The most important Nikon accessory in a generation?

<p>Embarrassed by that that cheap plastic hot shoe cover? Bored of the ASC-01 stainless steel cover Nikon released back in the Spring? Or mortified by your shameless display of a naked hot shoe? Finally, there can be an end to your misery! After probably decades of development, Nikon has ended the feverish speculation that threatened to engulf the camera blogosphere and announced the ASC-02, its first genuine leather and almost genuine gold hot shoe cover! Now at last the final piece of bling for that Df Gold Edition is transmuted from dream to reality! Complete with display case, and available to the discerning photographer for a mere 3500 Yen ($28 USD, or about $50 with ebay markup): http://petapixel.com/2015/08/06/nikon-announces-a-new-black-and-gold-leather-hot-shoe-cover/</p>

<p>Will the Nikon world ever be the same again?</p>

 

<p>If it at least included a bull's eye spirit level: <a href="http://www.thenps.com/shop/camera-and-photo/photo-plus-hotshoe-bulls-eye-spirit-level-pack-of-2-for-fujifilm-x-t1/">http://www.thenps.com/shop/camera-and-photo/photo-plus-hotshoe-bulls-eye-spirit-level-pack-of-2-for-fujifilm-x-t1/</a><br /> Maybe that'll be ASC-03? Or is that hoping too much? ASC-10 then? Genuine plastic would just be fine.<br>

White lettering on a Df Gold Edition? And the hot-shoe isn't gold colored either - oh please!</p>

<p>I lose those things so fast I wouldn't dare spend fifty bucks for one.</p>

<p>Kent in SD</p>

<p>Excuse my ignorance, but what's the purpose of a hot shoe cover - regardless of material?</p>

<p>couldn't tell you. I haven't had one on a hot shoe in 45 years.</p>

<p>I think I have to go with the Nikon selfie stick introduced a couple months ago as the accessory of a generation.</p>

<p>The first time I even saw a hot shoe cover was when I bought a discontinued Coolpix 8400 in 2006. I never knew it was something I needed.</p>

<p>Hot shoe ??????? You thought that's a hot shoe. The top of the camera is a <em>personalized embellishment accessory attachment point.</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

I think it looks kind'a good with the rest of the camera even if it is pure indulgence. </p>

<p>I'll continue to use the plastic one that came with my D700.</p>

Notice the better the camera, the less likely it would be to have a hotshoe cover?

<p>The ASC-02 better have a built-in radio trigger at that price!</p>

<p>And when you all rush out to buy yours, don't throw away the cheapo plastic cover it replaces. Spare a thought for a poor D7200 owner whose camera was supplied with a naked hotshoe.</p>

<p>Come to think of it, there's a leather-goods factory in town. I might just scrounge an offcut of black leather and fashion my own exclusive line of tasteful plain black leather 'shoe covers.</p>

<p>RJ, I'm gobsmacked that they're too f*g cheap to include one on the 7200.</p>

<p>Rodeo, I thought at first there must be some mistake about the D7200. Sure enough, if you check Nikon USA pages for <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/dslr-cameras/D7100.html">D7100</a> and <a href="http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/dslr-cameras/D7200.html">D7200</a> you can click on the "What's in the Box" link. D7100 includes the BS-1 cap, D7200 doesn't. Weird.</p>

<p>@<a href="/photodb/user?user_id=323291">Dieter Schaefer</a>,@<a href="/photodb/user?user_id=1176415">robert milloy</a>: Hmm...now if I can glue a small bullseye spirit level to the plastic cap...</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I think I have to go with the Nikon selfie stick introduced a couple months ago as the accessory of a generation.</p>

</blockquote>

<p><br />Good Lord. Either I'd missed that one, or blanked it out in horror: http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Miscellaneous/N-MP001-%28Selfie-Stick%29.html<br>

I love how they give the dimensions to 2 decimal places. Personally I'm going to hold out for a Gitzo 6X carbon stick with a specialised Arca-Swiss selfie head.</p>

<p>I thought the most important Nikon accessory has always been an expense account.</p>

<p>Okay, I'll go away now.</p>

 

<p>Selfie stick? That's so last century. I've been using a reversed monopod to get over the heads of crowds since Live View and rear LCD screens came into use.</p>

<p>From Nikon's blurb - "A fixed pan-head allows you to easily change the position of the camera when it is attached to the Selfie stick." Surely they mean tilt-head? All that's needed to pan a stick is to rotate the darn thing. That just confirms that Nikon's advertising copy-writers don't know their elbow from their ass-embled parts.</p>

<p>I specifically asked about buying a BS-1 when I got my D810. Since I was trading in my D800 for it, the store just let me take my D800's BS-1. Though now I look, one with a spirit level is tempting. I already have a three-axis (I think, might be two) hotshoe bubble level, which is bulkier, and a SG-3IR (which actually is useful, when I can be bothered to use it - the main purpose of my integrated flash is triggering external flash guns). I'd vaguely prefer to have the metalwork covered up, partly in case of corrosion, partly so I don't scratch anything with it in my camera bag, and partly so I don't short it out if I'm shooting in moist conditions.<br />

<br />

I'm not spending $50 on anything that goes in the hotshoe that's not actually a flash, though. (Well, okay, I have a SC-28 - or possibly a cheap clone - which would have cost more, but I rarely use it.)</p>

<p>D810 has a built in electronic level, what do you need a spirit bubble for?</p>

<p>Chuck: Well, I also use mine on a Bessa R, a Pentax 645 and an F5. :-) Honestly, I tend to rely on the grid lines for getting horizons level anyway - but I agree, it's hardly critical for modern cameras with digital equivalents (though covers with an integrated bubble cheap enough that I'd think about getting one just in case, assuming I want the cover anyway). It's vaguely nice to check whether you're level without looking through the finder, though, especially if you're using a gear head.</p>