Useless or absurd accessories

[Marsu42]

The worst accessory I can think of is the selfie stick!

It might look ridiculous, but I doubt it qualified as "useless" because the favorite occupations of people using small silvber p&s seems to be to shoot self-portraits of their group - but their arms aren't long enough, so it most of the time it looks rather awkward

 

[photo212]

This is a great thread. I'm loving the placement ads in the thread. Sooooo appropriate!

 

[bod]

Top of my list of unused photographic accessories in my cupboards would be the soft lens pouches that canon include with some of their lenses. I do not consider them to provide effective protective padding so always purchase a decent lens case when I buy a lens. Much more impressed with the cases that the Sigma lenses ship with as regards both protecting the lens and ease of getting the lens in and out of the lens case.

 

[pato]

Hmm I believe it's the close-up screw on "filters" which I use the rarest, luckily not very expensive.
Regarding the "joint tripod", I own one of the original brand which I used quite a lot with my 550D. I did add a good ball head to it and with this combo I could easily use it in my holidays. Never a problem with the joints or the stability.

 

[mackguyver]

The worst accessory I can think of is the selfie stick!

It might look ridiculous, but I doubt it qualified as "useless" because the favorite occupations of people using small silvber p&s seems to be to shoot self-portraits of their group - but their arms aren't long enough, so it most of the time it looks rather awkward

Has anyone ever seen "Survivorman" - he definitely made good use of the selfie stick.

Mini-softbox for on camera flash...

I've actually had a lot of luck with mini softboxes - both the light box from Harbor Digital Design and the LumiQuest SoftBox LQ-107. No, they aren't miracles, but they blow away a direct flash in situations where you can't use a bounce flash or off camera flash.

 

[TexPhoto]

I never bought one, but this has always been my favorite hilarious accessory. If I ever see one in public, i will photograph that person until they cry. It's basically a camera strap that will allow you to drag your camera on the ground between your legs.

"Not-A-Pod is a convenient, user friendly product for increasing camera stabilization. It consists of two adjustable straps and a swivel screw which attach to a camera and the user's belt loops. After adjusting the straps for individual height, tension is achieved when the user pulls up on the camera as the photo is taken, providing a three point stabilization system."

 

[danski0224]

I bought a micro camera to clip onto Fluffy's collar to see what she did all day. The camera was set to take an image every 10 seconds. I managed to capture 9 hours of sleeping cat.

I tried it on her outside. She came back without camera and collar. I never found it.

Don't ask, don't tell...

Secret life of cats.

;D

 

[Rienzphotoz]

This is a great thread. I'm loving the placement ads in the thread. Sooooo appropriate!

;D

 

[Rat]

I also remember buying 2 third party rubber lens hoods for my 18-55 kit lens (can't even say that without laughing now!). Pointless garbage. Also bought one of those lens caps that have a string attached so you don't lose it. It just flaps about annoyingly and gets in the way instead! Pointless!

I love the rubber hoods for shooting through windows, they eliminate most reflections if you have 'em flush on the pane, and allow you to shoot under an angle doing that. And those strings are brilliant - I attached a bunch of those to the zippers on my motorcycle jacket. That way, I can operate them with gloves on )

And I have a bunch of stupid gizmo's - I always buy cheap first, if I use it enough and I can find the shortcomings of whatever it is, I buy something more expensive. Goes for most everything, tools, food, furniture, 400D>5DIII... The plus side is: I frequently find I don't even want to use stuff before spending serious money, and I have a lot of stuff that I do use which doesn't need to be expensive. Flash diffusers, the no-name LP-E6's that I use, rings, remotes, cords, gloves, you name it - I paid pennies and will never need more.

I bought a micro camera to clip onto Fluffy's collar to see what she did all day. The camera was set to take an image every 10 seconds. I managed to capture 9 hours of sleeping cat.

I tried it on her outside. She came back without camera and collar. I never found it.

This had me in stitches. Pet Fluffy on my behalf, will ya ;D

 

[MrFotoFool]

Mini-softbox for on camera flash...

We have one (Gary Fong Puffer) that we use on the compact camera at my work (photo lab) to shoot passport photos. Completely eliminates red eye. Very useful item IMO.

 

[chas1113]

I bought a micro camera to clip onto Fluffy's collar to see what she did all day. The camera was set to take an image every 10 seconds. I managed to capture 9 hours of sleeping cat.

I tried it on her outside. She came back without camera and collar. I never found it.

LOL! That is the funniest thing I've read in a while.

 

[Marsu42]

I tried it on her outside. She came back without camera and collar. I never found it.

My guess is that's the same problem hunters seem to face: Their remote cameras for tracking the movement of wildlife are so expensive that they frequently vanish into thin air ... wild boars seem to be even more clever than it's generally assumed

 

[surapon]

What have you seen for idiotic accessories or for items that were just not thought out....

I saw a car window mount tripod head..... You roll down the window, slip it over the edge of the glass, and mount your camera or spotting scope to it. This one was marketed as XXXXXX window mount, real tree camouflage. Why would you need camouflage? With a couple of square inches of camouflage the critters will not be able to see you? That somehow they will miss the car, the big white lens, and the person behind it, but it is the tiny mount that matters?

Sort of like camouflage flashlights

I cannot speak to the camouflage, but the slip over the car window tripod head can be quite a useful accessory, if you are shooting things where you don't want to get out of your car but still want a decently stable platform.

I have one - I've used it for shooting waves crashing on the beach during a storm.

(I've also used it to hold a traffic radar antenna when clocking a road race).

.

+1 for me , Sir, Dear Mr. Don and Mr. TAF
"I cannot speak to the camouflage, but the slip over the car window tripod head can be quite a useful accessory, if you are shooting things where you don't want to get out of your car but still want a decently stable platform."
Here I just post my DIY for use at the car window :

http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php/topic,18507.0.html

Surapon

 

[surapon]

I also remember buying 2 third party rubber lens hoods for my 18-55 kit lens (can't even say that without laughing now!). Pointless garbage. Also bought one of those lens caps that have a string attached so you don't lose it. It just flaps about annoyingly and gets in the way instead! Pointless!

I love the rubber hoods for shooting through windows, they eliminate most reflections if you have 'em flush on the pane, and allow you to shoot under an angle doing that. And those strings are brilliant - I attached a bunch of those to the zippers on my motorcycle jacket. That way, I can operate them with gloves on )

And I have a bunch of stupid gizmo's - I always buy cheap first, if I use it enough and I can find the shortcomings of whatever it is, I buy something more expensive. Goes for most everything, tools, food, furniture, 400D>5DIII... The plus side is: I frequently find I don't even want to use stuff before spending serious money, and I have a lot of stuff that I do use which doesn't need to be expensive. Flash diffusers, the no-name LP-E6's that I use, rings, remotes, cords, gloves, you name it - I paid pennies and will never need more.

I bought a micro camera to clip onto Fluffy's collar to see what she did all day. The camera was set to take an image every 10 seconds. I managed to capture 9 hours of sleeping cat.

I tried it on her outside. She came back without camera and collar. I never found it.

This had me in stitches. Pet Fluffy on my behalf, will ya ;D

Dear Mr. Rat +1 for me too, Sir
"I love the rubber hoods for shooting through windows, they eliminate most reflections if you have 'em flush on the pane, and allow you to shoot under an angle doing that."------When I am on the airplane, I use my rubber hood to take the Photos of the cloud and the city below me too.
Thanks for your great Comments.
Surapon

 

[Loswr]

It's interesting that after 21 posts, there have been precious few genuinely absurd accessories stories. Many of us may have made dumb purchases along the lines of the cheap tripod folly, but what I'm reading is that most of us a actually reasonably savvy about what represents a genuinely useful addition to the kit.

Aren't we a smart bunch!

Over 50 posts now, and the only thing that seems to be truly useless is the 'cat collar cam'...

I think in these Images the joints" must have been super glued.

Exactly - and in Germany they don't show this image with the L lens, or it would be misleading and you could return the item (well, per mail order you can return it anyway for 2 weeks, but still). However the text accompanying the mini-tripod heavily implies that you can use it in versatile ways and makes absolutely no mention of the very strong weight limit - that's why it came to my mind when thinking of "useless".

I used a GorillaPod SLR Zoom with BH1 ballhead for this shot:



It's a 1/3 s exposure of Flume Cascade along Route 302 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The shot was taken with a gripped 7D and 17-55mm f/2.8 lens (approximately the same weight/size as a 1D X + 24-105L combo), with the legs of the GorillaPod wrapped around a guard rail over the gorge (note that I didn't take the shot below).

 

[justawriter]

I wouldn't call mine exactly useless, because I did get a couple of good years out of it. My first camera was a Ricoh that I got for college graduation and I used it for about 10 years before it was stolen. I was pretty broke at the time so I picked up a used T-60 because it was super cheap and came with a fairly nice 70-300 lens and I was able to pick up a couple of other lenses in pawn shops over the years. I got some good shots despite the horrible limitations of that camera. That was about 1992. A few years later, I had the scratch to upgrade my camera body only to be told "everything is EOS now, nothing works with your lenses." I think he offered me a trade in of five bucks a lens or something like that. So my tale of woe is more about obsolescence and bad timing rather than poor design, but it felt pretty useless at the time.

 

[Zlyden]

The most stupid accessories I ever bought are lens hoods for 50/1.8 II:

At first I got some cheap 3rd party hood that screws onto the lens and prevents lens from being closed with cap. (I bought the thing with pile of other stuff because it was cheap).

That put me into 'buy only Canon Original hoods!' mode and few years later (with another pile of gear and accessories) I ordered normal 'ES-62' hood. Yes, I can put lens cap onto the lens now! But it feels not exactly solid and I got impression that I can break the hood's clamps if I put camera on to the table (or probably I will damage some plastic in this fantastic lens).

So, now I'm finally convinced that 50/1.8 needs no hood at all

PS: This experience was not enough, and recently I ordered and got lens hood for EF-M 22 (before I saw what size it is). I still wonder about its purpose and wait for next summer with bright sunlight to test its efficiency.

PPS: I also have "Lensbaby 2.0" (this was a gift from friends) with 'Macro/Wide' accessory kit. Even made few strange shots with it (4 or 5 years ago)...

 

[Loswr]

PS: This experience was not enough, and recently I ordered and got lens hood for EF-M 22 (before I saw what size it is). I still wonder about its purpose and wait for next summer with bright sunlight to test its efficiency.

I estimated that the Canon ES-52 hood for the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM would be the right diameter and depth to provide appropriate protection from flare to a 14mm lens. It's shallow enough that no physical protection is offered, either. I think that qualifies it as 'useless'...

 

[Zv]

Those cheap lens cleaning tissues, solution and mini blower that's too small to actually blow anything off the lens. Yeah that was a smart purchase!

Then I bought a slightly bigger blower.

Then finally the rocket blower.

It's like tripods but with blowers.

Yup - I bought the Canon lens hood for the 50mm f/1.8 II as well. Never used it and gave it away free when I sold the lens.

 

[unfocused]

I never bought one, but this has always been my favorite hilarious accessory. If I ever see one in public, i will photograph that person until they cry. It's basically a camera strap that will allow you to drag your camera on the ground between your legs.

But, if you slip the strap around the back of your neck, your pants will stay up. (At least in the front).