I´ve an old camera bag!?

[AndersPS]

I´ve bought an old Nikon canvas camera bag, bacause I want an old bag for my analog camera. Right know I have an new one and it not feels right.
Now, the thing is that there´s no inserts in the bag. Do anyone know where to buy inserts or should I do one myself? I know Domke and Safrotto have some, but I don´t know if they´re any good?

///Anders S

 

[Mike Wilde]

I make my own inserts to fit cameras into non- camera bags.
I don't care for the soft cloth and velcro that can be adjusted to any sort of configuration.
I know what I want to put in, so make 'hard-ish' dividers.

I use foam core board, and once the bits are all cut to fit, I tape them together with clear box packing tape. This method leaves a rigid insert that will yield to absorb any seroius blows it may take.

 

[AndersPS]

Thanks for the answer. I thought aboit it and I´m gonna do one insert myself similar to the Safrotto insert.

///Anders S

 

[Pompiere]

Another method is to buy a piece of foam cushion, and cut out holes to fit your equipment. An electric knife, the same as you would use to carve a turkey, works great for cutting the foam. My wife bought a cheap electric knife for $4 to use for crafts so the good one would stay in the kitchen.

 

[ashman]

thanks for this information. i like this topic. nice posting here with good comments.

 

[Mike Wilde]

For cutting foam I find that it is a bit more work, but a lot cleaner, to first cut an undersized hole with the electric knife, then to trim to final size with a hot nichrome wire, held in a home made plywood jig that approximates a fret saw. Disconnect the wire, pass though the hole, then re-attach to get the wire to be able to trim without needing to cut to the edge of the block.

I use the secondary filament winding from an old tv transformer to power the nichrome, with the primary 120v side plugged into a variac. Turn the variac slowly up from zero until the wire begins to glow. It's cold resistance is much lower than its hot resistance, so start slow, and refine in the first few minutes.