Little stuff, big help

[usayit]

skywalkerbeth's post made me wonder about "stuff I didn't know I needed"... the little inexpensive stuff that makes shooting easier. DIY ideas or small stuff that make a big difference. I'll start.

* Carabiners, the quick snap kind. Serve as an extra set of hands. Usually have a couple on the should strap of my bag. Sometimes I use them to hold a lens pouch to my shoulder strap for easy access without digging into my bag. Sometimes a single carabiner with two small pouches off of my belt when I don't want to carry a bag. Works great for hanging shopping bags off of a stroller too.

* An old cell phone holster from my Palm Treo 650. My handheld meter fits inside perfectly (Sekonic 308). Easy access.....

http://www.leicagoodies.com/strap.html
* For P&S shooters and rangefinders. Easy to carry your camera discreetly and quick to pull up for a shot. I didn't buy one... I made one from purchases from a hardware store. Mine has a small stainless steel rotating carabiner at the end so I can disconnect the camera quickly.

* SPUDZ lens cleaning cloth. Nice easy, fast way to carry one. Clip on your bag or your belt loop and suddenly using one is about as easy as using your T-shirt.

* SD cards with built-in USB! Love them!

* My SANDisk SD/USB card came with a hard plastic keychain holder. OMG.. wonderful idea. I always have a camera with me and a spare SD card on my keychain.

* If you shop around for used lenses (like me) this device is invaluable. There is absolutely no easier way to examine the internal glass elements of a lens without shining a strong tiny focused light into the lens. Also great to have when you are shooting in the dark.

* Wonderful dust buster.... in different sizes too.

* Spool of nylon strap and click buckles (like the ones on back packs). Make my own straps of different lengths. One serves as a strap around my tripod. Another was used to make the strap I mentioned above. Velcro works will in in conjunction with this strapping. You can even sew elastic on it and make it hold stuff (film canisters for example)... You can make your very own Batman tool belt.

Anyone have some ideas to share?

 

[Mike_E]

A belt pack that holds a DSLR and another lens. It also has pockets for extras.

 

[Antithesis]

You forgot bungee cords. There are the small ones with a loop and ball, great for holding closed a tripod, attaching a strobe to just about anything and the longer ones can be used to fix your tripod to your camera bag.

Gorilla tape (basically like mega strong duct tape). I built a home-made softbox out of an old manual vivitar flash, some kabob skewers, a thin, white piece of foam plastic stuff and a whole lot of Gorilla tape. You can build almost anything out of this stuff, it's wonderful.

 

[usayit]

Guess not many ideas to share from tpf folks.... :-(

Here's another...

I have a belt clip glued to the back of a 4xAA battery (the ones used for powering projects) holders purchased from Radio shack. When the AA's in my flash run low. I can quickly reach down remove the AAs in the holder with one hand and make a quick replacement. No need to dig in a bag. No need to use two hands to open a box or container... the springs in the holder hold the AA's in the holder just fine.

 

[Mike_E]

Before I started using my Metzs, I would put my AAs in the proper configuration for my SB and wrap them with a rubber band so I could pop them in like a speed loader for a 6 shooter.

I'm happy with the lens brush that retracts to resemble an ink pen also.