DSLR Accessories/LEAST-Haves

[Pshorten]

Aglio -
I really like my 2 GB cards, I'm always worried that I'll get one really big card and it will fail...this hasn't happened yet but I've read stories...and those smaller cards get cheaper and cheaper.

[wulf]

I'm another Lensbaby fan but I do think it is overpriced. For the money I would expect something a little less plastic and a bit more rugged.

I don't see the attraction of those translucent white disks to attach to the filter mount on your camera to set custom white balance; a portion of translucent white plastic cut from a milk carton does the job for me (zero cost, easy to replace and is held in front of the lens rather than having to be screwed on).

Wulf

[Ikke_006]

I would say a rather cheap tripod, thinking that if you use it a lot you can always buy a better one.
Buy a good one right from the start.

Since you quickly notice that you can't use it the way you want to, you don't trust it on it's own with the camera, ... every euro spend on a cheap tripod is one to many.

A good tripod will last ages and once you have it, you'll use it a lot!

[Pshorten]

Wulf - thanks for the great suggestion about the white milk jug wb filter - you are wonderful!!!

[wulf]

Originally Posted by Pshorten

Wulf - thanks for the great suggestion about the white milk jug wb filter - you are wonderful!!!

You're too kind... but if you want to read more, check out an earlier discussion on custom white balance where I also showed the tool I use.

Wulf

[joefish]

Brand name lens caps. If you loose/break a lens cap, why pay 4 times as much for a lens cap that says "Canon - Utrasonic" on it, as you would for a generic? NZ$35 is what it would have cost me for a replacement 77mm cap, instead I paid NZ$6 for one that works just as well...

[waffles]

A lens pouch. Not a mini bag you can hang on your belt, but one designed for just one lens. I didn't buy this, but if I had I would be very disappointed. Just get the whole bag, it's better that way.

[smenzel]

Originally Posted by smc1377

I know that most will probably disagree with me, but I found the lensbaby 2.0 about the dumbest $200 (lens+aperture kit+tax) I've ever spent on a photography related item. After a couple weeks of using it, I ended up returning it and buying a Creative Zen Vision W instead as a movie player and as a portable CF card backup device.

I just don't get the Lensbaby. Sure, it's cool and can do nifty things to your images. I get that.

The results I've seen with it look like effects that can be fairly easily accomplished in post-processing. I don't see why I'd want to limit my original image to something I can do in post-processing. Ditto with shooting in B&W as that's something I do in the lab ... er, on the computer.

More power to those folks who get the Lensbaby and can do cool things with it. Perhaps if I was a better at snapping pics and better able to visualize the finished image before shooting.

But ... back to the topic. My least used accessory has been my circular polarizer. I know they're cool but I just haven't been able to incorporate it into my shooting.

[divejunky]

I bought the Cactus V2 wireless flash triggers to use with my speedlight 430, what a waste of money, they either flash on their own or dont flash at all, In the end i bought a speedlight 580 that has the IR trigger built in, worth every cent. and now my 430 works as a slave.

[khan]

I have one of these "cheapo" tripods ($9.95 "Targus") , and I guess I don't know what I'm missing? To my credit, I bought it before I bought my SLR, and for its original purpose it was fine, and was light enough to go on a "everything fits in a single shoulder bag" European vacation with me.

I'm still a bit naive about what value I'll get out of a nice tripod... One of these days I'll have to bring my camera into a store with a variety of them and take a test drive.