Solving My Tethering Problem with 3-D Printing | A Photographer’s Experience

I’m Bob Foyers, a photographer based in Bentwaters, Woodbridge, Suffolk. Like many photographers, I have built up my kit over the years. I started with a Manfrotto tripod and ball heads, and as time went on I bought more tripods and heads, all from the same brand, Manfrotto.

These days I shoot tethered in the studio, using a Manfrotto saloon stand with a Manfrotto ball head. Shooting tethered, I want to be sure the cables don’t get snagged, pulled, or ripped out of the USB port on my Canon. To solve that I bought a Tetherblock from Tether tools. It looked perfect at first, but it created a new problem: I could no longer use the Manfrotto ball heads I had grown used to. Putting the Manfrotto plate onto the Tetherblock felt like too many weak links.

I tried a different head with a three-quarter-inch thread so it would attach to the Tetherblock. That worked, but it would not let me remove the camera quickly, and it never quite gripped, so there was a little movement when the camera tilted forward or sat in portrait mode.

That is when I approached Dr Samuel Wilberforce, head of 3-D printing at CMG technology Ltd. I had been photographing their products for a while, and they had started doing 3-D printing, so I asked whether he could help.

We found an online 3-D CAD file that someone had already worked on and used it as a base, but it soon turned out not to be right for my ball head. I did not want to give up my trusty Manfrotto, so Dr Wilberforce used measurements from the original Manfrotto plate and the Tetherblock to produce a 3-D printed version that fit perfectly.

We decided to print it in stainless steel. That made it more expensive than standard 3-D printing, but stainless steel is tough, so I ended up with a better part that should last a lifetime.

This is probably a niche problem, but in the studio you want everything just right, and I can now use my Manfrotto ball head with the Tetherblock without a second thought.

If any fellow photographers want to know more about CMG technology Ltd and their 3-D printing services, their website is www.cmgtechnologies.co.uk. They were a great help to me, and I am sure they could sort out any 3-D printing needs you have.