My beloved...

[Vonder]

We've all got cameras we hold dear, but I recently read a post where a guy claimed his most dearly beloved piece of photo gear was his laser alignment tool for his enlarger. Got me to thinking, what pieces of non-camera, non-lens do we all hold dear or semi-dear?

For me it'd probably be my pair of Sunpak 383 Super flashes. Multiple output levels, low trigger voltage, fast recycle times, tilt and swivel, what's not to love?

 

[Rick A]

My Sekonic L-398 light meter. I've owned it for three decades and it's the only meter I trust.

 

[CGW]

Another Sekonic meter, the little 308. Tough, well-designed, single AA-powered, go-anywhere meter that reads flash+incident as accurately as my plus-size 558 that definitely won't fit in a shirt pocket.

 

[benjiboy]

My Kenko KFM 2100 ( formally the Minolta Auto meter V1 ) digital light meter.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

Gossen Luna Pro
Berlebach Report tripod
Leitz V35 enlarger

 

[PeteZ8]

Probably my Hasselblad. Only because I thought I'd never be able to afford to own one, and I managed to find one for $500 that was LNIB, including the boxes, and from a very nice woman with a very touching story. She knew the value of the camera but she just really wanted to see someone get happiness from it. Total stranger but she gave me a big hug and cried before I left. It was apparently her late husband's prized camera.

I will never sell that camera no matter what.

 

[dehk]

My rubber air pump that blew off so much dust on camera equipments.

 

[David Brown]

We've all got cameras we hold dear, ...

"hold dear" ? :confused:

I think there's no photo thing I own that's not for sale at the right price.

But, as for "favorite" non-camera/lens: has to be the RH Designs F/stop timer. Followed by just having heat, AC and running water in the darkroom!

 

[Mark Crabtree]

My wife. Oh, that doesn't count does it. I enjoy good equipment, but it seems relatively unimportant in the scheme of things.

I do appreciate my Leica gear for the way it let's me accomplish stuff that would be more difficult otherwise. Any M body with appropriate 35 and 50 Summicrons (or equivalent) would do the trick, so my specifics probably don't matter.

 

[eclarke]

My Arca Swiss Cube..

 

[BradleyK]

Another Gossen Luna pro SBC fan here. I received mine as a Christmas gift in 1980, and have used it ever since. The "leather" case fell apart long ago but the meter still works like a charm. The little gem has never even been in for servicing (and in reflective mode it is dead on with my M6s, as well as both my F5 and F4s).

 

[cliveh]

The two Junghans darkroom clocks I have mounted on one wall of my darkroom. One of them doesn’t work properly due to some accident I had with it some years ago and reads permanently 53 minutes and 18 seconds. The other is perfect, keeping precise time and with a nice reassuring tick.

 

[Allen Friday]

Night vision goggles.

 

[Moopheus]

"hold dear" ? :confused:

I think there's no photo thing I own that's not for sale at the right price.

That's more or less true in the photographic sense, since most items are replaceable at a functional level. I have a couple of cameras--my Nikon F and a now-retired Agfa Silette--that I would be rather loathe to sell at any reasonable price since they were given to me by my dad many years ago and so have some sentimental value for me.

But, beyond that, I'd have to go with my meter (A Gossen Luna Pro F). I use it with all of my cameras, whether they have a built-in meter or not, and it's been pretty dependable.

 

[Kokoro]

I've not realy thought much about holding anything non-camera non-lens equipment dear but now that I think about it it is probably one of my camera bags. My first camera bag which I got from my grandfather. A yellowish one came with a Praktica SLR. Must be a Praktica bag because a few years ago I got another Praktica SLR and it came with an identical bag.

Anyway my first trip out with my grandfathers bag was to the PFA rally in either 1996 or 1997; and I used it just last night when I went out for a walk. I have been using it for the last few months. Despite me having other bags this is still the one I take out all the time.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

My old Minolta shutter cable release. I've had it for over 20 years. I busted the thumb cap on it but I still use it. I've used it on every one of my cameras. It made of a white cloth tubing with a clear plastic coating. Bought it in college, used it a pro and I use it as a photo hobbyist.

 

[sandermarijn]

My beloved Gossen Sixtomat exposure meter.

 

[Chris Lange]

the copy of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal that I keep in my camera bag.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

I really like my Polaris 5 spot meter I take it most places when I have an older camera or one without a meter. 5degree rotating lens with viewfinder, incident with extra flat field side cutoff collar, back lit.

Also I really like my peak 1 focuser, it's so easy to use plus the blue filter is snazzy.

Orange filters lol, not quite yellow, not quite red. Just enough contrast in most situations.

Last 150 or so feet of agfapan 250 motion picture film. I've been saving it up, but it is my favorite and most beautiful film I have. Got it as a 400ft roll from a cool old dude in williamsburg a while back.

 

[Bill Burk]

Quickie copying stand made from the plans in Aug 1967 Popular Mechanics...

http://books.google.com/books?id=rtMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=Quickie+copying+stand+Aug+1967+Popular+Mechanics&source=bl&ots=gu4PkxTbfh&sig=nDhJM4oMgYF5Sbhl6wvFeFf2gKs&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Quickie%20copying%20stand%20Aug%201967%20Popular%20Mechanics&f=false

I knew the one I made with my dad was illogically "my precious" when I saw on the curb, for free, the exact same stand. I picked up the freebie which was far better craftsmanship than the one I made. Trying to keep the garage neat, I hemmed and hawed for a long time wrangling what to do.

I cut the box open at the end where I kept the old stand and folded the flaps open enough to make room for both of them.

 

[mark]

My eyes. I know sounds cheeky but I have never failed to capture the perfectly exposed image with them. Can't say the same for any photo equipment.

 

[Paul Goutiere]

A toss up between my Nikon Coolscan 9000 and my Domke F-6.

 

[Toffle]

My spotting kit.

 

[eddie]

The big darkroom trashcan. It's the one thing that has most improved my work...

Seriously, probably the things which have sentimental value due to how they were acquired. Not sure they're "beloved" but the people who gave them to me are:
Rolleiflex 3.5
Olympus Pen EE

 

[removed account4]

maybe a wooden spoon or a can opener or a pair of scissors all appropriated when i was a teenager ..
all have travelled with me to 3 or 4 different darkrooms, and never gotten lost ... sometimes things are meant to be ?

hard to say ...