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Tools in the bag

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St Ives - UK

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Soeren

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Hi all
Do you carry any tools or multitools e.g. the leathermann when out in the field
If yes which.
I have always carried a swiss army knive when shooting 35mm and MF but now i see the need for more e.g. screwdrivers, pliers etc.
Kind regards
 
leatherman "crunch" and a lens wrench. Fortunately I haven't needed either in the field (yet, touch wood)
 
Big Swiss army knife about 25 mm thick - don't ask me to count the tools, but there is a pliers, scissors, a file, several screwdrivers and, most important, a corkscrew and bottle opener!
 
Leatherman Wave, it has a very nice pair of pointy nosed pliers, great scissors and some cutting edges as well as files etcetera.

My best accessory is a wide brimmed hat. It is extremely useful when under the darkcloth, for holding the cloth away from my forehead for when I pull back a bit to see the whole screen. The brim of the hat, stops the cloth from falling between my eyes and the camera. :D

Mick.
 
Yes, one of those Swiss Army tools Mr. Bebbington describes. I also have a compass, a solar scientific calculator, a pen and a pencil as part of my gear.
 
A very bright,compact LED flashlight and $2.00 in change.I do a lot of early morning stuff in town so the flashlight comes in handy for film changing etc.Carry the loose $ in case I have to use a pay- phone , get a Tim's,or change camera batteries.
 
I bring a Swiss army knife and/or a SOG Multitool as well as a small screwdriver.

I also carry maps and a compass, a small flashlight, a lighter, and when not driving during weekends a small hipflask containing Fernet…
 
I bring a Swiss army knife and/or a SOG Multitool as well as a small screwdriver.

I also carry maps and a compass, a small flashlight, a lighter, and when not driving during weekends a small hipflask containing Fernet…

Is the fernet for lighting the campfire? :D
Thanks for the replies so far. Has anyone actually used the tool on a photo outing
Kind regards
 
I am curious, why would you need a swiss army knife or a leatherman while photographing?
The tools I carry are usually accessories such as a cleaning kit, flash cables, tripod special feet, etc...
I never found the need for a knife or a pair of pliers.
 
Coins for the battery's, penlight to see the lens markings in the dusk, screwdriver that fits on the Hasselblad and black tape for you never know...

Philippe
 
Back in the days when I used a somewhat beaten up Hasselblad 500 C/M I occasionally had to use a screwdriver in order to get the lens and body in synch.

I have used a multi-tool to conduct field repair on my girlfriend’s Nikon FM 2.

That said; I mainly carry around the gear I mentioned because it might come in handy in the backcountry. To this day, my LF equipment has not needed field repair or adjustment.
 
Not counting survival stuff in the packsack, but the weird stuff that goes in the camera bag...

A wooden ruler with my lenses bellows extension factors marked on it. Just put one end on the front standard, then read off what factor it shows on the film plane.

A small metronome/stopwatch electronic device meant for musicians. Great for time exposures in stopwatch mode and the metronome is good for exposures 30 seconds and under when you don't want to take your eyes off the subject.

A few example exposure-development combinations that made for 'perfect' negatives in the past, such as deep forest scene time exposures during a snow storm.

One of those big bulb blowers sold in drug stores that are meant for flushing wax balls from ears...they can really blow!

Glassine negative sleeves. I do a quick sketch of the scene and write down the subject, location, date and film holder number. Exposure and development information also gets written down on it, then before emptying film holders I'll use a small pair of scissors to put a notch or notches in one corner of the glassine to indicate what kind of development that negative is going to get. This means all the normal, plus, and minus development negatives can be fired into one film box...a big space saver when hiking or sea kayaking. Later when back in the darkroom they can be easily separated in the dark by feeling how many notches were cut out. This has kept everything organized even when away from the darkroom for up to two months.

Murray
 
Aside from a Buck #301/ which has been my constant companion for the past two years, a roll of gaffer's tape.
 
Screwdriver, lens wrench(es) (depending on which lenses I have - some need the wrench with the long pointed rounded end as opposed to the normal flat end), compass, small finger light, stopwatch, 1/4 in. tripod nut (for the smaller format camera)
 
I am curious, why would you need a swiss army knife or a leatherman while photographing?

Mostly it's for the things you can't think of.

A few years ago I was on a workshop in the San Juan mountains near Ouray, CO. Someone in the group had lost the locking knob from her ArcaSwiss ballhead. We found the nut, but not the little tube that goes between the nut and plate. I used my Leatherman to carve one from a piece of plastic I found in the parking lot.

I always have a map. Sometimes I'll carry a compass, more for reference when I take a shot than getting lost. I also have a small first aid kit in every carrying case, bag or backpack I own. I think that the Leaterman Wave is the only thing I carry that counts as a tool.
 
The same tools that I think will fix my vehicle if it breaks down, which is an illusion. You can't change a water pump with a screw driver and pair of vice grips. I suppose I don't need any camera tools other than the lens cleaner. A small flash light is always handy as is a tape measure.
 
Gaffer's tape is another handy item in the bag. I've also started carrying a bunch of little spring clamps. Both are useful for things like attaching filters to lenses with no useful or odd-sized filter threads or holding a card to shade the lens or positioning a reflector for a still life setup and other things.

Addressing Ari's question--I've used the tools I carry for field repairs or when I'm traveling. Some have been as simple as tightening screws on a wooden camera or lensboard, and some tools are necessary for things like changing or adjusting quick release plates or on my Gowland PocketView for loosening stuck knobs or resetting knobs. I've removed and cleaned a groundglass occasionally.

On my Technika, the plastic guide plates for the Graflok slides are prone to fatigue, and if they crack, you can't use them to attach a rollfilm back or Grafmatic, and they can interfere even with ordinary filmholders used under the groundglass. A couple of times while traveling, I had to remove the cracked plates, put them together like a puzzle using tape to hold the pieces together while the epoxy cured. These repairs required a screwdriver, knife, and a tweezers. Eventually I had them replaced when I sent the camera for a CLA and I also got a couple of spares for field repairs.

I've also bought tools occasionally on the road as needed, and they've usually stayed in the bag.
 
I usually have a Swiss Army knife in my pocket, but the camera bag gets the small screwdrivers, lens wrench, bubble level, some zip ties, rubber bands, and a few small bags. It does depend on the format and how far afield I am. My compass/clinometer usually lives in the 5x4 bag. The clinometer is handy for sanity checking my idea of vertical :cool: and is left over from my geology studies some years ago.

About my most difficult 'field' repair was unjamming my YashicaMat's WLF on a trip to Canada.
 
About one month ago my Benbo tripod, which has been used reasonably heavily for 25 or so years, broke one of it's rubber feet. Using the Leatherman side cutters, I clipped a bit of loose fencing wire from a king post, then used the pliers to wind it around, to keep the broken foot on.

I also broke one of the retaining springs last week on my Calumet monorail. I bent a piece of coathanger wire in it's place with the Leatherman and finished the shoot.

Mick.
 
At 68 I carry a 7x17 or 8x10 in a 20” wheeled baby jogger, so a small addition of weight is not significant. I rarely go more than two miles from the SUV where I keep a tackle box full of tools.

In my lens bag or a fanny pack I carry:

small first aid kit
a partial roll of duct tape
three foot tape measure used for bellows factor
eight inch level
drug store magnifying glasses in case loupe disappears
tweezers
#0 Phillips screw driver
¼ inch blade screw driver
lens wrench for Copal shutters
needle nose pliers
cotton film gloves
two extra batteries for light meter
“Old Timer” three bladed knife
cell phone
English Booby whistle for my two Labrador Retrievers and HELP
Compass both for direction and what hour the sun might be better here
Eight oz. (227 g) dried fruit
Water bottle
A paper with emergency contacts and pharmaceutical information
Four tiny packs of Deep Woods OFF
Antihistamine after I was stung by a wasp
A foil thingy that unwraps to a blanket
1/3 roll of toilet paper
Mace pepper spray. I have been attacked and knocked to the ground by a large dog and I have also been photographing old buildings in rough neighborhoods.

I have used all of these things at one time or another, or wished I had them and added them later.

I thought a small camp stove and a cooler might make nice next additions.

John Powers
 
I lost a bolt that held the back of the camera (4x5 Gowland PocketView) on the rear standard -- into the creek it went. I used my Swiss Army Knife to whittle a wood pin to shove in the bolt home...the bolt on the other side being able to hold the position.

So...
Swiss Army Knife -- Tinker model...minimum stuff
Very small set of needle-nose vise grips
Leatherman Wave...if I can find it when I leave...then I leave the vise grips at home.

Vaughn
 
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"Tools in the bag" ?

I've been told recently that I was a bit of a tool, but I'm rarely in the bag.
 
I have a 8mm nut driver in every camera bag. A Bogen 3221 leg section got loose one time in the field, what a PIA.

Mike
 
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