Camera Labs

Regarding memory cards, I have quite a few. First of all, I have multiple camera bodies. A 7D makes huge files, so will fill a memory card much faster than a 40D or XTi/400D. Then, there is the need for spares as insurance against a corrupted card.

Another need for multiple cards, that is less common, is that I shoot images for evidence in the criminal court court system. My employer, by written policy, requires separate memory from our personal electronics, and another policy requires that I not bring evidence home with me. Moreover, my memory devices can be subpoenaed and retained by a court, or I can be compelled to surrender them to the forensic electronic lab. In essence, my work-related memory cards have become taxpayer property.

Lens hoods: Well, I will say that I had been rather casual about keeping them in place, unless there was a need to shade the lens from sunlight or
other lights. Then, one evening after a photo class, in which I had been
using wide-angle lenses, which were still on my cameras, I removed a
Pelican Case from the trunk (boot) of my car, and my beloved, still-NEW
Canon 50mm 1.2 rolled from the unsecured case to the pavement, with a
sickening thud upon impact, which was on the camera's side. AF and MF are
now both disabled. I am saving money toward what is sure to be an
expensive repair. Had the 50 L been wearing it's Canon hood, in the normal
or, especially, reversed position, the natural springiness of the plastic may
have prevented or at least mitigated damage.

My cheap lenses may not wear their hoods, now, but my L lenses, and nearly-L-quality 10-22mm lenses, generally do.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

If you photograph evidence, do you not surely have seperate cameras for that?

If using fisheyes, I think I would definately consider protecting the bulge at the front.

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Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: EFS 18-55mm IS, EF 50mm F/1.8 II

I am not wealthy enough to buy a separate batch of cameras for work! My employer does, actually, provide, a tiny Sony point-and-shoot, with an SD card. The camera simply cannot cope with such demands as detailed images of the faint marks left when a person is choked, and the first signs of bruising that exist immediately after an assault, or, especially, low-light images of an overall crime scene.

Even the SD card is not useful, because my cameras use CF cards.

I do not care for standard neck straps, instead using a shoulder strap that attaches to the tripod mount, most of the time. I only use a neck strap when I want to switch back and forth from hand-held to tripod frequently during a shoot with just one camera. (this is yet another reason I like to have the ability to have two cameras with me; one for the tripod, and one for hand-held. My present shoulder strap is Sun Sniper; Black Rapid is the other big player.

UV filters: Some if my lenses have them, and some do not. Only really expensive, multiple-coated ones are suitable for much of the shooting I do. As for "protecting" the lens, that is arguable, except for weather-sealed lenses, which apparently are only only truly sealed in the front if a filter is in place, according to what I have read recently. I feel the hood is better protection, under most conditions, from impact damage.

One of my local instructors believes in constant use of a UV or specialty filter, whereas the other believes in installing a filter only when required for an individual shoot's conditions.

Cable/wired shutter release: Very useful, a near-daily-use tool!

IR shutter release: Occasionally useful. It I cared for photographing myself, it would be more useful.

Hot shoe spirit level: I like leveling my cameras, but my tripod mounts have them, and my two newest cameras have a virtual leveling feature viewable on the LCD screen. If I end up buying an older full-frame camera, such as a 5D1, I might well see a need to acquire a hot shoe spirit level.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

The tripod spirit level only tells you that the tripod is level.

I use a ball head.

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Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: EFS 18-55mm IS, EF 50mm F/1.8 II

The Manfrotto 222 and 322RC actually do indicate when the camera is level. Not that I am recommending the 322RC, as it slips. Mine slips, and plenty of others have posted the same.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro

I have the 494.

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Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: EFS 18-55mm IS, EF 50mm F/1.8 II

Here's my take on the accessories...

Hot shoe spirit level
I don't see the need for one on newer cameras, considering that they have the electronic level, but I could see them coming in use every once in a while. I don't like having to dig into the menus or turn on Live View just to level the camera.

UV Filter
I wouldn't shoot without mine; I feel reassured that my lens is safe when I mount a filter. Of course, to get a filter that will match the quality of your lens, you'd have to pay $70-100, but it's better to replace a scratched $100 filter than it is to replace a scratched $1000 lens.

Viewfinder Cup
I've considered buying one, but I don't generally see the need.

LCD screen protector
I bought a package of a bunch of hoodman screen protectors from the camera store to use in place of the plastic cover that was supplied with my D7000. Overall, they're pretty good. However, when I put the first one on it quickly peeled off, and the second one that I put on bubbled up, so now I have a bunch of bubbles on the protector. However, I prefer these little plastic covers over the solid ones that Nikon provides, and they do the job that they're meant to do.

Lens Hood
I keep the lens hood on my 16-85 pretty much all the time, I've worried about it cracking before as it's to plasticky, but nothing's happened to it yet. I personally like them, and they do reduce a bit of flare, but some people may disagree with me. When I put the camera or lens into the mag though, it sometimes becomes a bit of a pain having to reverse it all the time.

Canon/Nikon branded strap
When I first opened up the camera box, for some reason I couldn't find the strap. So for the first month until my Cameralabs strap (Which by the way, I would recommend to anyone if there's a third run around the corner) arrived I just carried the camera around. I then found my Nikon strap buried at the bottom of the D7000 box, so now I use the Cameralabs strap on my D7000 and the Nikon strap on my FM. I find that the straps do become a little bit of a pain when you're trying to pack the camera into the bag, but they prevent my camera from hitting the ground if I slip or fall. Of course, I don't let the camera dangle from my neck, I still always keep wither a hand around the lens barrel or my other hand around the camera grip.

Infra red remote
I personally find mine very convenient, but the D7000 has infra red sensors on both the front and back of the camera, so I have more versatility with using it. The only problem that I've had with it in the past is that it has a bit of a short range, and I can't fire my burst mode with it, but overall I like them because they're portable and cheap.

Wired remote
I don't own one, but I'd love to buy one in the future. The problem would be the price, buying the remote and the chord extensions can be pricey sometimes.

Wireless flash triggers
I personally wouldn't find the use for one.

Cleaning pen
For cleaning my lenses, I use compressed air and I have a camel hair brush if I need. I wouldn't see the use for a cleaning pen, but I guess they're small and easy to carry around.

Regarding tripods, I use my Manfrotto from the '70s often, it can be useful for many purposes such as wildlife, astrophotos, etc.
Memory card wise, I own two 4GB Class 6 San Disk SD cards, and I often want more space. I was going to buy a few more that were on sale, but the camera store was out when I arrived.

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-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

My useful stuff:

Two camerabags: one actually a back pack for all gear and a tripod; one a holster type shoulder bag for a camera and one all-around lens with hood.

Tripod. Extremely useful, not only for night shots with long exposures.

Lens hoods, UV filters all for protection mostly. Shooting in the woods for example with a 70-300 lens on 300mm focused on infinity and looking through a viewfinder it's almost impossible to spot a tree branch or a bush right in front of you when you're so carried away in the process.

Hand-strap. But only for street photography with a not heavy lens. (Never tele-photo ones as it creats too much load on hand and fingers).

Macro extension tubes. Not really into macro photography, but sometimes it is definetly fun and for fun-purposes extension tubes are more than enough.

A little round mirror about 5cm in diameter. I hate using in-built flash and whenever I HAVE TO, I put a little mirror in front of it on an angle and send light to any direction that's convenient and can than reflect this light back to my sibject for side-lighting. Doing this flash is usually set to +2EV. Generally this is also a fun-purpose, but sometimes makes for great results.

Useless stuff:
Gorillapod, too difficult to point camera exactly as I want it (I have gorillapod SLR version with no ballhead) and too weak to hold my current gear (bought it earlier for Panasonic FZ-38 ).
Flash hot-shoe cap cover. Unfortunately Canon does not provide one for their DSLRs and a third party one that I had, was always slipping off untill I finally lost it.

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Canon 60D (+Magic Lantern)
Canon EF-S 18-135mm IS, Canon EF 50mm F1.4, Tamron SP 70-300mm VC USD, Helios 44-2
Canon Speedlite 430EXII
Benro A300F Tripod + BH1 Ballhead


History:
Canon Rebel T2i

R strap, RRS L Bracket, RRS release plate

OK but do you consider them useful or less than useful?

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control

A resurrected older thread...so I actually have one updated accessory to add since my first post...

Barska Pistol Grip - I consider this VERY useful and a great accessory if you're shooting with longer telephotos or primes and want a lightweight and easy way to add a way to shoot and carry these more comfortably and stably. It screws into tripod mounts - so any collared lens or lens with a tripod mount can accept these - they give the forward hand a grip to hold while shooting and the camera can rest on the forearm when being carried. When birding with my 300mm F4 or Tamron 200-500mm lenses, it makes them much more comfortable for all day shooting.

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Oops sorry,

Very Useful

BTW you the web cop

Useful:
Canon branded strap - My first photography instructor taught me to always wrap my right hand once around; that way, if it drops, your hand can catch it. I always install the strap with one twist built in; so, when I wrap it, it becomes straight.
UV filter - I only use it to protect the front lens from dust, scratches, and drops; I've seen proof how the use of any filter prevented a cracked lens (the filter sacrificed itself) and lack of use cracked the lens. I don't use it for UV filtering, but cannot find a clear filter. All my lenses have them.
ProMaster MicroClean Microfiber cleaning cloth - A great way to keep lenses, filters, and LCD screens clean. It also has a small white card in its pouch I use for Custom White Balance.
Foot-long monopod - Extends to 4.5'. Has two small legs for a table-top tripod. Lost it a few years ago and cannot find another replacement.

Useless:
Kokin Filter System - Bought almost every available filter. Used them a few times as a kid. They were never really that practical.
Mini Tripod Keyring - Waist of $10. It would've even hold my small Canon G12. The sales person warned me not to buy it.

Sincerely,

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-=- PalaDolphin
http://www.PalaDolphin.com
My equipment are:
Canon AE-1 Programmable w/55mm, 200mm, & 24mm lenses
Canon PowerShot G12
Canon Rebel T4i / EOS 650D
lens: EF-S 18-135mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS STM
lens: EF-S 55-250mm 1:4-5.6 IS II
lens: Quantaray Tech-10 CN AF 24mm 1:2.8 fixed
Canon Speedlite 199A flash
tripod: Targus® TG-5060TR
bag: Lowepro® SlingShot 202AW