Stuff you wish you'd never bought...

[Glenn NK]

A post script to my post about the computer - the reason I bought it was for photography - if the existing machine with Lightroom didn't take 15 seconds to load a RAW file, I'd still be using it.

As for wrapping it up and giving it to someone - hmmm, that would be a strange one.


Glenn

[rpcrowe]

Conversely...

My wife bought me a Domke photo vest as a birthday present and I thought to myself "Who in the world would be caught dead in that silly looking thing?" However, I wore it out shooting once just to please her. You can stash away gifts from your in-laws but your spouse knows if you have been using her presents or not!

Anyway, to make a long story short... I fell in love with the vest. Now, I no longer carry a camera bag when out shooting and even love to fly in the vest because it is so darned handy.

And funny thing, it doesn't look half bad any more!

[Bobobird]

I'm actually thinking of getting one - for a new P&S

Get a cheap knock-off first and see if you like it, then get the original.

I use it quite a lot with the S90 both are stashed in the car and come in handy for the spontaneous moments when using a big camera is just not appropriate. Serves well as a mini-tripod.

[Rob Douglas]

Camera gear! You know how rich I'd be right now if I hadn't? LOL

[Shadowman]

My wife bought me a Gorillapod. I think I've used it once.

Does that count?

I thought Gorillapods were useful, don't know what the weight limitations are though, perhaps that's why you only used it once?

[krispix]

An early Canon point-and-shoot digital (don't remember which model). Bought specifically for a flying visit to Prague and couldn't take my regular gear. It took about 30 images then stopped recording - But I didn't know until I got back home!
Canon offered to fix it, but finally refunded when I went supernova.
A Canon Ixus 75 I bought for my wife. Stopped working just outside the warranty period. Replaced with a Ixus 85 about 2 years ago. Also just stopped working last week.
Any ideas for something similar (obviously not Canon) that might survive more than a few hundred shots?

[Black Pearl]

Gorillapods are awesome, I use one loads for my iPhone to shoot long exposures and help keep it steady during day to day photography. They weigh next to nothing, stand on or wrap round virtually anything and are small enough to slip in a pocket.

One of the next tripody (my word and I'm sticking with it) type gadgets I've ever bought.......if you still don't like the idea I've a crackin' wine bottle top ball and socket head I can do you a good deal on

[rob marshall]

Gorillapods are awesome, I use one loads for my iPhone to shoot long exposures and help keep it steady during day to day photography. They weigh next to nothing, stand on or wrap round virtually anything and are small enough to slip in a pocket.

I agree. I really could have used mine today, crouched down on a very wet beach trying to shoot a low-level super-model shot.... no that's wrong, it was a bottle of sparkling mineral water. I really could have done with my gorilla, instead of fumbling with my over-complicated Manfrotto whatsit-thingee. I forgot to take the gorilla.

[Donald]

We could start doing swaps here. Because it seems like some people might love what other people think were their worst buys. We could just exchange. No money involved.

So ........ I've got a Rogue Flashbender. If you have a nearly new Canon 24-70 f2.8L that you know was a stupid purchase ..... send me a PM!

[Colin Southern]

We could start doing swaps here.

10% commission to the ModSquad Christmas fund though!

[The Blue Boy]

10% commission to the ModSquad Christmas fund though!

And 50% to the OP and 50% to Pixel Pete as it was his idea!

....Oh

[Ricco]

Gorilla pod (rarely used) for 70-200mm f whatever.

Fair swap!

[bencarl]

Just thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth here...

Speaking of Canon! Some years ago I bought a Canon Ink Jet Printer (at a good price) that would print A3 in Colour. That was the days of Windows 98. A short time later I upgraded my computer to XP and the printer wouldn't work anymore. So... I go on-line to Update The Driver. Well, long story short, Canon advised me that they had no plans to update the driver to XP so the printer became a boat anchor.

Since that experience I Have Never And Will Never Ever Buy Anything Canon Ever Again!!!

Reuben.

[Glenn NK]

Conversely...

My wife bought me a Domke photo vest as a birthday present and I thought to myself "Who in the world would be caught dead in that silly looking thing?" However, I wore it out shooting once just to please her. You can stash away gifts from your in-laws but your spouse knows if you have been using her presents or not!

Anyway, to make a long story short... I fell in love with the vest. Now, I no longer carry a camera bag when out shooting and even love to fly in the vest because it is so darned handy.

And funny thing, it doesn't look half bad any more!

And now I know that you're about my age - you don't care what anyone else thinks about how you look.

Glenn

[Bobobird]

Since that experience I Have Never And Will Never Ever Buy Anything Canon Ever Again!!!

Reuben.

That is a bit extreme... but I do that too.

[rob marshall]

Since that experience I Have Never And Will Never Ever Buy Anything Canon Ever Again!!!

Reuben.

But Nikon don't make printers, do they?

[Bobobird]

But Nikon don't make printers, do they?

For home, stopped buying printers long long time ago. I still have an old b&w inkjet that prints perfectly well with generic drivers in Windows 7.

[Inkanyezi]

The inkjet printer would count as a bad buy, but it isn't the worst one.

And my worst tripod has not been one of those spiderlegs that cost almost nothing, are flimsy, but can support a compact camera. My worst tripod, that I really regret buying, was a Linhof. At that time, in the sixties, there was heavy advertising for Linhof, and it was a status brand. The tripod was absolutely crap, and I cannot remember where it finally ended up, but it was really the worst tripod I have ever had; far worse than those crosses between praying mantis and wandering stick. And I was not rich at the time, so i really got pissed for buying expensive stuff that would not be useful at all. Maybe needless to say, I won't buy any Linhof product after that.

The second photo gear that would not work as intended was a Minolta Weathermatic. The yellow submarine from Minolta. Minolta had their own idea of autofocus; their compact cameras have an "AF" that has two positions of focus, one near, the other a bit more off. Any box camera will give many more sharp shots. And watertight it was, allright, but unusable under water, as the back presses so hard against the film that it cannot be advanced. You can take one shot, and then you must surface for the film to wind. And then the flash; in water, you should not have a flash close to the lens, because it illuminates everything that is close to the camera, veiling anything else. That flash is automatic and cannot be switched off. Not even with black electric tape would it work, as the camera sets itself to flash when it's a bit dark, so it cannot expose correctly if it decides to fire the flash. The Weathermatic is useless for its intended purpose, to take pictures. The only feature that they announced which holds water is that it really floats.

[krispix]

The inkjet printer would count as a bad buy, but it isn't the worst one.

And my worst tripod has not been one of those spiderlegs that cost almost nothing, are flimsy, but can support a compact camera. My worst tripod, that I really regret buying, was a Linhof. At that time, in the sixties, there was heavy advertising for Linhof, and it was a status brand. The tripod was absolutely crap, and I cannot remember where it finally ended up, but it was really the worst tripod I have ever had; far worse than those crosses between praying mantis and wandering stick. And I was not rich at the time, so i really got pissed for buying expensive stuff that would not be useful at all. Maybe needless to say, I won't buy any Linhof product after that.

Yes, the mid-sixties was when Linhof had pretensions of moving into the medium-format market and started by dumping a load of flimsy sub-standard gear, such as tripods and heads, on the market. However, they quickly realised that they could not compete with Rollei, Hasselblad and the emerging Japanese Mamiya & Bronica systems and withdrew to the safety of large format.
I had a couple of their monorail cameras and heavy-duty tripods and they were, quite simply, the best kit I've ever used (with the possible exception of a Wild I had once).