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Neat Trick for Filling a Sandbag

Vanelli 02/19/2015 6

One of the least exciting piece of photo gear has to be a sandbag. I can’t remember the last time I was in a room filled with photographers and we enthusiastically talked about them. Although sandbags are not exciting, they are an important piece of gear that adds safety to a set.

Common Uses for Sandbags

  • Weigh a light stand down.
  • Counter balance for a boom.
  • Steady a tripod in wind during long exposures.
  • Keeping seamless paper from curling.

Avoid a Mess (Add a Bag Inside)

Here is a neat trick. Fill a heavy duty plastic Ziploc bag with sand, then insert the bag inside the sandbag. This keeps the sandbag clean plus makes it easy to empty for travel or shipping.

If you need to travel, you can go with empty sandbags. Then when you get to your destination, hit the beach or stop by a Home Depot and buy a 50lbs bag of play sand for about 4 bucks.

sandbag
sandbag2
sandbag 3
sandbag 1

ePhoto FOUR Photo Video Sand Bag Light Stand Sandbags by ePhoto INC 4SBblack

I know sandbags are not exciting but the safety they add to a set makes them an asset to your business liability insurance!

  • About
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Vanelli

Robert Vanelli (Vanelli to his friends) is a working photographer, educator and author living in Florida. After a successful career as a three-time, Triple Crown Karate champion, Vanelli turned his attention to teaching the visual arts. As an experienced educator, Vanelli has created several photography and digital workflow programs including Click for Kids.

Currently he is teaching workshops, writing for Photofocus and creating tutorials for various plug-in companies and for the Vanelli and Friends series.

You can find out more about Vanelli at www.VanelliandFriends.com

Latest posts by Vanelli (see all)

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Categories: Gear Opinion Photography Tags: safety sandbag

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. raymond jude kaider says

    February 19, 2015 at 10:38 am

    I highly suggest filling “sandbags” with pea gravel instead of sand.

     
    Reply
  2. Paul Parkinson LRPS (@parkylondon) says

    February 19, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    I use scrap metal in mine. I got four used disk brake pads and put each one in a ziplok bag and then one in each side of the sandbag. Works like a treat and there’s no risk of spillage.

     
    Reply
  3. Bj Rollison says

    February 19, 2015 at 11:06 pm

    Great idea with the ziplock bags! I travel quite a bit and fill my sandbags with sand, dirt, and sometimes small gravel. I probably carry dirt and sand from about 5 different countries around at any one time.

    Another good use of a sandbag for a camera support for low angle shots. If packed right the sandbags can be molded to support the camera at various angle for really low shots.

     
    Reply
  4. Barry Edwards says

    February 20, 2015 at 7:38 am

    How about filling the sandbag with bird seed and empty it on the ground when you leave for the birds.

     
    Reply
  5. Gagarin says

    October 20, 2016 at 6:16 am

    It’s good to put sand into the zipper plastic bag. Important thing is you have to use only dry sand. More expensive solution is to fill it with metal bearing balls, it will be much heavier.

     
    Reply
  6. David Levin says

    March 4, 2017 at 10:38 am

    Pea gravel from Home Depot is cleaner and easier for me.

     
    Reply

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