A DIY tripod-mounted lens holder

Since I'm now using Contax lenses instead of Nikon-mount Sigma Art lenses, I had to fabricate a new lens holder setup for my tripod. (Most of my photography is done on foot, either around my neighborhood or after I park my car, and I *hate* carrying a camera bag around. This setup, in combination with a small belt pouch for spare batteries, memory cards, flashlight, etc., is a much better fit for me.)

As the photo above shows, I used a pair of Contax auto extension tubes. I gutted them, removed the rear bayonets, then drilled and tapped three M4x.7 holes into each one so they could be screwed to a piece of .090" aluminum sheet, which I trimmed to achieve the smallest possible footprint. To finish it off, I painted the bracket black using some wrinkle-finish paint I had on hand.

In a perfect world, I would have used a pair of aftermarket 13mm extension tubes, as they would have been both slightly smaller and lighter, but as luck would have it, I was able to purchase via eBay a complete, used OEM set of three extension tubes (13mm, 20mm, 27mm) for about the same cost, so that's what I used instead.

I also re-positioned the external battery pack so it's now located both higher and closer to the lens. This provides the lens with slightly more protection when I'm transporting the camera, as well as makes a convenient place to rest my hand while I'm fine-tuning focus using just the tips of two fingers.