Photo stuff that is useful

I wrote in a previous article that the photo industry throws tons of stuff into the market and wants you to believe that all of this is a must have to be a good photographer. The ugly truth is that only some very few things are even useful.

Vital is only one thing and that is the camera … there are some things however I found quite useful to help you build a consistent workflow and quality and this is why i use them frequently.

The hand held light meter

Some people will tell you that this thing is a zombie from the past and a waste of money. Well it is not and those people do not know what they are talking about.

I do never photograph without a hand held light meter. It is foolproof and takes only a few seconds to apply.

In fact it is the only tool that helps you to establish your light and scenery in exactly the way you want. This is especially true if you work with artificial lights.

I will not explain the technical reasons because they are evident and can be read everywhere on the internet but believe me when I say to you that no histogram, no mismatched display on your camera nor half understood rules from whatnot can replace this device. That is a fact.

The color checker

This is little more than a small toolbox that contains a set of color plates that you can use as a reference. While something like this is not strictly required in the process I found that it helps you to establish very consistent colors and white balance. Especially in difficult lighting conditions when you expect a lot of color cast.

Its not cheap but can easily be applied. When you start to make use of it the thing will pay off quickly and honestly I am glad to have one.

Polarization Filter

Most people use this kind of filter because they want to intensify the blue of the sky or eliminate reflections. I like to use it specifically when the light is very bright and requires me to step down otherwise.

There is one disadvantage however. If you bought a cheap filter, you sometimes need to check if the it disturbs the color balance. The results can easily look unreal if you use it wrongly.

Using lenses with proper scales for manual focusing 

A good lenses features:

• a distance scale
• a hyper-focal distance scale (sounds outright scientific yes ?)
• an aperture ring that actually sets the lens aperture

Sounds terrifying ? In fact it is totally easy to use those scales.

Unfortunately even many so called prime lenses with their poor design and material do no longer have such scales and many people think that such obscure machinations are obsolete nowadays. The auto focus is so much more convenient … really ?

If you know how to work with those scales efficiently however your photography experience will improve greatly … believe me.

A flexible lens hood with bellows

All lenses come with their own hood to block out unwanted light. Not all of those are extraordinary useful though. Sometimes they are too small, sometimes too big so that they even produce shades on your images. Specifically you cannot control the amount of light that is being shut out.

This is why I use a hood with bellows. It is a very flexible device mounted to the lens like any other hood. But you can fully control the amount of light and the angel of light that is hitting the lens by manipulating the bellow. Looks cool too by the way …

Currently Lee in the UK is the only vendor of such hoods as far as I know.