p.3 #3 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
Two brands I really like: SmallRig for mounts/accessories and Op/Tech USA for straps. Both punch above their weight for quality/longevity at their price points.
p.3 #4 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
Mylar "space blankets". Purchased in bulk, decent quality ones cost less than $1 each. They weigh nothing and take up no space. I keep a couple in every bag and backpack I own. Several in vehicles. If the weather goes sideways and you're unprepared, one of these shiny blankets can be the difference between inconvenience and misery or worse.
Add some duct tape and you've got yourself a cozy tent. Also makes a great Halloween Jiffy Pop costume. Works as a reflector too if you need a strictly photographic usage.
p.3 #9 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
I've always had a infant snot sucker to as a dust blower in my bag because it was cheap and compact. My camera backpack usually has an extra carabiner to hang things off of, as well as a baseball cap for sunny and wet conditions, a clean garbage bag in case it gets rainy and I need a quick cover, and some big zip ties for situations where I need to stow stuff.
I often have rubber bands wrapped around the top of my flash: Grab a scrap of paper and it can be a big bounce card or diffuser, or you can use it to trap a gel on top.
Not quite photography related, but I often bring an old laptop bag strap with a carabiner to turn a rolling suitcase into a shoulder bag. Sometimes this helps moving between buses/vans etc or having to roll/tug the thing around versus on uneven ground.
For portrait shoots, Manfrotto superclamp with a little ball head attached to it--if the stud has a 1/4 20 end, then it's easy to attach, if not, I have hacksawed a 1/4" bolt so I can screw the ballhead into the actual base of the superclamp. You can use this to mount a kicker/rimlight flash (in my case an optically triggered Sigma 500 Super) onto something nearby. I once used this attached to the lower leg of a stool I had the subject sitting on to backlight the rear backdrop!
Also, random Home Depot clamps. You know them--they're always in a bin on sale near the cashier. Great for pinning up backdrop fabrics randomly, tucking in clothing on a subject in a pinch. A bag is like $10.
Another stupid invention: a 100mm VESA mount to tripod quick release plate. Allows you to mount a cheap LCD monitor to a tripod to use as a preview monitor/client display.
p.3 #11 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
tsangc wrote:
I've always had a infant snot sucker to as a dust blower in my bag because it was cheap and compact. My camera backpack usually has an extra carabiner to hang things off of, as well as a baseball cap for sunny and wet conditions, a clean garbage bag in case it gets rainy and I need a quick cover, and some big zip ties for situations where I need to stow stuff.
I often have rubber bands wrapped around the top of my flash: Grab a scrap of paper and it can be a big bounce card or diffuser, or you can use it to trap a gel on top.
Not quite photography related, but I often bring an old laptop bag strap with a carabiner to turn a rolling suitcase into a shoulder bag. Sometimes this helps moving between buses/vans etc or having to roll/tug the thing around versus on uneven ground.
For portrait shoots, Manfrotto superclamp with a little ball head attached to it--if the stud has a 1/4 20 end, then it's easy to attach, if not, I have hacksawed a 1/4" bolt so I can screw the ballhead into the actual base of the superclamp. You can use this to mount a kicker/rimlight flash (in my case an optically triggered Sigma 500 Super) onto something nearby. I once used this attached to the lower leg of a stool I had the subject sitting on to backlight the rear backdrop!
Also, random Home Depot clamps. You know them--they're always in a bin on sale near the cashier. Great for pinning up backdrop fabrics randomly, tucking in clothing on a subject in a pinch. A bag is like $10.
Another stupid invention: a 100mm VESA mount to tripod quick release plate. Allows you to mount a cheap LCD monitor to a tripod to use as a preview monitor/client display....Show more →
Do you like any particular brand of super clamps? That is another place I opt for the "fancy" version when there are substantially cheaper options. The Manfrotto 635's have quick opening / closing ratchets that are so much faster to move I just can't use anything else anymore.
p.3 #12 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
Mine are older original Manfrotto clamps, I bought them used for like $15-20 each. They're quite reasonable used so I didn't find the need to buy a new one--I've also had them for over a decade so I didn't even realize they made clones.
I realize how many more applications those clamps+ballheads have: Last summer a friend wanted me to film his garage band's concert and I put a small DSLR behind the drummer's shoulder on a clamp with ballhead: Clamped it to the post of tent! (Nobody ever remembers to get a shot of the drummer!)
If you don't like on camera flash, even with a bounce card or diffused (or don't like the extra awkward apparatus of it above your camera or a speedframe), I've done events where I've clamped a remote flash with a clamp and ballhead to something like the wainscotting (?) on the wall of a ballroom/banquet hall. I point the flash up at the ceiling for bouncing the entire room--sometimes I have a pair of these. That way I don't have an unsightly light stand on the floor where patrons could knock it over and I don't have to drag the stand around me. The flash on a clamp is up above people's heads.
p.3 #13 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
Pixelpuffin wrote:
Don’t get me started on bags…
Must have 20 Domke’s in the loft, next to a dozen ThinkTank bags surrounded by probably 10-20 other bags…
Yet I use a cheap GAP messenger bag I got from a charity shop, stuffed a Domke liner inside and sprayed the exterior with waterproofer!! I take it everywhere and no one bats an eyelid and boy is it comfy!!
You're not selling any of those Domke's are you? I might be looking for an F-2 to store lenses.
Jul 01, 2025 at 12:03 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.3 #14 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
I got a cord for off camera flash, one of the best inexpensive accessories I've ever bought. You probably dont need one to get the flash off camera on the newer models, and even my relatively ancient 540EZ has swivel and bounce, to bounce off ghe ceiling in horizontal and vertical camera orientations, and that takes care of a lot if it. But definitely get the flash off camera.
I have an old Bogen tripod (3031 pro?) that you might be able to find on ebay or something for not much. A friend of mine had a linhof Technika on the same one. Ebay used to have used tripods for not a lot, it looked like
p.3 #16 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
The TTartisans 25mm is a great little lens when I'm looking for lens flare in my shots. APS-c lens that works great on my A7RV and FX30. It is currently a whopping $64 since the tariffs increased price.
p.3 #17 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
This is a fun cheap lens, assuming you've ever seen shots from a Summilux-M 35/1.4 pre-ASPH and thought there was something attractive about them. It apes the 7/5 design to surprisingly good effect.
p.3 #18 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
White gaffer tape is essential.
Each lens gets a small arrow to make mounting faster and foolproof, especially in poor light.
Each body cap also gets a piece of white tape to help find it in the dark.
I also draw an arrow on it to know its orientation, so there's no fiddling when switching bodies or lenses.
I don't understand why the insides of camera bags are still predominantly black, or dark. In the days of film you could make a shaky case for that, but not any more.
p.3 #19 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
I use a Brother P type label maker to print various labels for camera gear, such as bodies, batteries, lenses, etc. It's good to know when you have multiple copies of cameras, lenses, batteries, mounts, etc.
I have been known to use labels on lens/mount items to help orientation, but a physical bumper for feel rather than sight is more useful in low light or if not wearing glasses.
I buy colored items where possible to find stuff in the camera bag and luggage.
p.3 #20 · Cheap gear or accessories you would recommend..
Another low cost accessory I really like is the Tenba Tools lens wrap. They are more protective than the Domke and other brand wraps, while being very lightweight. The 20" and 16" are most useful for lenses and bodies. https://tenba.com/tenba-tools-20-inch-protective-wrap-lime/
