Accessory Lenses

Most digital cameras have a limited focal-length range for their zooms. Of course, with a digital interchangeable-lens SLR, you can put all sorts of lenses on the camera. However, there just aren't as many choices in add-on lenses to increase your focal-length options for the rest of the digital cameras. This isn't necessarily limiting, since there's a whole range of accessory lenses available to give you the focal lengths you need.

Canon, Nikon and Olympus all make dedicated accessory lenses for their cameras. Mostly, they use special adapters that hold the accessory lens out from the zoom so the zoom can continue to move up and down. Up until Canon announced its latest PowerShot G3, these adapters all used screw-in mounts. The G3 has a very handy bayonet adapter (it also includes a screw-in mount at the end).

Since most digital cameras have a limited wide-angle range, wide-angle accessory lenses can be a great first addition to your camera system. Typically, they come in strengths of 0.6X to 0.75X and offer a 25% to 40% widening of the angle of view. Nikon has been very aggressive in developing excellent wider-angle lenses for its Coolpix line and has the best selection of any manufacturer.

Wide-angle accessory lenses are also marketed by a variety of independent companies, including Tiffen, Phoenix, Kenko and Century Optics. One challenge with all of these lenses is that it's difficult to say which ones will work well with a particular camera and which won't. Realize that any accessory lens can only be as good as the original lens. Plus, the wide-angle setting of the zoom sometimes does weird things with even good accessory lenses because of the gap between it and the add-on lens. You can easily find a lens that's superb on one camera and worthless on another.

Century Optics gives the widest scope of focal-length possibilities, offering a range of wide-angles down to a 0.3X full-frame fish-eye. Its lenses were originally designed as high-quality accessories for digital video. You need to set your camera to its macro setting for these lenses to focus properly.

You can also get telephoto accessory lenses. Typically, they add 1.5X to 2X magnification to the original zoom and must be used with the telephoto at its maximum setting. Because there's less space between the camera lens and add-on lens and because telephotos keep the light going in a more linear direction, there's less of a challenge in matching these lenses to the zoom. All of the companies previously mentioned have them, although Nikon and Olympus have the greatest range here, offering accessory lenses up to 3X for some of their models. In addition, Kenko has a special 8X monocular/accessory lens that gives very dramatic results for certain cameras.

Special high-quality, multi-element close-up lenses will further increase your possibilities with a digital camera. These offer extremely high-quality macro photography with all focal lengths of your camera (way beyond the built-in close-up setting) and are available from Nikon, Canon and Century Optics.

One nice thing about accessory lenses: They're pretty much just glass and mount, making them small, lightweight and relatively inexpensive for what you get.

Flash

Flash has long been an important tool for the photographer, but for many of us, you could never be sure that you got what you wanted until you saw the photos. With digital cameras, this has all changed. Most of the more sophisticated digital cameras allow you to add an accessory flash unit through a hot-shoe or even a PC cord. With a digital camera, you can take the flash shot and look at it in the LCD immediately. It's like a Polaroid, only faster. As soon as you take the picture, you can check it out and revise exposures as needed, getting the perfect shot without the hassles of a lot of guesswork and poor exposures.

Dedicated flash units are available from the manufacturers of most digital cameras that can take an add-on flash. All of them work automatically with the camera, although some models may be restricted in their use—always check. I like a full-powered unit that has the strength to balance even sunlight or to bounce off a high ceiling, but you can usually find a range of units in terms of price and power.

You can also buy units from independent manufacturers that give you more possibilities for power and control. Look for units that are designed for your brand of camera from Metz, Phoenix, Sunpak, Sigma, ProMaster and others.

In addition to standard units that fit atop a camera, many manufacturers also sell ringlights or other macro-type flash units that get low-powered light close to the lens for very detailed flash images when shooting up close.

Look into a hot-shoe extension cord, too. So often, the flash looks better when it isn't coming directly from the camera position, and an extension cord gives you many options for placement of the flash.

Tripods

Digital cameras are so light and simple to use that it's just as easy to forget the importance of a tripod. With the quality of lenses matching the megapixel detail of today's cameras, you might be getting less than you paid for if you never use a tripod. One of the most significant ways an image loses sharpness is through camera movement when handholding a camera. Any shutter speed under 1/60 sec. is suspect, and even 1/250 sec. may be too slow to handhold with telephoto focal lengths (especially when using accessory lenses).

Sometimes I've heard camera stores get complaints of unsharp cameras or lenses when the real culprit was camera movement.

The only way to tell what your camera and lens are capable of is to shoot a subject when the camera is on a tripod. For optimum sharpness, always use a tripod when shooting in low-light situations, including dawn and dusk, when using longer focal lengths, or when the weather makes it hard to hold still (such as in the wind or cold).

While lightweight cameras seem to need lightweight tripods, be careful that the tripod isn't too light. Cheap, overly light tripods can be flimsy structures that can actually make camera movement worse. Open up a tripod to normal working height and see how sturdy it is.

You don't need a huge head on the tripod for a small camera, but don't skimp here, either. You want a head that firmly locks the camera in place and that won't shift as you're making your picture. And it should also be easy to use—both when putting the camera on and off the head and when adjusting it with the camera attached.

Some people prefer ballheads for the tripod head, others the pan-and-tilt head. In spite of arguments by proponents of both, it's really up to you. Try them at the store to see which is easier for you to set up and use.

Excellent tripods are available from many manufacturers, including Slik, Manfrotto, Gitzo, Sanford & Davis, Giotto, Novoflex and Hakuba.

Bags

Once you've got a bit of gear, you need something in which to carry it. When looking for a bag, find one that handles your gear easily so you can get it in and out without trouble. I can't imagine buying a bag without trying it out at the store first, just for this reason. I've seen too many photographers have to put the bag down because they can't get at gear.

Padding adds to the protection of your gear, but too much padding can add unnecessary weight and bulk to a bag. Almost all bags today come with moveable, Velcro dividers. Look at them carefully to be sure you have the flexibility you need for your gear.

The external and internal fabrics of bags vary quite a bit. Look for a tough exterior, with a soft interior. Waterproof fabric can be helpful if you shoot in wet conditions; in that case, look at how the bag is constructed to keep water out.

Bags come in several types of designs, none of which is right for everyone. Hip and belt packs tend to be smaller, but can balance quite nicely on your body for hiking. Traditional shoulder-strap bags hold more, but can get bulky; some include waist straps. Newer shoulder bags come in flatter designs that sit closer to your body, but can be hard to access. Backpack bags are also available for those who need to carry a lot of gear or want to include a laptop with the camera.

Put the bag on, whether around your waist or over the shoulder. Check to see how comfortable the straps are and how the bag sits against your body.

Good-quality camera bags come from many manufacturers, including Lowepro, Tamrac, Domke, Tiffen, RoadWired and more.

Filters

Some people are under the impression that digital means freedom from filters. However, photography is a craft that requires attention to detail if you want the best photos, regardless of the light-sensing technology. If detail isn't captured by the sensor, no amount of work in the computer is going to bring it back. Filters can help.

But even if you can do a lot in the computer, why spend the time if you can capture the image better in the first place? I'd rather work to improve a good picture rather than rescuing something I could have photographed better in the first place.

A lot of filters can be used with digital cameras. However, to me, two types stand out as a necessity for all photography, whether for traditional or digital cameras.

Polarizing Filters. Only a polarizer can remove glare from water or rocks. It's also very difficult to mimic in the computer the effect these filters have on an overall scene. They do a fantastic job of making colors look richer and intensifying blue skies (at certain angles to the sun).

Split Neutral-Density Filters. Long a staple in the outdoor photographer's gadget bag, the split neutral-density filter is a tremendous help in balancing the bright and dark areas of a photograph. It's basically a dark gray, blue or warm-tone filter in one half and clear in the other. While image-processing software can help refine the balance between the dark and light areas, it can't bring detail out of nothing. Split neutral-density or graduated filters let you put the dark part over the bright area and the light part over the dark area to balance out the exposure.

Warming filters aren't as much use for digital cameras, though, because that effect can be controlled with the white-balance settings of the camera.

You'll find excellent filters from such companies as Heliopan, Hoya, Tiffen, Cokin, Singh-Ray, Lee Filters, Sunpak, and B+W.