microGAFFER From Visual Departures LTD. Reinvents The Familiar, Indispensable Photographer's Tape

Studio and location photographers would have to shut up shop if it weren’t for gaffer’s tape. This adhesive superstar does things that no piece of photographic hardware can do, be it clamp, clip, or thumbscrew. But the downside of gaffer’s tape is that it comes in rolls so big and heavy that they’re a nuisance to carry around, unless you happen to be wearing a utility belt. And you’re always trying to remember where you put down your roll.

Enter microGAFFER, an ingeniously simple solution to that problem. Available from Visual Departures Ltd., microGAFFER is high-quality professional cloth gaffer’s tape made pocketable. It’s the same sticky stuff photographers know and love, but each roll is just an inch wide (as opposed to the two-inch width of a standard roll of gaffer’s tape) and starts out at a diameter of less than 2.5 inches (as opposed to a standard roll’s 6.5 inches).

Those dimensions make a roll of microGAFFER small enough to slip into your pocket with barely a bulge—and it’s there whenever you need it as you’re setting up your gear. Just like its big, cumbersome cousin, it holds lighting equipment in place, secures background materials, and anchors cables, among countless other tasks. (The narrower width of microGAFFER also makes it easier to tear off pieces!) But stashed in your camera bag, it doesn’t take up a whole DSLR’s worth of space the way a standard roll of gaffer’s tape does. And the scant 2.2 ounces of a roll of microGAFFER add way less weight to your bag than a standard roll’s two pounds.

Visual Departures Ltd.’s microGAFFER is available in multi-packs of four eight-yard rolls, priced at $21.50 per pack. For zone-minded photographers, the Classic Multi-Pack includes two rolls of black microGAFFER, one of gray, and one of white. For wild and crazy photographers, the Fluorescent Multi-Pack includes one roll each of brilliant orange, magenta, green, and yellow. The intense colors of Fluorescent microGAFFER are eye candy, to be sure—but don’t dismiss its usefulness in color-coding a tangle of cords or keeping track of vagrant hardware.

Visual Departures Ltd. has been designing innovative products for working photographers since 1982. The company created the original Flexfill® collapsible reflector and Steadybag® camera support. It also distributes the full range of Rosco, Dedolight, and Hitech filter products. For more information, visit www.microgaffer.com, email sales@visualdepartures.com, or call (800) 628-2003.

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