Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Looking for cheap durable sand bags to hold up my flimsy light stands. I'm looking for something around $20. I really don't want to pay $30 at Henry's or $40 at Vistek for them. Anyone have any suggestions other than "bag of rice" or "sack of potatoes"?

Thanks...must have missed that thread!

I bought two of these off this eBay seller. They work well.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Sandbag-w-Velco-Zipp ... 1|294%3A30

You can make a sandbag for less than 10% of that cost. Don't get fooled and ripped off buying a sandbag at a camera shop.

take a ziplock freezer bag and fill it with some sand. There is lots of it on any beach in the city. Tape the bag all over with some strong fabric reinforced tape or gaffers tape. Tape it up good. Heck if the bag breaks, just make another one. If you want to go all out, go to a fabric store and get some sturdy material and make a small pouch just big enough to fit the taped up sand bag. Then put it in the pouch and close it up. Voila.

Then sit back and try to figure why you would waste $30 on something so simple.

Weights from an exercise store (or your basement) with a bungee work well too. I find them to be less "clumsy" during set up as I can put the weights under my light stands / tripod and not trip over them. Take up less space in the van as well and are easier to carry.

Still have a couple sand-bags (just in case) - rarely do they come out of the car though.

Nothing beats a properly made sandbag from a theatrical supplier. OSL makes the best sandbags I've ever used. OSL=Ontario Staging Limited.