Most popular accessories?

[topazbullet]

Hi everyone,

A friend and I were looking through the various brands and shops for rangefinder goodies, and realized that it's extraordinarily fragmented and hard to shop.

My background is in ecommerce (Bonobos amd Warby Parker, for those of you that are familiar), and I'm a passionate M6 user. We've decided to combine our skills and test a small line of very high quality accessories: laser sintered titanium shutter releases, brass thumb rests, high carbon steel quick releases, etc.

My question to the community is: what are the accessories that you use the most, and what are accessories that you find lacking in their design (or simply nonexistant)?

We're starting prototyping this weekend with two or three, and my goal is to create the most useful things I can for this community.

Please post with your feedback (or email me directly at me@kanehsieh.com) - at some point, we'll need testers too, so I'll reply when we're at that phase!

Thanks all.

 

[pvdhaar]

One thing that really needs to be solved is where the strap lugs are.. When I still had the RF's, the cameras would hang straight with a 90 or a heavy 50 on them, but would hang tilted back with a light pancake. Impossible to enjoy a hike with that hanging from your neck and continuously catching on clothes/coats/buttons. A grip that also moved the lugs back would have been a blessing.. Alas, as it is, the RF's are now all gone.

 

[Richard G]

Honestly, I am not sure what an accessory is. If I try to think of one I can only think of the things I definitely don't want, like grips, soft releases and weird strap arrangements. Is a tripod an accessory?

 

[Marc G.]

I have never really seen the need for anything else than a Thumbie and a neck strap on my Leicas. YMMV

 

[topazbullet]

I have never really seen the need for anything else than a Thumbie and a neck strap on my Leicas. YMMV

Yes, all good feedback. I personally just use a leather case with a quick-detach strap, but there is certainly a market for other small durable goods! To each their own.

 

[KoNickon]

"We've decided to combine our skills and test a small line of very high quality accessories: laser sintered titanium shutter releases, brass thumb rests, high carbon steel quick releases, etc."

I guess I'm not sure what you mean by a shutter release -- do you mean like an Abrahamsson softie? If so, then Tom makes nice ones already (and it seems a waste of the titanium -- not sure what "laser sintered" is). As for quick releases, do you mean like a quick release plate to enable easy mounting and dismounting with a tripod?

How about a really strong but non-marring, removable, strap attachment? Or (niche within a niche territory here) a screw-in vented hood for the Summitar that allows use of standard sized filters?