Within hours of buying a digital camera, most photography enthusiasts will have taken a few hundred photos. It doesn’t take long to realize that several add-on equipment purchases are needed. Without spending thousands of dollars for the latest and greatest digital equipment, there are a few pieces that will make any digital photography lab more complete.
Digital Photography Add-on Shopping List
First up. Keeping the camera in good, clean working order is one of the first concerns to address. Consider buying a camera cleaning kit that includes a soft cloth, lens cleaner, a soft bristle brush and an air bulb.
The second most expensive part of the camera (and in many cases the most expensive) is the lens. Purchasing a few ultra-violet lens filters will protect the lens from getting scratched and will not add any detrimental light. Filters are relatively low cost and will save you hundreds of dollars.
If you have an attachable flash, always have an ample supply of batteries or invest in a two really good rechargeable battery sets with a charger.
If available, invest in an extra battery for the camera itself so that waiting to recharge won’t stop the picture taking activities.
Extra memory cards are a must. The first time the single card that came with the camera gets full and you can’t take anymore pictures, will be the last time the camera bag will contain less than two memory cards.
Memory card cases are also a must have. The cards are small (but expensive) and easy to loose or drop or crush. Card cases will go a long way in protecting the expensive little technology gadgets.
A memory card reader is also a good item to purchase so that photos can be transferred to any computer quickly and without the added need for software to connect the camera to a computer.
Digital Photos Storage
Those first few hundred digital photos will in the snap of a flash turn into a few thousand. Storage becomes a serious issue – fast. External hard drives the size of a deck of cards are coming down in price and going up in capacity – which makes for a great archival storage system.
CDs, DVDs or large storage capacity server drives also make good storage systems. Regardless of the type of storage system, always – because it is digital – have a backup of the storage. If it’s CDs – make two copies. If it is a server drive, make sure the drive is being backed up on a regular basis.
More Digital Camera Add-ons
Additional lenses and filters, bigger and better flashes, tripods, light meters and a camera bag full of add-ons are right around the corner. For now, at the beginning, this list will do just fine.
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