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Dave miller
1st March 2009, 01:54 PM
I wondering if any of you have an unusual gadget, maybe something you have found or made that helps either your photography or printing, that you would like to share with the rest of us.

Argentum
1st March 2009, 03:18 PM
Own up Dave, how many gadgets do you have :D

vincent
1st March 2009, 04:10 PM
I use a soft rubber mat that folds up into my camera bag. I use it to rest one or both knees when I'm shooting landscapes. It keeps the knees of my trouser's dry and it easier on my knee joints. I bought it in an outdoor pursuit shop.

Trevor Crone
1st March 2009, 04:26 PM
Inexpensive stuff sacks bought from camping stores. I have one for each of my LF cameras which helps keep them dry and dust free when in the field.

Dave miller
1st March 2009, 04:30 PM
This gadget has got me out of trouble on several occasions.
It original job, is just as it says on the label, is for developing roll film. The underside of the central prong is smoothly rounded (as can be seen in the first picture) so that when it is immersed flat in developer and the film looped around it, the film can be pulled back an forth during processing with the loop remaining in the fluid.
Presumably one either had another for the fixer, or poured the developer out of the tray and replaced it with fixer to complete the process.
As I say it’s got me out of trouble a couple of times when I’ve taken a film off a reel and found that it was incompletely fixed. I’ve then used this device to complete the fixing process.

kennethcooke
1st March 2009, 05:16 PM
I bought a Leitz 5 X Loupe some time ago for viewing slides. It now has been given a new lease of life for viewing negs with the attachment that comes with. Needless to say the optics are exemplary and it is still available second hand if one searches. I recommend it most highly

Argentum
1st March 2009, 08:46 PM
I have a densitometer which I bought when I was learning. It's more than a gadget though. I know you don't need one but I would say that I learnt more about film and paper contrast and contrast control a lot faster than if I hadn't got one.
It saves a lot of time when film testing and confirms you are doing things correctly once have established your personal baselines.

As an example, because I printed step wedges to produce print curves at different grades, I was able to prove to myself that dichroic filters are quite capable of producing ISO G5 on my enlarger with MGIV. Had I not done that, then I would very likely still beleive the myth that dichroic enlargers aren't capable of ISO G5 which a lot of so called experts have been putting about for years. That is not to say that all dichroic enlargers are capable of it though.;)
It helped me to understand exactly how my papers respond to filtration input and find the speed point so that I could base print time on a midtone and play with contrast around that tone, without having to alter time. Had I followed the advice to work out print time on a highlight value, then I would always be having to compensate for time with a contrast change.