Preventing cable connectors from falling out of cameras

A couple of months back, a question was raised with regard to how to prevent cable connectors falling out of cameras during tethered shoots. Well my tethered shoots are almost always tethered wirelessly these days. However I do sometimes need to attach a power lead.

As my wife reminded me, when we’ve done shoots with cables plugged into cameras, we used a method that despite its crudeness and low cost has served us very well over the years. Namely a 100 mm or 150 mm cable tile through the camera strap mount…

The images are just a quick mock-up to save excessive verbosity. I’d normally create a longer loop than shown in the photos – typically 10 cm to 15 cm. I’d tighten (but not over-tighten) the cable tie – between about 50 Newtons and 100 N should be adequate. And if the cable is expensive, then I’d apply couple of wraps of PVC insulation tape before fitting the cable tie, to avoid marking the cable.

Then when you’re done, carefully cut the cable tie off with a small pair of electrical cutters. Or use nail clippers if you have to. Then and place the bits of cable tie in the recycle bin. Or better still, treat yourself to a handful of small reusable cable ties. Saves unnecessary waste and means you can re use them again next time. 🙂