Perhaps spending $100 on gifts for your photographer friends was a bit much. It’s OK. We’ve got you. Or rather, UK-based photographer and YouTuber, Jay Ducker, has got you. Here are a few useful tools for under $30 (with one exception).
While Ducker’s video bills the items as mostly under $50, it seems for folks in the United States that all of these items fall under $30, and all of them are quite useful. Not all of them are the sexiest photo gear. I mean, I appreciate a good step-up ring to help me affix my expensive 82mm filters to everything, but I’m not sure how I’d feel about one in my stocking on Christmas day.
There are some real gems in the pile though. The SmallRig AAK2213C Multi-Tool with Screw Storage was something I didn’t know I needed until I saw it in Ducker’s video, where he explains the myriad uses for such a tool.
If you need some screws to use the tool’s included screw holders, there’s always an assorted bag of mounting screws you can buy just to make sure I have what I need in critical moments. Side note: Should you have a photographer friend who loses mounting screws as much as I do, that bag also comes in under the $30 mark.
Ducker also recommends a combo battery-and-memory card case from K&F Concept that seems so obvious when you see it. I’m still using SD card cases and throwing loose batteries into a bag, and so having everything in one place seems like a good idea.
There are a few other recommendations in Ducker’s video, but the last one, the Nitecore Air Blower, seems like a worthy successor to the time-honored Rocket Blower. It’s not cheap, but Ducker makes a good case for why it’s worth the money.
Check out the full details on the giftable items in Ducker’s video above.
