The package came. Once opened there was a plain, brown box with the word band.it embossed on the top. What’s a band.it? Simply, band.its are rubber-esque circles that fit perfectly over a lens’ existing focusing and zoom rings. They ensure a positive grip on these oh-so-important lens controls. They are a pleasure to use. Their feel is almost spongey yet there is a firmness that is reassuring as the lens is zoomed and focused.
What’s in the box?
Lifting the band.it emblazoned top off of the box reveals a black velour bag with a pull tie and a band.it sticker. Inside the bag are the band.its. Each band.it in the case of a zoom lens has a white tag showing what lens is has been custom made to fit. Yup. Each band.it is made to order for the exact lens rings on a given zoom or focus ring for a prime lens. I ordered a set of band.its for my Sigma 24mm to 105mm f/4.0 DG HSM Art lens. A couple of days later they arrived via USPS. It’s impressive that camerabandit.com can receive an order on the website, custom manufacture these rings and get them to their customers so quickly. They say that an order from anywhere in the U.S. will arrive in four business days. International orders take a week. Amazing considering that there aren’t any band.its in stock. They are made as ordered to the specifications of each lens. This assures a perfect fit.
Attaching the band.it rings
The band.its are really stretchy. At first, I thought they might slip once they were over my lens’ zoom and focusing rings. I removed the lens shade and pulled the wider band.it around the lens’ zoom grip. It slipped on easily enough. A little bit of tugging on the edges all around the circumference got the edges aligned. I wriggled the focus band.it up from the bottom and adjusted its edges to the focusing ring. That’s all there was to the installation.
The band.it upgraded lens
The previous photo shows a lot of, well, stuff in the grooves of both the focus and zoom rings. I’m not surprised by that, mind you, as this is pretty much my “normal” lens. I was happily surprised that the band.its made the lens look cleaner in addition to it now having soft-touch controls. It seems that the lens is easier to grip. I feel more confident that I have a good hold on it when I pick it up.
Do band.its make my lens look “fat?”
I thought that the band.its would make the lens a lot thicker. That’s just not the case. The lens is a little wider around but not unpleasingly so. The band.its fit the width of the rings they fit over perfectly. I admit to being in a bit of a hurry as you can see in the photo to the left. I didn’t spend a lot of time making the edges match. They would if I would take the time. Maybe next time I’m on a photo trek and stop for a coffee, I’ll amuse myself by lining them up.
Visit Band.it in booth 268 at Photo Plus Expo 2017 in New York City
This October 26-28 finds Photo Plus Expo at the Javits Center in New York City. PPE is a must-see for photographers professional, amateur and hobbyist. The conference features education and a great exposition hall where manufacturers of all things photo display the latest must-haves. I’ve heard that there will be a special band.it version available for show attendees only. Be sure to visit the band.it booth while you are in New York.
Behind the scenes with band.it
Kevin Ames
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Well, not to be disrespectful, but I say no to these pairs of overly overpriced rubber rings… I can easily get replacement rings from eBay for just a couple of bucks, and they last for years.
Ahhh, price. Yep. band.its are pricy. Having replaced lens rings in the past I really like this simple solution. Rings from the manufacturers are held in place with a binder of some kind. I had a problem removing the old glue until I spent an hour with Goo-Gone and Q-Tips cleaning off the residue. Then I had to come up with a replacement. A couple of hours cleaning and another to go to the hardware store and the cost of band.its look pretty good. Besides, I do like the way they feel when I’m making pictures. I’m not being disrespectful either. I appreciate your comment and am glad you read Photofocus.