Show us your coolest accessory.

It's how I've been lighting bugs up for the past several years:

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …/36800807@N08/8​097388293/

Very cool!!!

LV Moose wrote in post #17156812
It's how I've been lighting bugs up for the past several years:

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …/36800807@N08/8​097388293/
IMG_4860_960x by mistermooster, on Flickr

Home made? Yeah home made. Very good.

If you use already use a Rogue Flashbender, then you know how useful it is to diffuse light and take up zero room in your bag. Its best use is to bounce light off the ceiling or wall while still lighting the subject you're shooting. I've used it instead of a Sto-Fen for years.

I just got this accessory to the Flashbender that makes it better. It's called the Diffusion Panel. It Velcro's onto the front of the Flashbender, and has a silverized flap to bend any vertical light to shoot out forward. Now all your flash energy comes out the front and serves as a small light box without the hassle and the room an Ezybox takes up in your bag. It's also considerably larger in area than that portable Ezybox. Better for portraits and outdoor fill-flash. Works great in my trials. Folds completely flat and weighs nothing.

I'm really liking the Really Right Stuff B2-FABN
http://www.reallyright​stuff.com …mp-with-strap-bosses.html

This little gizmo has three handy uses:
1) providing a quick attach/detach of the strap (using a Black Rapid) to the camera (with plate mounted). This is handy when moving between the strap and tripod.
2) provides a 90 degree adapter to mount the camera body on a gimbal head.
3) adapts a non-arca ballhead to use arca plates.

^^^I agree they are very handy. I have two of them

my fave accessory is likely the Watson (or similar) 8 bay rechargeable AA battery charger

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …ay_Rapid_Charge​r_for.html

Addendum: the problem with the traditional "2 bay" charger is that once the 1st battery to fully charge is Complete - the charger tells you that both are ready...

spend money on a good charger that gives a LCD readout of the status of every battery's true charge

Maha chargers for me.

Not shure if it is my coolest, but one that I have been searching for since ages, until I finally discovered the keyword "slim".

http://www.ebay.com …257b12bb56#ht_9​173wt_1153

Definitely my waterhousing...

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What's the model and brand of that? I've been wanting to pick one up for scuba diving and water shots, just like you got there, but I don't know which ones to buy.

Fill us in.

yeamans17 wrote in post #17227897
Definitely my waterhousing...

Lets me get my favorite shots.

CRCchemist wrote in post #17230379
What's the model and brand of that? I've been wanting to pick one up for scuba diving and water shots, just like you got there, but I don't know which ones to buy.

Fill us in.

This is an SPL Waterhousings A-Series (pictured is my fisheye dome port). This setup isn't rated for scuba, it'll bounce off a reef and keep going but is only rated for 15-20ft.

Keep an eye on these gloves, The Heat 3 Smartgloves. I saw them on another thread regarding winter gloves. I've never found a pair that worked for me in really cold weather. I've tried the AquaTech gloves with holes in the index finger and thumb to reach camera buttons, but even with a liner, they were too cold for more than 30 minutes outside. Anything warmer was bulkier and I couldn't feel the controls on the body or the lens.

The Heat gloves are mittens, the warmest design for a winter glove, with a zippable palm that allows you to release your fingers, which are actually in a polypro inner glove. The index finger and thumb have a silver fabric pad which allows you to activate any iPhone or tablet screen, and are close fitting enough to easily access all the buttons on the camera, including being able to feel the tiny extrusion on the ISO button near the top LCD screen. The palms of the mittens are goatskin, the body is a breathable membrane and they're lined with Permaloft. The first three fingers are connected by nylon fabric pulls that help pull off the gloves, but I don't think they're necessary. They produce no restriction of movement, however. There are three places where you can put a chemical heat "teabag" including the back of the fingers. On most websites that have them are testimonials by pro photographers who have tested and used them.

I was unsure of the quality of these before I got them and checked out everything above, but it's all accurate. They're made in Austria, used by Austrian Spec Forces and their ski team, and this is the third iteration of the gloves, so I think that any problems have been well-worked out. They have to be, for the price. But I remember paying the same amount for Marmot ski gloves, and they were still cold as they were not mittens and there was no place for a chemical heat pad. I'm very glad to have gotten these. My one concern is that the outer fabric is not a denser cloth such as Cordura nylon, but if it were, they would not be breathable. They're in black only at Outdoor Photo Gear, and available from Europe in 5 different colors. $199. All sizes are available in the US but you can order from the UK for a price with shipping that's about $10 more and get the color you want including grey and olive drab.

Image courtesy Outdoor Photo Gear

For all of us who use lever clamp releases, I want to introduce another idea. I recently got a new Markins Qi20 ballhead with the BV-22 gimbal attachment. Both the clamps on the device have the new Markins Quick screw release, which they claim is 3X faster than their old one. I have to tell you that it's correct.

I can open the clamp in one complete turn of the knurl, about the same time than it takes to operate the lever release on either one of my Markins lever clamps or my RRS lever clamp. For me this is a big deal because I can now use any plate or L bracket, and it also gives security when I carry the sticks on my shoulder with the camera attached. Perhaps not the safest way but the fastest between shots. Now I have the release speed and the safety.
Image courtesy MarkinsAmerica

Hi tvphotog,

As I noted in the other thread, I have these gloves. I really like them so far. And though I have yet to put them through their paces with the full-fledged Michigan winter yet, they have worked pretty well in the brief dip in temps we had recently. But that winter is definitely coming, I have no doubt they will get their full trial-by-ice (and snow, if not fire) soon, though ...

So far, I have not tried the the chemical HotHands warmers with them: in the moderate chill that we've had, they did not need them. But I rather suspect that I will want, if not need, them in snow + wind chill. Do you know if there are flying restrictions with regards to the HotHands?'

Incidentally, before I got this, I briefly experimented with Swany toaster mittens. These work really well too ... almost.

The plus side to the Swany is that its inner liner glove is removable: this flexibility is really nice, and was why I went for the Swany over the Smart 3 initially. I liked the idea of being able to swap out inner liner gloves as needed (adjust for warmer/cooler temps, switch out if damaged, and, especially, for custom fitting which helps a lot if you are on the small side of the size class and find the extra fabric around the tips makes manipulating controls difficult). The only negative I initially saw was that there were no specialized pockets for the chemical warmers, which I did not think was big deal (you could just use adhesive HotHands). When I got the gloves though, I discovered that the fact that the thumb was always "en-mittened" was a deal-breaker. I use my thumb for a lot of controls, and without being able to (easily) pop it out of the mitten made things too clumsy for me. So I sent them back and went with the Smart 3.