1. An extra tripod plate.

Where did I go? Hell if I know.

These things get lost, and how. They are the guitar picks of the DiY filmmaking world, and it helps to have a bunch around so you aren’t stuck doing a hand held shot for something that really should be locked off on your tripod. Luckily, these guys are less expensive than the whole head, so while they aren’t exactly something you should toss out the window on the highway in large quantities, the loss of one shouldn’t ground production to a halt. Your tripod may have actually come with two of them. If so, hooray for you. If not, then it’s a good idea to buy a backup.

2. Power adapter (NEMA 1 to NEMA 5)

These guys are a little life savers! They are tiny, but they come in big when you find yourself in a location with only two pronged (NEMA 1) outlets. Bring a few – they can fit if your camera bag is bigger than a ring box (note: it should be).

Note: for the hardcore among you, try this crazy looking thing (international power adapter). It is pretty compact and if you find yourself traveling the world I’m sure you can pony up $5.10.

3. Lens cleaning cloth

There is nothing worse than getting something on your lens and then having to wipe it away with your shirt or sandpaper because you don’t have the proper type of cloth that doesn’t damage a lens. Everyone will see your footage through that lens so be kind to it and pack a few of these.

There are a variety of cool ways to keep a cloth around too. You could do the basic classic style cloth, the cloth in a keychain pouch, a really handy little non-keychain but still cool retractable pouch thing, and of course a lens cleaning pen. Why not.

4. An extra tape

Yes, I know, this is blindly obvious, but it is forgotten more frequently than we would collectively like to admit. Pack one more extra then you could possibly need, and you’re good to go.

5. Regular Sharpie/Thin Sharpie/Extra tape labels

These are the holy trinity of keeping things labeled in the field. Yes, the tapes come with their own labels but a reserve supply is a good idea. Don’t bother with ball point pens for marking on them, they’ll only smear. Thin sharpie (the pen kind, not just the thin type of marker) for the labeling, and the regular sharpie for marking bigger things and writing on gaffer’s tape.

6. Extra lightbulb for light

Another oft-looked over no-brainer. If your light goes out, make sure you aren’t in the dark. You can find the type of bulb to get from your light’s manual or website.

7. 1/8″ cable extender

This one may not be so obvious, but sometimes the situation pops up where you are getting distracted by a shorter than necessary headphone cord and you need some length. Same with if someone else needs to hear the headphone audio to work a boom for a shot or two. Very handy.

8. RCA butt connector

Or RCA female coupler, I guess. Why not “butt” though? I can’t tell you why you may need this, because the situations are very diverse and strange, but at some point, having a RiteAV – RCA Coupler makes life a lot easier.

9. Microphone stand thread adapter

Sure, your mic goes on your boom pole just fine, but somewhere along the line it may have to play nice with another mic stand, or you may need to fit another mount on your pole. One of these little guys can save you from awkwardly taping some things together.

10. Roll of gaffers tape

Gaffers tape is the most popular guy at the party (the party being your shoot). Keep a nice big roll in your bag and its like coming to the party with a 24 case of non-Keystone light beer.

* For more on the importance of gaffers tape, check this out.

11. Firewire 400 to 800 adapter

4-circuit firewire can be found on most pro-sumer camcorders out there. The firewire cord you have laying around is most likely firewire 4-circuit to 6-circuit (400).  Oddly enough, I keep running into newer computers (especially Apple laptops) with no firewire 400, just the 9-circuit firewire 800. A show stopper in most cases, but not with this bad boy. Pull this one out of the bag in a pinch, and you are the village hero.

With these 11 items, you’ll have the tools to face a wide range of production problems that come up – just reach into the bag and make the magic happen.