I anticipate that next year I will have a lot of close-up photography work.

[JW]

Very nice Rik. I am thinking of something similar but with extruded aluminum bar with predrilled 1/4-20 holes every 1", allowing for bolting of stuff to the frame in addition to using clamps. Depending on my energy level this summer may get to it, as the photo rig is moving to a new location anyway.

[dy5]

Rik - Thanks for all the info on your cage. Looks great, highly practical. As others have noted, your post has stimulated plans to build something like it (maybe with 10-series t-slot for added rigidity/stability, but expensive). Thanks, too, for the link to the Allan Walls videos - quite extensive, and he seems highly experienced and knowledgeable.
Cheers, David

[Macro_Cosmos]

Good idea to position those flimsy Jansjö lights with adjustable arms. I would suggest high-ish CRI (95%) LEDs mounted on a heatsink with current dimming. 5W is very bright already.
A shame to hear the discontinuation of those lights, they are still sold in China though, the mains outlet powered ones with a beefy clamp. About $15 each.

[rjlittlefield]

Thanks for the interest and feedback. I hasten to point out that I have cribbed shamelessly off other people's ideas, particular those videos by Allan. The use of stiffer material for the cage is a good option to pursue. I will be very interested to see what you come up with, and I'm quite sure Allan will be also.

--Rik

[AlisonP]

Very nice cage, Rik. Thanks for the good explanation and links. I purchased those clamps and arms some time ago and am very happy with them.

Do you have a post somewhere where you detail all of the pieces of your specimen holder, with links? I need to make a better setup than I have been using.

Many thanks for all you do!

[dy5]

Something of a progress report: working from Rick's basic design and JW's comment, I've been experimenting with aluminum t-slot rails in place of the PVC pipe. The cages are fussier to build and more expensive, but add rigidity, especially if you use corner plates to reinforce the joints.

These rails https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087PWGBM7?ps ... ct_details and associated hardware are less expensive than the 80/20 counterparts, are good quality, and are a reasonable size. The major expense is in the connectors, plates, etc., rather than the rails themselves. Although it's not a big problem, these are metric so adapters will be necessary in some cases. Many clamp types work fine on the rails. In addition, I've been trying 1/4-20 studs on the t-nuts and also mounting 'cheese plates' to the rails. Both provide strong anchors for arms and lights and can slide along the rails for repositioning. If folks are interested, I can provide more details and photos as the project matures.

Bottom line so far: for many applications, Rik's PVC pipe design is likely to make more sense in terms of simplicity and cost. The t-slot rails do add rigidity and strength plus provide very solid anchor points for attaching lights, etc.

Cheers, David

[AlisonP]

Hi David, I for one am very interested in learning more about the details of what you are doing and links for the parts you are using, as I am in the process of planning a “cage” of sorts and was planning to use t-slots instead of PVC pipe. If you would be so kind as to post some of the links for parts before your project is completed that would be most appreciated. Especially since I think these projects may never be “completed,” as I think we are always looking for tweaks and improvements.

My subjects are not bugs, but Myxomycetes (slime molds), which are tiny (1-2mm tall) organisms somewhat like tiny mushrooms. Sometimes I have them on a leaf, sometimes on a tiny twig, but also sometimes on larger stiff branches, so my setup needs to be able to handle specimens/substrates in a broad range of sizes.

[dy5]

Alison - Sure, happy to do that. It'll be sometime in the next week or two. And you're right about 'completed.' A concept that I still struggle with is 'good enough.'

Cheers, David

[rjlittlefield]

Alison, thanks for the kind words.

The rest of my setup is described at https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40703 . The thread starts with the positioning stack, then the table and post are described near the bottom of the first page, HERE.

That thread shows optics that are mounted on hard tubes, which is a little misleading in that usually my optics are mounted on a modified Olympus bellows. That lets me switch back and forth between infinite and finite, while keeping the same subject centering -- very handy for investigations that exceed the range of my Mitutoyo M Plan series of objectives.

--Rik

[AlisonP]

Thanks very much Rik for the links to your setup. I'd remembered seeing the post before but could not find it again.

And David, I look forward to seeing your list and what you put together!

[nikonf]

Rik,
This is a fantastic post and very helpful to many of us!

What would you suggest for moving a flower into the desired location for a stack?

I have NOT been able to find any flex arm that I can get into the desired position.

I have a mini ball head attached to a vertical column and I mount a Leofoto 02 positioning head to this.
When I use the P-lamp, it is too stiff. Other arms are too wobly.

I usually work between 1-3X and I use a Nikon PB-6 bellows in the horizontal position.

Thank you for any tips you can provide.

Best,
Mike

[DavyC]

This is a cool project, well presented and laid out. Thanks!
Decided to go with 2020 aluminum extrusion over the pvc conduit.
Picked some up, minus the brackets and fittings.
Very impressed with just how rigid this is.
So has anyone managed to complete an aluminum extrusion based cube?
It's always helpful to see someone elses take on things.

[AlisonP]

What would you suggest for moving a flower into the desired location for a stack?

I have NOT been able to find any flex arm that I can get into the desired position.

You might try these flexible gooseneck clamps, one that has a magnetic base and one that has a screw base:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XNSYK6F
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XNXH3JT?th=1

These have worked well for me for holding a background behind my subject for stacking, but I imagine they would work well also to hold flowers.