Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
10-07-2011, 04:08 AM - 2 Likes   #1
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
rbefly's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Denver, Colorado
Photos: Albums
Posts: 2,030
$5.00 Gadgets + Widgets- Got one?

Oh, sure, we all (well, mostly all) spend mega-bucks on tripods, battery grips and focusing screens, but how about the little doo-dads that can and do, make photo life easier? They cost less than a burger + fries and when you need' em, well, they're indispensible. For example;
Eyecup. $3.49 from China. Ever get that sidelight/backlight glare making your viewfinder useless? Night photography with distracting light sources behind you? This little beauty makes focusing much easier and aids composition, straightness and concentration.
Hot Shoe Spirit Level, about $4.00 from you-know-where. "But my tripod has a spirit level!" Yes, and it also has a tilt/pan head. So, you can level your tripod and tilt your camera any whichway, including crooked. But the hot shoe is ON the camera, which is where the spirit level should be.
Flash Slave "Peanut". $5.00 or so. My favorite is the little cube with the robotic "eye" in front, a hot shoe on top and a tripod socket on the bottom. An assistant that doesn't complain, works for free and won't ask for lunch, breaks or overtime.
Table-Top Tripod. This one breaks the bank at $10.00. Holds the 2nd flash or anything else you need a third hand for. See "Peanut".
Penlight. A cheapie will do but I like the little (AAA battery) Maglight.
I'm sure there's more, but this is a start!
Ron

10-07-2011, 04:13 AM - 1 Like   #2
Veteran Member
psychdoc's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Bham
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 949
microfiber lens cleaning cloth
10-07-2011, 04:17 AM - 1 Like   #3
Veteran Member
bluespearbone's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 325
Filter Wallet. The sleeved fold-out flat type. Lightweight and saves space.

Edit:
Forgot to mention the super-cheap lens-cap-keepers (the elasticated type that goes around the lens with a thread that sticks to the front of the lens-cap). Suggest you buy them a handful at a time, as the postage is more expensive than the item.

Last edited by bluespearbone; 10-07-2011 at 07:09 AM.
10-07-2011, 05:14 AM - 1 Like   #4
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,889
Lens hoods (collapsible, threaded): $2/ea.

Step up/down rings: ~$2/ea.

Reversal rings: $2/ea.

Pop-up flash diffuser (Fong type): $2.69/ea.

Metal filter caps: $4/pair
(you put these on the ends of a stack of screwed-together filters/rings for storing them, neat idea as it makes the filter's form factor much like a lens)

Despite its many problems, gotta love Ebay.

10-07-2011, 08:31 AM - 1 Like   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
mattb123's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Colorado High Country
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 10,867
I like this little diffuser I picked up from one of those cheap chinese sellers on eBay:

It always fits in the bag and has come in handy on a number of occasions.

Also, the little flash stands that have a hot shoe attachment and can stand on their own or screw into a tripod or light stand.
10-07-2011, 09:26 AM - 1 Like   #6
Veteran Member
Pauld's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 507
I've bought a bunch of these little gadgets just for the hell of it and have actually been surprised that some of them are actually really good. The 2 things that I use all the time is a hot shoe bubble level, which everyone should own, and a knock off lens hood eye-cup that I have permanently mounted on my camera. I've bought a few white balance lens caps that work pretty good as well and spare batteries for my P+S cameras.
10-07-2011, 10:44 AM - 1 Like   #7
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2010
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 5,901
I have a memory card holder, the little black wallet kind. Holds 8 memory cards. I like having all my cards in one place. I was always loosing them before I finally got one of these. I like my filter wallet too, but that's actually makeshift. It's some kind of weird travel wallet or urban man purse I found at Goodwill for $3.

It's 8x10 and is built sort of like the memory card holder. It has several slots that just fit my filters on one side, plus more on the top of other side, plus there's one larger slot for whatever else I want to put in it. Behind that there's also two flat slots presumably for bills that I use for papers, notes and such. I can fit a dozen filters in that thing round or square easily and it fits quite nicely into my photo bag when I don't need them, keeps them all safe.

I do believe in improvisation when it comes to my gear. Probably a lot of my gear has come via Goodwill. I tend to use a lot of improvised things that are not actually made for the purpose I need it for. I can't afford to just go out and buy everything new so I tend to do whatever I can with whatever I can find. Usually works hitting the thrift stores, thinking outside the box, and it saves me a lot of $$$ besides.


Last edited by magkelly; 10-07-2011 at 01:02 PM.
10-07-2011, 11:26 AM - 1 Like   #8
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,889
QuoteOriginally posted by magkelly Quote
I do believe in improvisation when it comes to my gear. Probably a lot of my gear has come via Goodwill. I tend to use a lot of improvised things that are not actually made for the purpose I need it for. I can't afford to just go out an buy everything new so I tend to do whatever I can with whatever I can find. Usually works hitting the thrift stores, thinking outside the box, and it saves me a lot of $$$ besides.
Couldn't agree more. Heck, I've made flash diffusers out of the plastic from milk jugs, and electrical tape. My external flash (which I was sure to check the trigger voltage) was $0.50 at a thrift shop, and I got some of those old leather lens cases (the cylindrical ones) for about the same price there too. There are good deals to be had with some hunting around.
10-07-2011, 12:31 PM - 1 Like   #9
Veteran Member
RioRico's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Limbo, California
Posts: 11,263
Lens pen
macro tube sets
all manner of step rings
thread- and mount-reverse adapters
cheapo thin- and wide-flange M42-PK adapters
PK and M42 body caps (easy mount adapters)
super el-cheapo M39-M42 adapters
enlarger & projector & copy lenses
cheapo +dioptre closeup sets
used B&W filter sets

Last edited by RioRico; 10-07-2011 at 02:44 PM.
10-07-2011, 02:27 PM - 1 Like   #10
Pentaxian
TaoMaas's Avatar

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Oklahoma City
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 3,574
I'm a fiend for semi-heavy duty plastic bags. I try to keep one in the back pocket of every camera bag. I've lost count of how many times they've saved my gear. I also carry a blank piece of copy paper in my back pocket to use in white balancing.
10-07-2011, 08:17 PM - 1 Like   #11
New Member




Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 5
I've been really impressed (shocked actually) by how much by ebay knock-off Gary Fong flash diffuser improves the pop-up flash on my K-r. 5$ shipped. Crazy...
10-08-2011, 12:09 AM - 2 Likes   #12
Forum Member




Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 71
My very first macro adapter was actually a drop of water. I had a ruler with holes for putting it in a binder and I just suspended the drop of water in there. It's an experiment worth repeating now that I think about it. The imperfections in a liquid lens creates an interesting effect but I'll need to go get something to clean my sensor first. Had a point and shoot at the time and went nuts juggling all the parts. You can also do an open air macro arrangement, you don't need to seal everything light proof if you control the lighting well enough.
I was also too cheap to buy a neutral gray card, so I had a cheap 4x6 printed in some approximation of neutral gray. My holder broke and I lost it. That was so handy in learning about exposure. I'm not sure I necessarily need another one.
I haven't done this yet, but I'm familiar with the string stabilizer, where you essentially tie a string to your camera (or as some prefer, a bolt that you put in the tripod screw hole) and step on the other end. It constrains the motion.
10-08-2011, 12:28 AM   #13
Veteran Member




Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1,889
I'd love to see that water drop macro you took, could you upload one somewhere?
10-08-2011, 06:15 AM   #14
Forum Member




Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 71
QuoteOriginally posted by Philoslothical Quote
I'd love to see that water drop macro you took, could you upload one somewhere?


Not the most exciting picture, but it is the one that I show people. I know a bit more about building a stable rig now. I don't know how much of that is motion blur, or light getting in from the sides. If I can find it in my archives, there's one showing a relatively straight red line. There's some oscillations in it, which I think it was some sort of vibration induced ripple. It didn't take long for me to misjudge my distance and my lens got soaked up in some newspaper that I was trying to view the grains of. After that, I stopped to reflect on better ways of doing things rather than camera in one hand, water drop in another, and moving them back and forth to focus. For some reason, I haven't tried again. I still have the ruler and water shouldn't be hard to find.
10-08-2011, 11:58 AM   #15
Veteran Member




Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 1,421
Lens caps (front and rear)... When you start fooling around with m42 lenses and make them into semi permanent K mounts (tightening the m42 adapters on with a PK rear lens cap), you need lens caps and lots of them. Buying them from eBay by 10's, brings the price down to about 1.50 each. I've replaced all of my side pinch, front lens caps with center pinch lens caps, most of them have either Canon or Nikon emblazoned on them (haven't found ones with Pentax on them yet), priced at less than $2.00 up to 77mm.

Thanks,
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
battery, breaks, camera, flash, level, photography, shoe, spirit, tripod
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Machinery Pentaxians love gadgets charliezap Post Your Photos! 9 09-14-2010 04:58 AM
Interesting Pentax gadgets rburgoss Photographic Technique 9 11-05-2009 11:06 AM
Time Mags Best Travel Gadgets of 2009-Pentax K-x BobRad Pentax DSLR Discussion 7 11-03-2009 03:39 PM
I'm a sucker for gadgets... J.Scott Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 16 05-13-2008 06:53 PM
Widgets pixelsaurus Site Suggestions and Help 1 07-29-2007 10:12 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:56 PM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top