Jan 27, 2017 | By Tess

Anyone who has invested money into a nice SLR camera will understand the absolute heartbreak that goes along with having your lenses break, or worse, stolen. Sadly, lens theft is becoming increasingly common, especially for photographers who work in the music and entertainment industries. Fortunately, however, Rutger Geerling, a professional dance and music photographer, and his friend Mark, a sound guy for famous Dutch DJ Tiesto, have devised a remarkably simple and cheap 3D printed solution: Lens Safe.

Together, Rutger and Mark have designed a 3D printable lens ring that essentially fits around your camera’s lens mount and partially covers the auto-release button, making it impossible, or at least very difficult to quickly remove the lens from the camera with one hand. According to Geerling, the pair were inspired to create the small but incredibly handy device after seeing how many photographers were having their expensive lenses nicked from them at shows or when they were distracted.

Geerling explained the process to a photography website, saying, “It happens when you’re shooting with two cameras in the crowd. You use one camera and the unused one hangs around your shoulder. That’s when thieves go for it and quickly release and grab the lens in one motion. The problem is that the release button is basically too well designed. You can unlock and take off the camera in one swift motion with one hand.”

Of course, for photographers seeking to switch between lenses on the fly, having such a responsive release button is crucial, but for those who are trying to keep their equipment secure while on the job, it poses an obvious problem. The 3D printed Lens Safe is meant to offer those photographers an easy and remarkably cheap safety option.

That is, while a lens itself might cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, the small 3D printed ring can reportedly be made for roughly 60 cents (the cost of the filament used). Notably, Geerling and his friend are not seeking to make any sort of profit with their handy device and are simply hoping to help fellow photographers out. The 3D file for the Lens Safe ring can be downloaded for free here. So far, they have fitted the 3D printed ring for Canon DSLRs, and Geerling is hoping fellow makers/photography enthusiasts will adapt their design for different camera models.

Rutger Geerling

“After a month of testing I’m very confident this is the real deal,” said Geerling. “This makes it so much harder to [remove the lens] unnoticed that theft of lenses will be much much harder, if not almost impossible.”

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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