Most useless photographic accessory

[cliveh]

Film retrievers work really well. Just remember to wind the film round a couple of times inside the cassette before you insert it.

 

[Chromium VI]

Film retrievers work really well. Just remember to wind the film round a couple of times inside the cassette before you insert it.

That's right, they are a nice accessory for some emergencies (I already needed on a couple times). Have you ever seen a Noritsu Film Retriever? Is a massive ~5kg machine with an oversize synchronous motor and big levers, etc... that does exactly the same as a small plastic retriever, but automatically with the power of Thor, used one couple of times, probably nice for big labs but quite useless in an educational BW darkroom where no one knows what that machine even does.

EDIT: It's the Noritsu model Koki SB-3U, if someone is interested in searching it around.

 

[foc]

I must be a masochist. I enjoy squeegees and film retrievers.

 

[wiltw]

Mido 4x5 film holders...I could not get them to function, and neither could the pro equipment sales guy in the professional photography-oriented store -- even using a dummy piece of film in a well illuminated area, both of us failed.

 

[thinkbrown]

My box of assorted UV filters. I've ended up with so many of them from various eBay purchases and I'm not paying for nice lenses to put a cheap uncoated piece of glass in front of them.

 

[MattKing]

The plastic tongues that everyone seems to sell in darkroom starter kits (patterson I think?). Absolutely useless. They have a click close feature that mostly seems to exist to annoy me, and that assumes they dont crack after your first use (OK, a couple of pairs lasted a bit longer than that). They do have the advantage of being insanely expensive for what they are, meaning it's not a mistake I'll be making again any time soon.

@tcolgate ,
I read this about six times before I realized what it was a reference to.
I believe you must be referring to plastic darkroom TONGS (not tongues).
I would agree that plastic tongues wouldn't be of much use ...

 

[thinkbrown]

I would agree that plastic tongues wouldn't be of much use ...

They're pretty important for Polaroid shooters

 

[Beevo]

Well, I'm one of those rare individuals who love(d) using these camera cases for my Nikon FE/FE2. I had both the normal snout for my 24mm lens, and a longer snout for my 105mm. Sure, changing film meant taking the bottom of the case off, but I shot 36exp rolls, and I'm not using a motordrive, so that wasn't more than twice a day max, even under the most active shooting days. I used the case like a self-contained camera-bag, and with it on my camera, could either shoulder-carry or just jam it into whatever backpack I was using without worry that my gear would get trashed. When in "active shooter" mode, I would remove the snout and shove it in a pocket or backpack, so didn't suffer from the horror of "dangling". So for me with a mostly one-lens-at-a-time setup, the case worked really well, since I never had a formal camera-bag.

In the modern era, these cases have mostly disappeared, and the aftermarket just produces half-cases. For my Df, I have a really nice half-case with a metal bottom and a door that allows access to the battery/memory-card. I sometimes miss "the snout", but am just using a felt lens bag shoved on the lens when I'm in "jam it in the backpack" mode.

My wife has a Canon SX720is and I found on Amazon a leather Never Ready case, Un-snaps completely when desired.

 

[ic-racer]

Those non-metered prisms they made for the Nikon F and F2.
It’s difficult to imagine abandoning the convenience of coupled TTL metering.