Useless gadgets

[muggins]

Just for a bit of fun what is the most useless photography related gadget that people have bought ?
For example the two or three way bubble level that fits in the hot shoe.
Any takers?
All the best.
Muggins AKA Steve.

[rum pig]

As no one has answered I post something.

I bought a tripod that had a ball head on it which is ok but part of there selling point was it had two VERY small compasses that is meant to allow you to make sure you set up facing the right direction in reference.
Sounds good for a gimmick except it can be anything up to 90 degrees out.

[hakka]

For example the two or three way bubble level that fits in the hot shoe.


I bought 10 of these, the 9 that aren't level are completely useless, but the one that is level is very handy.

[ricktas]

a 'specials bin' bag of microfibre cleaning cloths at a local camera store. That when opened had a little piece of paper inside them that stated something like 'The quality of these cloths is not guaranteed for use on precision optics'. S'pose seeing the pack of 10 microfibre cloths for $2.00 should have been the warning sign :D

[fabian628]

probably a cheap UV filters back when I didnt know any better.
All other small accessories are usually useful

[Xenedis]

Just for a bit of fun what is the most useless photography related gadget that people have bought ?

Once upon a time, I was silly enough to buy UV filters.



For example the two or three way bubble level that fits in the hot shoe.


I have one of these, and it is actually quite useful.

In many forms of photography having the horizon straight and the axis of the lens parallel to the ground is quite important.

- - - Updated - - -


As no one has answered I post something.
I bought a tripod that had a ball head on it which is ok but part of there selling point was it had two VERY small compasses that is meant to allow you to make sure you set up facing the right direction in reference.

What exactly is the right direction?

[arthurking83]

...... but the one that is level is very handy.

That's what I would have thought tooo.(for camera's without built in leveling tools.

I reckon the single most useless camera accessory I've ever read about is the lens that takes photos from side on!

They're usually marketed as spy lenses, but if you required a 'spy lens' then the assumption is that you are a spy(secret agent/covert operative/etc) and that the agency you work for would provide such surveillance devices themselves.

Why the general public has a need to orient themselves in one direction whilst hooting in another is beyond my ability to reason with.


a 'specials bin' bag of microfibre cleaning cloths at a local camera store. That when opened had a little piece of paper inside them that stated something like 'The quality of these cloths is not guaranteed for use on precision optics'. S'pose seeing the pack of 10 microfibre cloths for $2.00 should have been the warning sign :D

Sounds about right!
I've been needing to get myself a new set of cloths for a while, and so a while back, I was in a store and had to avail myself of a few packets(stoking up you know).
All up I purchased 5 packs of a single cloth in each.
The pricing was: $4 for a noname brand(blue) and $20 for a name brand(ILFORD) antistatic version.
Going on price, I was instantly attracted to the cheaper blue cloth .. it's only a cloth afterall, and so I grabbed 5 of them. But! being the curious type(and with a bit of a need), I had to try one of the so called anti static ILFORD type as well.
With the grad filters(resin) sometimes as they collect dust, as you wipe them with a cloth, the dust gathers in clumps a the leading edge of the cloth, but it seems to stick to the filter(both Lee's and the poly type Cokins).
First things first when I got home, was to see if the anti static orange cloth made any difference, and of course it didn't! .. $20 down the drain I guess .. but it's still a nice clean microfibre cleaning cloth I guess!
Not completely useless, but a waste of money, for sure!

[nwhc]

A sigma 18-200

I grab my microfibres from an optometrist mate, free for me but they retail cheaper other stores I have seen.

[etherial]

I bought one of those cheap diffusers that Velcro on to my speed lights. Stupid thing broke on its first use due to it's amazingly poor design and manufacturing standards. And as for diffusing light, wow it cut the output from the speedlite to a point it was useless! Biggest waste of $5 ever :p

[jim]

a 'specials bin' bag of microfibre cleaning cloths at a local camera store. That when opened had a little piece of paper inside them that stated something like 'The quality of these cloths is not guaranteed for use on precision optics'. S'pose seeing the pack of 10 microfibre cloths for $2.00 should have been the warning sign :D

If I were selling microfibre cloths @ $2 for 10 I probably wouldn't guarantee them for use with precision optics, no matter how good I thought they were.

[hakka]

That's what I would have thought tooo.(for camera's without built in leveling tools.



The D7000 can indicate that a scene is level in the viewfinder but its still a few degrees off, i can tilt the lens a fair bit before it indicates that its tilted. With the spirit level I can get it spot on every time.

[Ezookiel]

* I bought one of the hot shoe bubbles. It's not 2 or 3 way, it's 360 degree way, it's a bubble in a bubble, so indicates all directions at once. I never use it because the camera has a level built in.
* I bought a packet of cheap filters, and cheap filters aren't worth even the cheap price, they do horrid things to the optics.
* I bought a lens hood that shows up in the corner of every shot between 18mm and 20mm on the 18-200.

And that's just some of them, there are probably heaps more.

[Bennymiata]

Not something I bought, but a gift.
A huge mounting bracket that takes the camera at the centre, and 2 flashes on either side of the camera.
It also has hinges between the inner and outer flash cold shoes so you can adjust them.
It you load it up with a camera and 4 flashes, the rig is so heavy you can hardly hold it up to your eye, and the hinges are so weak that they constantly droop.
It is so unwieldly to hold, or even mount on a tripod, that it is totally useless.