Coolest photo tool(s) you have/have used?

[Daniel Stone]

Just wondering if anyone else has been enamored by any of their tools photo-related(or indirectly photo-related)?

I treated myself to a set of the SKGrimes wrenches, they arrived last night w/ the postman. Boy these are nice, super strong. And a STEAL @ $66 shipped for both... An absolute steal. Steel construction. Super duper strong. Makes that little POS set I bought a few years ago from the P.R.C. look like toothpicks... My other cool tool I've used a lot is my Giottos rocket blower... Much better than spit on the glass when cleaning a lens ;). And the rubber finger-gloves from the local dollar store. Good for handling stuff that doesn't like fingerprints, like finished prints(although I usually just use the Costco nitrile non-powdered gloves.

What about you?

-Dan

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy161/mr_danielstone/FavoritePhotoTools.jpg

[Kirk Gittings]

Damn, Those Grimes wrenches are a thing of beauty.

[Nathan Potter]

Daniel, I have those Grimes spanners also - the best I've found.

But maybe the most useful item I have is a Wild Heerbrugg M3 binocular microscope I got as it was on the way to the town landfill in Sudbury MA. Use it to inspect every film prior to scanning. Has a calibrated reticle in the eyepiece so I can roughly determine the resolution of fine features in the emulsion which then enables me to tell if a drum scan is worth while or the image will be relegated to the Epson V750 or the Nikon 5000. Smallest eyepiece division at 50X is 20 µm.

Related to the Wild is a 10µm per division Leitz substage reticle obtained from ebay for $20.
Most invaluable for calibrating a bunch of things related to photography.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[jcoldslabs]

+1 on the Grimes spanners. I only have the flat tipped version, but it paid for itself the first day by allowing me to take apart a non-cemented Xenar front element and clean the haze between the glass. Although, I did go a little crazy and wreck a second lens by stripping out the slots of the retaining ring while cross threading it at the same time. D'oh!

Jonathan

[John Kasaian]

A Printfile proofer. It makes printing contacts simpler than handling a plate of glass and getting finger prints all over the place.
Betty Crocker plastic measuring cups from Walmart---way cheaper than graduates for measuring out doses for one shot processing. I've got one each for dev, stop & fix.
Long out of producting GE Guide night lights. Plug 'em in substitutes for OC safelights. I've still got two working.
A light box for loupeing negs---I don't know how I every got by with out it.
A band saw and a drill press. It make it easy to fabricate whatever is needed in the dark room or any place else! Mine were discontinued display models I picked up cheap.
A Panavision changing bag---a fugitive from a Hollywood production company--- the best and most roomy changing bag I've come across.

[Jody_S]

I cut & threaded a bunch of retaining rings and adapters on a 5.400 lb Dean Smith & Grace engine lathe, which I had to sell when i sold my house last year. I'm currently looking for a table-top replacement that will cut threads. So far though I only have a couple of jeweler's lathes (Boley & Unimat DB 200). I still haven't successfully coated a lens with my vacuum sputter coater, so I guess that doesn't count.

[Doug Howk]

Flasher from RHDesign, attached to enlarger lensboard, enables easier printing of high DR negatives. Similarly for silver chloride papers, Besseler Audible Timers attached to lightbulb fixtures enables flashing as short as 1/10 second (normally for me, 3/10 sec for Fomalux).

[Brian Ellis]

The Salt Hill 4x5 film washer and their easel. Both were were elegant, well-made, and did the job they were designed to do with a minimum of fuss. The Aristo VCL4500 enlarger head was very nice too though nothing special to look at. Grimes wrenches were nice except that Airport Security confiscated mine when I took it through the xray machine in my backpack. They said it was a weapon. : - )

[Michael Graves]

I have a test strip easel that is slicker than batsh...that I really like a lot. I don't know who made it, and I don't see a name anywhere. But you put a 3" x 6" strip of paper into it and then open little shutters, one at a time, and give a burst of exposure each time you open one of the shutters. When you are finished developing it, you have six neatly separated rectangles of the image...moving up the scale from one burst to six bursts. I can also use it to get tests of exactly the same spot by positioning a straight-edge on the baseboard and sliding it in 1" increments and using multiple bursts.

[Ari]

Technikardan 45...sweet.

[Maris Rusis]

Auto-Knips mechanical self timer and long exposure (1 to 12 seconds) device that connects to the end of a cable release. Without it I can never get into my own photographs...the piano player never gets to dance, etc, etc...

[neil poulsen]

There are a few that come to mind:

>> Right at the top is my Arca Swiss 171mm 4x5 Classic F. Picked it up in the 90's for $450.

>> My Zone VI compensating enlarging and developing timers. (One of each.) Very cool! Great tools in the darkroom.

>> I have a collection of the old MC bayonet mount reduction lensboards for different cameras. I have two small ones that I've attached to lensboards for my 4x5 Arca and old-style 6x9 Arca cameras. Problem with the original, circular metal lensboards that fit the larger reduction lensboards was that they were too thick. I make my own, and they work great. Small and very convenient.

[Ari]

Those L-shaped adapters that go between the shutter and cable release make my life a little easier.

[C. D. Keth]

This is going to sound cheesy and like I'm an ADD 14 year old kid but here goes. You may judge me as you wish. My coolest single tool is probably my iphone. I have a viewfinder app that can show me the field of view of any lens on any format from minox to 8x10. It's frequently a stopwatch to time long exposures. I record exposure information on it as a voice recorder so I can shoot now, write later. I have an app to track the path of the sun in time and space. I can calculate depth of field and find hyperfocal distances with a few finger taps. I can keep convenient timers and notes for film development. I have a calculator function saved that calculates reciprocity values rather than estimating them from ilford's crappy little tables. I even have a small flashlight and can read this forum with it!

Do I need it? No. I would be completely lying if I said something stupid like "I wouldn't know what to do without it" but I can conveniently do a lot of things with it, leaving me free to carry less stuff or be more informed than I might have otherwise been.

[jcoldslabs]

You may judge me as you wish. My coolest single tool is probably my iphone.

Judge you? I want to be you! I don't even own a cell phone.

Jonathan

[fecaleagle]

My coolest single tool is probably my iphone.

I use my iPhone as a development timer. Switch to airplane mode and turn off wi-fi (so no incoming calls or other distractions to light up the screen), and let my pre-recorded talking timer play. I don't use the viewfinder app nearly as much as I was planning, but the light meter has saved me in quite a few pinches!

Other than that, I have no cool tools except a round file, sandpaper, and a precision screwdriver set.

-William

[E. von Hoegh]

That would be my Linhof STIV outfit.

[paulr]

William, how good is the iphone light meter ap?

One of the coolest tools I ever used was the giant H-K 8x10 horizontal enlarger, back when I worked at a custom lab. The thing moved back and forth on railroad tracks, was controlled by a remote handheld console, had extremely accurate auto-focus, and worked with a horizontal vacuum easel that could hold roll paper flat no matter the size or weight. The coolest part, though, was the negative holders. They were huge, weighed a ton, and were beautifully machined. They were glassless ... they grabbed the neg by the corners (they just needed about a milimeter to grab on) and pulled it tight as a drum. Perfectly flat, but no additional glass surfaces. Same idea as the besseler neg-a-flat, but that version unfortunately earned the nick name "neg-a-scratch." The H-K never left a mark.

[C. D. Keth]

William, how good is the iphone light meter ap?

One of the coolest tools I ever used was the giant H-K 8x10 horizontal enlarger, back when I worked at a custom lab. The thing moved back and forth on railroad tracks, was controlled by a remote handheld console, had extremely accurate auto-focus, and worked with a horizontal vacuum easel that could hold roll paper flat no matter the size or weight. The coolest part, though, was the negative holders. They were huge, weighed a ton, and were beautifully machined. They were glassless ... they grabbed the neg by the corners (they just needed about a milimeter to grab on) and pulled it tight as a drum. Perfectly flat, but no additional glass surfaces. Same idea as the besseler neg-a-flat, but that version unfortunately earned the nick name "neg-a-scratch." The H-K never left a mark.

Sounds like an enlarger a lot of us would kill to have now and I bet a lot of those ended up in the tip :(

[Cletus]

I pretty happy with my RH Designs Analyzer Pro. Is not the be-all/end-all I hoped it would be, but a little time spent with the manual and proper calibration and it saves a LOT of time and paper. I'll probably add a StopClock Pro and maybe Paper Flasher at some time in the future. If nothing else, I know I'll never need to look further for an enlarger timer again!

[fecaleagle]

You want to download "Pocket Light Meter." It is free to download and a small fee to remove the ads and/or buy the developer a pint. From everything that I have read, it is the best iPhone Meter available. I believe there was a thread on it and the alternatives here at one point. It does not work well in low-light, but I am very happy with my results. I don't have a bonafide light meter to compare its readings to though...

[r.e.]

This is going to sound cheesy and like I'm an ADD 14 year old kid but here goes. You may judge me as you wish. My coolest single tool is probably my iphone. I have a viewfinder app that can show me the field of view of any lens on any format from minox to 8x10. It's frequently a stopwatch to time long exposures. I record exposure information on it as a voice recorder so I can shoot now, write later. I have an app to track the path of the sun in time and space. I can calculate depth of field and find hyperfocal distances with a few finger taps. I can keep convenient timers and notes for film development. I have a calculator function saved that calculates reciprocity values rather than estimating them from ilford's crappy little tables. I even have a small flashlight and can read this forum with it!

Do I need it? No. I would be completely lying if I said something stupid like "I wouldn't know what to do without it" but I can conveniently do a lot of things with it, leaving me free to carry less stuff or be more informed than I might have otherwise been.

Very interested in knowing which Apps are you using for these functions.

[C. D. Keth]

Very interested in knowing which Apps are you using for these functions.

I use "Artemis" for a viewfinder. It's kind of pricy, but I know the developer and get it for the price of beta testing notes. I'm working with him right now to add a bit better functionality for users with stills in mind. It's primarily for motion picture work but the changes are simple, they just need to be done.

"Sun Seeker" is good for figuring out sun position and times. "Helios" is also good for this but I think it's a bit unwieldy and expensive. Same developer and arrangement as I have for Artemis.

"pCam" is for a depth of field calculator and for finding hyperfocal distances.

I use a timer app called "Elapsed" for saving and running multiple timers at once for development. I develop in BTZS tubes so it's helpful to have multiple timers with separate alarms when they're up. I usually just use the Clock app that comes with iOS to time long exposures.

I have a function saved in a scientific calculator called "PEMDAS" that I use to calculate reciprocity.

[cyrus]

The coolest thing I have is my Photon/Beard 16x20 darkroom easel. LOVE THAT THING. And rarer than hen's teeth.

[Tony Lakin]

I love my 8cm X 6cm combined spotmeter, loupe, level,torch, laser distance measure,stopwatch, clock and digital voice recorder.
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ZZZZZ, huh, doh I just woke up.

[C. D. Keth]

ZZZZZ, huh, doh I just woke up.

Whatever you're trying to say, you're utterly failing. Are we boring you or are you dreaming of your perfect take along tool?

[ic-racer]

This little tool is pretty cool...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ic-racer/Enlarger.jpg

[ROL]

This little tool is pretty cool...

I assume you're referring to that nice little black number in the bottom right corner. :D

[Tony Lakin]

Whatever you're trying to say, you're utterly failing. Are we boring you or are you dreaming of your perfect take along tool?

Dreaming of my ideal take along tool of course, I carry all of the listed items in my pockets plus some, I have a Minox monocular which includes an altimeter a stopwatch, clock and thermometer and was imagining how many items could be included in one unit.

[Richard M. Coda]

I have a viewfinder app that can show me the field of view of any lens on any format from minox to 8x10.

Where is this app? I can't find it.

[Scott Walker]

This is going to sound cheesy and like I'm an ADD 14 year old kid but here goes. You may judge me as you wish. My coolest single tool is probably my iphone. I have a viewfinder app that can show me the field of view of any lens on any format from minox to 8x10. It's frequently a stopwatch to time long exposures. I record exposure information on it as a voice recorder so I can shoot now, write later. I have an app to track the path of the sun in time and space. I can calculate depth of field and find hyperfocal distances with a few finger taps. I can keep convenient timers and notes for film development. I have a calculator function saved that calculates reciprocity values rather than estimating them from ilford's crappy little tables. I even have a small flashlight and can read this forum with it!

Do I need it? No. I would be completely lying if I said something stupid like "I wouldn't know what to do without it" but I can conveniently do a lot of things with it, leaving me free to carry less stuff or be more informed than I might have otherwise been.

+1 for the iPhone

A few apps I use are Light Meter, Viewfinder Pro, Depth of Field Guide, Photo Tools Pro, Massive Development Chart, DOF Master, Receprosity Timer, Stop Watch, Compass, and Google Maps

[C. D. Keth]

Where is this app? I can't find it.

The app is called "Artemis."

[fecaleagle]

The app is called "Artemis."

The other option is "Viewfinder Pro" from Dire Studios. I have used both, and I'd say they perform equally well. You made need a wide angle adapter for your phone's camera if you want to go below 90mm for 4x5, but both apps will give you a representation of the field of view without that accessory (i.e., the lens can't see the entire field of view, but it will draw a frame that represents the area that will be visible).

[jk0592]

The coolest tool I ever had was my aluminum tripod outside in the winter at -20C on a windy day...

[DavyG]

The coolest tool I ever had was my aluminum tripod outside in the winter at -20C on a windy day...

That sounds pretty cool !

My own Szabad with elements of stainless steel also is pretty cool outside at this time of year :D