A Video Editing and Photography Blog

Let’s face it, it’s freakin cold out in the winter.  And when it’s cold out, who wants to spend a lot of time shooting outside?  Hmmm, not me.  If it’s below freezing the only way I’ll be outside is if I have some skis strapped to the bottom of my boots.  That is what led me to build a studio in my warm cozy basement.  The total cost of building this backdrop stand was about $40 at the Home Depot.

Supplies Needed:

• 2 – 3/4″ steel conduit (10 foot sections).  Use one as top crossbar at full length and cut the other one in half.
• 1 – 1″ steel conduit (10 footer).  Cut it in half.
• 2 – 8 foot 2×4′s
• 2 – 3/4″ steel conduit corner pull elbows.  These join the vertical conduit to horizontal conduit.
• 4 – 1″ conduit wall mounting brackets.  This secures the vertical conduit to the wood base.
• 2 – 3/4″ conduit wall brackets.  This is the height adjuster.
• 24 – Wood Screws to hold both bases together (12 each).

To make full use of 2 cheap 2×4′s, I cut them for the base feet like this.  32″ front to back with 12″ cross legs at the ends.  It has a 16″ vertical support and about an 11″ 45 degree cross support making it more rigid.  2 wood screws are drilled into each joint which makes the stand pretty bomber.  Slide a 5 foot section of the 1″ conduit into each base.  The conduit is held by 2, 1″ wall mounting brackets.

Here you can see why I used a 3/4″ and 1″ diameter conduit.  The 1″ sits below and the 3/4″ slides inside it like a sleeve and you can adjust the height as needed.  You lock off the height by tightening down the 3/4″ wall bracket and it will act as a stopper.

Finally, the long 10 foot 3/4″ cross bar is connected with what is called a “corner pull” elbow.  They are built specifically for this 3/4″ size and tighten down with supplied screws.

The final stand is probably as strong as you can get without shelling several hundred on a pair of C-Stands.  It is 10 feet wide and can easily go up to 9 feet tall.  I have had toddlers running crazy in my basement with no fear of anything falling.  Now, I have no more excuses for not creating awesome visual content and neither do you.

Make something awesome!