Accessories for the wannabe photographer

[reefrunner69]

OK, so I got a camera, now I wanna look into expanding the limits of my camera. What do I need, and what is hype...and heck, what does some of it do??

I kinda wanted to make this thread just for the P&S digicams, but we have several members with DSLRs, so if you answer, make sure you specify whether it is a P&S or DSLR, so tell us what accessories you have, which ones you can't live without, what they do, and lastly which ones are a waste of money.

My accessories (so far) Fuji s7000 P&S:
-camera bag: must have, protects the camera and makes it easy to carry the cam and all the accessories

-extra rechargeable batteries and charger: I have 3 sets of NiMH rechargeable batteries for my cam, I can shoot all day and some of the next before I have to recharge.

-adapter tube: must have, for mounting filters and additional lenses

-UV filter: this one is supposed to block the UV rays, for me it is mostly to protect the camera lens, it never comes off the camera and it is a must have, IMO

-I just got my +1, +2 and +4 diopter lenses in today, and I'm gonna play with them tonight. These bring the macros even closer. They are for close up shots, think of them as little magnifying glasses for your cam, I'll be interested to see what kind of distortion I get.

-cable release: this allows you to remotely trigger the auto focus and the shutter to avoid camera shake while taking pics off a tripod, not a must have, but better than the self timer

-tripod: must have: allows you to take pics from a steady platform and reduces camera shake

-USB multi card reader: allows me to download pics from several different card types and allows me to remove the pics from my xD picture card and compact flash cards via windows explorer without any drain on the camera batteries. (not a must have but handy, I can also copy the pics to anyones hard drive that has a free usb post and win 98 or higher)

-Rubber lens hood: I honestly am not sure what the use of this is, I got it caus it was cheap and I figured it might help with glare off the glass duing daylight hours, I'm sure it has other uses, but don't know what they are, would really like clarification on that.

-lens cleaning pen: must have, very easy to keep your lenses spotless, I can't find mine, so one of my next purchases will be a replacement, I think they are about 9 bucks at cameragear.com

-Polarizing filter: haven't received it yet, it is supposed to reduce glare and reflections off non-metallic reflective surfaces (figured it might help with the top down shots) and intensifies blue skys.

OK, that's what I got (or got coming) what I want:

-external flash and flash cord to get it off camera.

-additional telephoto lens

-additional wide angle lens

Any suggestions??? Explanations? List yours

 

[sumphead]

Hey RR, I want all of the above but have yet to make the jump. Where did you get them if I may ask? Good deal?
R-

 

[reefrunner69]

camera bag, rechargeables and charger, tripod, USB card reader. I got from walmart.

Cable release, UV filter (Hoya), rubber lens hood and adapter tube, I got from www.cameragear.com

Everything else was gotten off ebay.

 

[sumphead]

Sweet thanks. I have a friend (non-reefer) with Canon 10D and with the polarazation lens took some amazing top down pics of my clam. I am still waiting on copies!

 

[Verse914]

The Hoya close up lenses are awesome! I am very happy with them, and for $40 for a +1, +2, and +4, its not bad at all. I also use a hoya UV filter mainly to protect the lense-its a must have for safety of the main lense imo.

 

[reefrunner69]

I am very happy with them, and for $40 for a +1, +2, and +4, its not bad at all.

I haven't really played with mine, but I didn't notice any difference in my pics last night, I was using the supermacro feature of my cam, but it's locked out at wide angle in that mode, so that might be the issue. As I am reading, it's more to get you closer in a regular shooting mode, than in macro. What do you use them for Aaron and can you post a couple of with and without pics? Also, what is the recommended focal length with these filters, I got my hoyas used off ebay (however they are in excellent condition), and they didn't come with any documentaion, but they were only about 19 bucks. Best price I've found on them new (non ebay) was at www.cameragear.com

 

[An t-iasg]

Sumphead, did you ever check out Robert's Distributors on S. Meridian St, just down from Nordstrom? It has some good camera stuff.

http://www.robertsimaging.com/

My favorite accessory, in addition to a tripod and remote shutter release, is a vertical grip. This fits my SLR Canon A2E film camera. Know how you try to take a vertical picture and your arm is at an awkward angle, and it's hard to hold the camera steady? The vertical grip mounts along the bottom of the camera, and it has another shutter release button. When you hold the camera vertically, this second release button is at the top right, in the same place as the original button would be. It's nice because you don't have to reach around for the original release button. I do a lot of camera equipment shopping at B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

 

[Verse914]

hehehe...they are very tricky to use. I had trouble using them at first too. You have to use your zoom all the way. The more zoom you use on your camera, the closer you will get. Even at full zoom, the pics will be super sharp. The recommended focal length for the +4 is 8" at full zoom (with my camera), about 10-12" with the +2, and about 13-15" with the +1.

These aren't the best pics, but I took them really quick to show you the difference without the +4 and with the +4. These pics are not edited in any way besides cropping. This is the full picture to show that you dont have to crop a part of the pic just to get a closeup. Taking the pic with the +4 lense will get you closer than you would ever want

without...

with the +4

 

[Verse914]

I have a Sony828 digi cam. Here are some of the accessories I have and recommendations for accessories that are a must imo...

Camera bag is a must have to protect your camera and accessories. To me, the smaller the bag, the better. Sometimes your shooting at a place where you cant set down your bag, so a smaller bag helps.

A tripod is a must have. Its great for stills and works ok on fish. I prefer to shoot fish without a tripod though, but that depends on how much light is over the tank.

Memory. The more memory the better. This will allow you to take many pics of the same thing with different settings to get that perfect pic. I always try to shoot a pic a little dark, a pic a little light, and what looks normal to me. Then when I get home (or transfer them to my laptop) I can pick which one looks best to me. A great tool is if you have a laptop. I have a laptop with 40GB of hard drive space, so when my memory sticks get full, I can easily transfer the pics (through USB 2.0) to my hard drive and shoot some more. This has worked AWESOME, so if you have a laptop, use it.

An extra battery is also helpful in situations where you dont have a place or time to recharge your battery.

Lens hood. This came with the camera and works great at keeping out glare. I use this outside when the sun is bright.

I keep a USB 2.0 cable in my camera bag to transfer files from my camera to my laptop and in case I want to transfer files to another PC. I always keep another USB cable hooked up to my computer so I can easily transfer my pics.

I also have a UV lense to protect the main lense from getting scratched. This camera has a Carl Zeiss lense that will cost more than the camera if I need to get it fixed, so i protect it with a UV lense. These only cost around 8-10 dollars, so if it gets scratched, its not a big deal.

what I want...
external flash
remote
any other lense i can find (telephoto, etc).

 

[reefrunner69]

he difference on those close ups is amazing!! Were those taken in macro, or normal mode?

 

[Verse914]

Yes, there is a big difference They were taken with Macro mode on. I havent tried to take them without macro mode yet.

Aaron

 

[reefrunner69]

This is what I got. I think tomorrow I might try them with macro.

Macro fully zoomed lens pressed against the glass no diopter used.

Regular shooting mode, with the +4 diopter, fully zoomed about 3-4" back off the tank.

God help me, regular shooting mode and the +4 and the +2 stacked about 2.5-3" from the glass (this was a bear to focus)

I'd like to say, while it seems like it, it does not magnify the coral anymore with or without the diopter, it does allow you to get closer with the telephoto whicch makes for a larger image and stay further away. Please forgive the quality, all that was done to these pics was a conversion from RAW, resize and compress, no other post processing was done.Exposure was the same in all three pics and the aperture set at f/8.