Things you like having but know will never use more than once a month

[asamimasa]

-CPL Filter

My favorite filter for them outdoors, but this is somewhere where you really can't skimp out on. I've tried mutiple times (I think 4-5 times) to be satisfied with a cheapo filter, but it's never made me happy. I've owned a Hoya and B+W CPL filter, and those were . It's cool and all, but the amount of time I spend on landscape isn't worth keeping. I'd be much happier with some light modifier that I can use anytime. Also, CPL filters are fairly annoying because it's a whole extra step after zooming and focusing to get the proper polarization.


-Tripod

Again, something I would never skip out on again. The cheap Targus/Sunpak/Sony plastic/aluminum tripods I will never spend my money on again. I'd only go for a Manfrotto or Benro, maybe something similar. Don't need the be-all and end-all Gitzo, but would like to something carbon fiber with a decent ball head.

-White Balance Card, Color Checker
During shoots I'm always too fast paced to remember to use these. Maybe I should slow it down and force myself to use one regardless of whether or not I decide to color correct in post, just so I have a minute to stop and think things over again.

-Shoulder Bag
I've gone through a ridiculous amount of gear, especially shoulder bags, and they've all been sold off, reason being that I can't do shoulder bags for long periods of time. My camera gear outweighs a majority of you guys because I like heavy, but only in my hands, not on my shoulder. I didn't carry around a backpack full of books throughout grade school, so I never learned to be as rigid as a camel.

-Cokin filters/square filters
Way too tedious, the maintenance felt too high, since there's no lip to rest them on compared to a circular filter. I also ended up getting nasty flare from them when I tried to stack several filters (even with the hood attachment) because of the relatively large space between the glass/plastic? pieces

[SquishyPanda]

I use a Slik Pro 7000X tripod for work. It's fairly light, sturdy as hell, and has been through airport security about once a week (on average) for a year. A lot of the black paint has chipped off the edges (the rollers leading into the xray machine, overhead bins, rental car trunks, etc) but the clamps on the legs are still tight and the little clicky things that limit how far the legs spread out are still very.. err... clicky.

They go for $70-80, which is a bit more than some Targus/Sunpak bullshit and doesn't come with a head but hell you've got at *least* $400 worth of camera sitting on it, you might as well spend $100 on a tripod/head combo to keep it securely put where you want it.

Cokin filters are fun and neat and everything, and they're cheaper than buying the same filter in several different thread sizes, but most of the cheap ones are made of plastic, which attracts dust like crazy. And since the filter is placed farther from your front element than a screw-on one, the dust is more likely to show up in your image, even at big apertures.

I think they're worth playing with though, to get a feel for what kind of filters you'd actually want to use and spend real money on.