DIY Camera Dividers

A month and a bit ago, if you’ll recall, we received this beauty.

And while a camera bag was not on my most-wanted list, I did want to protect my new camera when I carried it around.

I found this very cool tutorial over at Blue Lace House on how to create your own camera dividers and decided to give it a try.

I took some pieces of 1/2 inch thick foam and cut them to the size I wanted (these will vary depending on the bag you want to use to carry your camera in).

Make sure you use your camera itself to measure out width and length and height.  After all, this is what you are trying to protect here!  And make sure this will all fit into your chosen bag.

I am making a bag, but I did want to be sure not to make it too long as it could get pretty bulky to carry around.  So I snuggled up pretty close to the camera on the sides, only went to barely the top of it for the height, and gave myself a few extra inches on the end for battery, manuals, and later (once I save up!), an extra lens.

I cut one piece that will create both the bottom and sides (you will sew 2 seams down it lengthwise later to fold up for the sides), 2 end pieces, and a couple of pieces for the middle to use as dividers (I made one of these slightly longer to sit at a diagonal).

Then I used scraps of material I had (I wanted to use up what I had and I didn’t think anyone would really see it as I wouldn’t be carrying it around on its own) and cut them to fit around the pieces of foam.

I sewed up three of the sides of each of the pieces, and then inserted the foam and sewed up the last side after folding down and pinning the edges.

After you have your pieces of foam covered in your fabric, you have to sew on velcro to hold them together.

First, sew 2 seams lengthwise down your large piece of foam.  This will create the bottom and sides portion of your camera dividers.  You can see the seams below.

Then, lay out your end pieces and pin and then sew on your velcro to hold the sides onto the ends of the divider.

Once you have created your ‘box’ for the camera dividers, you can then decide where you want to place your middle dividers for the camera and lenses and any other components you want to carry with you- extra batteries, instructional manual, etc.  Use velcro to attach these pieces where you want them.  This is what mine looked like finished.

I only have one lens so far so for now I just leave it attached to the camera.  I definitely still need my instruction manuals with me too!  Later on, when I have another lens, I can use the longer divider to curve around the extra lens.

I am really happy with the way my camera divider turned out.  I am working on the bag for it and will post a tutorial on that as soon as I am done.

Catherine