Best photogrphic accessories

Lets share this with each other...
What are the best photographic accessories you own? (aside from obvious ones: tripod/heads, filters, cable release, lens hoods)

Brunton 26 watt solar charger. Details here.

I do a lot of macro photography. I wouldn't spend a day afield without a 32" (?) Photoflex light disc diffuser and a smaller Photoflex reflector.

Pete D.
I know my www link it to Google - it is great to be so powerful.

Thanks for asking, Mohsen. I've been kinda meaning to ask this question myself.

These are indispensable to me:
Hot shoe bubble level. I keep losing them - I'm on my fifth one. (Be careful - some are not true, especially the tri-axis ones)
Lens pen - I lose these too. I'm on the third one)
The Photographer's Ephemeris (free software - terrific)
Arctic Butterfly - best sensor cleaner I've found.
DEET - get at least 25%. Regardless of what you may have heard, it's the only repellent that's effective on noseeums

I'm with Buck. The hot-shoe bubble level is the best $20 I've spent - even with Live View, it's tough to see when you are truly level until you get home & it's too late.

I also like my L-bracket - I wasn't sure I would want to unclamp the camera to go to portrait mode, but once used to it, the tripod is a lot more stable. A nice addition. I use the Kirk L-Bracket, but Really Right Stuff has them too.

Lastly, my I-phone. With the apps that tell me when and where the sun and moon will rise, and the app for tide tables, I'm better informed on my location and what to expect. I'm sure there are other apps that help as well.

Rain Jacket and a solid black umbrella. I somehow seem to find myself standing beside a stream in the rain trying to keep my camera and myself somewhat dry.

Bruce

"The hot-shoe bubble level is the best $20 I've spent"

While I agree that a hot shoe bubble level is invaluable, there's certainly no reason
to spend $20 on a part that retails for $5-$6 elsewhere.
Also agree that the Photographer's Ephemeris is invaluable for locating precise locations for sunset/sunrise/moonset/moonrise.
And yet another vote for the 'L' bracket.

T.P.
Bug Juice
Cookies
Coffee (I need three cups--one for each eye, and one for the motor!
Manual GPS (Topo Map and Magnetic Compass)

Oh, wait...These are essentials. So, if something is truly an 'accessory', why carry it?

This reminds of a quote in the Whole Earth Catalog from way back when: "Distinguish between what you really need, and what you wish you needed."

I am sort of playing devil's advocate, here. I think we sometimes over-estimate what we really need to make our photographs uniquely our own. In my opinion, the more we are encumbered by equipment, the less engaged we are with the act of creating a photograph.

--P

LED headlamp for trail walking in the dark
2' x 3' piece of tarp for crawling around doing macro work
Really Right Stuff Sliding rail for doing wide angle panos to rotate around the nodal point
Leatherman Juice multi-tool
Polarizer
Note pad and pen
Singh Ray Vari-ND filter
Small thing of bug spray
Canon 500D close up lens
Remote trigger
L-bracket
Bubble level

I think that's everything in my bag other than camera and lenses.

Another vote for the hotshoe bubble level, and living in Florida I ALWAYS have mosquito repellent and sunscreen.

a heavy well made bean bag for shooting out of the car window
small LED flashlight that I always clip on somewhere on my person
snake gaiters for tromping around in the grasslands in summer
I guess I don't even think of an L bracket as an accessory. I don't own a camera without one mounted on it.
five or six high quality lens cloths placed where I can always get at one - mostly for my glasses but also for display smudges and water.

That's pretty much it.

To add to Preston's list, the owner's manual of your camera. For those of you have not taught photography, even at a club presentation level, you would be surprised at how many people haven't read it, much less know what their camera can do. While you don't necessary need toknow that custom function 4 does blah, it is useful to know that it does blah and have the manual to look it up on the rare occasions you need to do blah.

Yeah, I have a lot of gear, and a lot of really useful crap to go with it. It is also a big reason why I choose 4x5 at times. Most of my 35 mm based gear and accessories are based on what I want, not what I truly need for making good images. The 4x5 cuts through a lot of that.

I did buy a cheap hotshoe bubble level, and it was out of whack, so now looking for a $20 one. Thanks Buck for pointing me to The Photographer's Emphemeris - beautiful bit of software!

Bogen Super Clamp.

Screw your ballhead onto it and you can mount it on anything up to a little over 2" in diameter. I clamp it to the top of stepladders for high viewpoints over obstructions, including tamarisk along Western rivers. Clamp it to the leg of your tripod and it's infinitely movable for macro shooting. Put a spare ballhead on it and mount it on the leg so you can use two cameras at once on the same tripod. Mount your strobe on it and clamp it anywhere for off-camera fill.

Best $30 I ever spent and so handy, mine spends it's life clamped to the upper leg of my tripod when not needed. I'll never leave home without it.

Be careful mounting the bogen clamp to a carbon fiber tripod leg. I overdid it one time and cracked the leg of my Gitzo 1325.

Mike

plamp
L-bracket
big black plastic garbage bag (ie rainsuit in a pinch, something to lay over the mud when I'm on my knees, something to lay the extra camera on)
reflector and diffuser
hex keys with only the ones I need left in the small case
leatherman knock-off
bug spray

Sandy

I may not use it for every shot , but my Hoodman hood loupe is worth every penny.

Jack