DIY (kinda) foam insert for any favorite bag.

(I hope it's ok to do two posts consecutively in order to keep my photos to the 8/per thread rule.)

I've seen some very nice, higher end DIY's on this forum, so this may seem a bit rudimentary. Not sure if this would be of any interest to anybody, but thought I would share a pretty easy and very cheap ($10 or less) way to make a custom foam insert to house a camera with attached larger lens.

I tried to search to see if this had been mentioned but did not see it, if it has I apologize.

Being this was my first 'real' lens I wanted to be sure the lens was well protected as well as being able to leave the lens attached to the body inside the bag. There seemed to be a few holster bags and shoulder bags that would have probably worked wonderfully, however a combination of impatience and O.C.D. can at times stray me off course.. way off course.

I had a shoulder bag that I had purchased just to carry around odds and ends and my P&S here and there. It was exactly the size of my T3i with 100-400 attached so I thought why not try to make this bag work.

I recently purchased in the camping section of my local 'Super Center' a "camping pad". It's basically a 1/2" foam pad that you can lay your sleeping bag on when out camping. (*SIDE NOTE* It was completely worthless for that).

All you need is a razor blade, the camping pad and glue. I used a shoe cement, however I'm sure contact cement would work just as well.

*I HAVE ALREADY PUT THIS TOGETHER, SO I'M ATTEMPTING TO EXPLAIN IT IN STEPS WITH THE STEPS ALREADY HAVING BEEN DONE*

First I laid out my camera/lens and started measuring and gluing for the bottom/base pad. This is what the camera would sit on in the bottom of the bag.

The first step was cutting a hole in the bottom according to where the tripod foot would seat.

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Here is the foam insert inside the bag. The hole for the tripod foot really helps to keep the lens from moving AT ALL. The way it turned out it's like it's strapped in.

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looks pretty darn good!

Nicely done!

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Well done! Looks like somebody put all those years of watching MacGyver to good use!

Well made and perfectly customized at that!
For the same purpose I was wondering whether I should encase the high density foam in some polar fleece sleeves which absorbs very little moisture, or other material that would prevent the foam from crumbling when in repeated contact with the sharper edges of the lens(es) in my insert. These would get a seam at each end with velcro strips on top.