Cheap accessory guide: lenspen

In the accessories articles thread, I started to write about cheap accessories with the lens cap clip. While this is a very useful tool, it is no lenspen.

Lenspen is the accessory one must have if they are a camera user. It is a super effective cleaning tool which can clean your lens as well as your LCD screen (if any). Not only is it practical, it is also very cheap, $8.99 on amazon by the time I am writing this article. There is a regular lenspen and several other shapes available.

By ©Endogen (selbst) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

You can watch the how-to video for a demonstration. I bought one several months ago and I am very satisfied with it. Don't hesitate!

Lens Pen by ©Jeff Golden

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Cheap accessory guide: lens cap clip

Don't you think there is a major practical problem with your dSLR? When you take it out of its bag, you put the strap on, remove the lens cap, turn the camera on and start shooting.
You take your shot, look at the picture (and smile), turn off the camera, put the lens cap back o... wait... where is... not that pocket... not this one... not here... Where in the world is the ^$*@#!* lens cap??
You know what I mean right? Most of the time, after two minutes you remember where you put your lens cap. Hopefully it wasn't in a dusty pocket. Some other times however it fell somewhere and you won't ever find it back. It's not that expensive, but losing it is very annoying and your lens remains unprotected until you get a new one (which you might end up losing too).

By ©Hüfa

Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. Hüfa definitely got that! They sell what should comes with every camera: a lens cap clip. Attach it on your bag, camera strap, shirt, anywhere you want and don't lose your cap ever again. You get one for $12.95 and three for $33, free shipping in the US. Until camera manufacturers think of a place on your camera where you could clip your cap, this is probably your best option.

Hüfa

By ©Hüfa

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Accessory Guide: Memory Card

Memory cards are an important matter, as I read on an article "without them you cannot take pictures". In a perfect world we would just check if we do or do not have one in the camera, nothing more.
Unfortunately (or not) this is not a perfect world, and there are other points to check about memory cards you get.

Size

Size is one of them. Nowadays cards go from 2GB to 32GB, more or less. What you need to do first is check the size of the pictures you take. If your camera handles RAW format, ask yourself what you want to get: JPEG files only, RAW files only, or JPEG + RAW (if available). Also do you want to take full size pictures? After that, when you know the size each picture will take on the card, you can work out the number of pictures you can fit on a card. This is what matters after all.
Also to take into account: do you carry a computer or another hardware you can unload your card on? Do you mind swapping cards (how often)?
If you listen to marketing, size is the only feature that should be taken into consideration. Yes, marketing has its way to make us focus on things and hide the rest of the picture from us. Choice would be simple to make if we lived in marketing world right? Well the bad news is we don't live in this wonderland.

SanDisk Extreme IV 8GB Compact Flash Card by ©William Hook

Speed

Speed is as important as size. When you see the size of the pictures you take, and have an idea of storage speeds, you have reasons to worry about speed! For example, I shoot in RAW+JPEG, my RAW files are about 20MB each and JPEG about 6-8MB (or more). That's 25-30MB per shot. When I move files from a disk to another on my computer, I'm happy to reach 20MB/s. With the same speed it would take more than a second to write a picture on my card; and you will not reach that writing speed. Imagine you take 5 pictures in a row. Now we've got a problem! Don't worry, your camera has a cache, data is written there first (it's much faster) and when the camera has time the photos are written on your card.
We talk about card speed, actually it is card speeds: reading speed and writing speed. They are not the same. It is much faster to read than to write (if you find this weird, think about how fast you read a line of text and how fast you write it).
Reading speed is mainly important when you want to transfer your photos to another storage (your computer, an external hard drive, etc.). If your card is really slow, you will also feel it when you browse your pictures from your camera.
Writing speed is crucial while taking photos. You don't want to miss a shot because your camera is saying "wait will I write on your card". It is even more important if you use continuous shooting mode.
As speed is not the main marketing argument, it varies a lot between two cards. To make this information more readable, "classes" have been introduced, most of the time you find class 2, class 4 and class 6 cards. Again, your need will depend on the size of your photos and how you use your camera. I personnally choose only class 6 cards. But even among cards in the same class, important differences can be found. If you are looking for the best hardware, you should definitely read reviews (see end of article).

Budget

I wish I could forget about this point sometimes. But very few of us can. Quality has a price, sad but true. The good news is with internet there is a lot of competition, so don't buy too fast, check prices everywhere before buying.

Compatibility

Last but not least, check if the card you want to get is compatible with your camera. This sounds obvious I know, but be sure before buying, you don't want a bad surprise. With SD cards for example, you can have three cards which look exactly the same, but one is SD, another is SDHC (SD 2.0) and the third is SDXC. While a device that reads SDXC will read a SD card, the opposite is not (always) true.

Day 5 - New Friend by ©Cristiano Betta

Which to choose

Most of the time you decide (vote?) a budget, check what you can get with it, higher your budget because you want something better and buy. Here I would advise the opposite. This element is very important so you should first decide what is best to get, then look for the lowest price for this product. Also you can ask yourself if you should get one card of a given size or two cards of smaller size. In any case it is still good to have a backup card.
To make a choice, it can be very helpful to read reviews such as:

• 13 SDHC Memory Cards Reviewed on Tom's hardware
• Roundup: CompactFlash Cards For Professionals on Tom's hardware
• High Performance CompactFlash Benchmarks on Canon 1D Mark IV on Slash Gear
• CF/SD Performance Database on Rob Galbraith

Note: I did not get paid by Sandisk for the choice of photos!

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Underwater photography

Last time I went to the seaside, it was at the end of october, I did not have a swimsuit, but I ended up in the sea anyway. Yeah, I love to get in the water!
Now imagine how much I would like to take photos in (and under) the water, just like Sarah Lee. I would love that!

Going underwater opens to a whole new (blue) world. To access it, you need new equipment. Expensive equipment.

If you want to use your dSLR, the housing to go underwater will cost you at least $670, that's the cheapest I found and it goes way above. It costs as much as the camera itself...

So, you'll probably be willing to look for a cheapest way, unless you are really serious about this. It turns out the cheapest housings start at $100, for the Nikon Coolpix L10 & L11. These may not be the best compact cameras but you can find used ones from $35! That means for less than $150 you can start exploring the land of Poseidon. Of course, once you get better and go further, you can spend more money and buy yourself top-notch equipment.

Places where you can buy underwater equipment:

• Diver vision
• Underwater photography

En toute liberté by ©Florian LEROY

Longimanus at Elphinstone Reef, Egypt by ©Tom Weilenmann

Spinner Dolphins by ©Robin Hughes

Toni Frissell: Weeki Wachee spring, Florida, 1947 by ©trialsanderrors

Whale Shark and Diver by ©Robin Hughes

Garden by ©Hani Amir

Sabrina Asano underwater by ©Mick Gleissner

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Accessory Guide: gear bag

dSLR, flash unit, lenses, when you are a beginner you soon have a lot of stuff to carry on your photo adventures. And the plastic bag is not such a good idea!
You need to spend some money on a camera bag (sorry to tell you), for convenience, and to protect your precious gear.

©Vanguard Europe

Where to start?

First you need to know if you are looking for a bag to go on a trip with, or a bag for any photo walk. In other words, do you want a bag to carry all (or almost all) your gear or a bag to carry a selection, small or not, of your equipment (the selection may change depending on many things: goals, weather, time of day, ...).
Having both types of bags may be a good idea.

You know you will at least have your dSLR and memory cards. Then do you want to carry all your lenses (if not, which ones?), flash unit(s), tripod, etc. For now just consider the biggest equipment you have, you need to know what bag size you are looking for.

Accessibility

Camera bags are supposed to be designed to allow you to get your stuff as quickly as possible. You don't want to miss a photo because you couldn't get your camera on time. Same goes for other stuff you might want to be easy to access, such as memory cards, batteries, or your second favorite lens.
Most bags include modular systems to help you make the best of the available space.

Comfort

Shoulder bag, rolling bag, backpack, holster bag, all kinds of bags exist. I have a single strap backpack (+ small side strap), it is very handy, you can pull your camera in the blink of an eye, but I confess it is hard on the shoulder after a few hours.

Price

Price should obviously be taken into account in your decision, but don't buy cheap if you think you will regret it. You will have your bag with you all the time, it is an important purchase.

My best advice is: try them. Take some of your stuff and go to the closest shop to try the bags, test all the points that might help you make up your mind.

Famous brands include Vanguard, Lowepro, Think Tank, Tamrac, Crumpler.

©Vanguard Europe

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Accessory guide: tripod, night photographer's best friend

When I left my previous job, my colleagues offered me a great present for which I am still grateful: a tripod.

I was very happy to have it when my dad and my brother had a party for their birthday and I wanted to take a group shot: I could be part of it! By that time, I had no remote controller, and so I had to set a timer... and run! That was fun! You could tell me: "OK, maybe it is better to use a tripod, but for the price, I'd rather put my camera on a chair or on a table". Alright, you could do that, it will just be more difficult to frame. It's up to you. Other situations in which a tripod is very useful include long exposure shots and panorama (you usually need to take a few shots -- or more -- for a panorama, it's much easier if you can just rotate the camera).

Now the price. Tripods start at a very cheap price, that is $20-$30. I said wrote cheap, it goes for the price and for the finitions. Unfortunately, you will probably need to spend $100 to $200 or more for a good product (I warned you photography equipment is expensive!).

At first I was like you: hundred bucks for an object which only purpose is to hold my camera??

I am sure tripod makers could make an effort on the price, but let me give a few keys to explain the price:

• First, it has to be robust: you don't want your $(1)500 camera to fall because with the lens you used it was too heavy for your tripod. In the same time, you don't want the tripod to be too heavy.
• Second, your tripod does not simply allow you to take a standard horizontal shot. It can rotate your camera to take photos in the angle you choose, and there is often a bull's eye spirit level to help you choose the angle.
• Third, a tripod should be practical to transport. So here come the telescopical parts, the little bag, etc.

I hope you understand better now.


This accessory is (almost) indispensable in some cases, just ask yourself if you will encounter these situations.

How not to be frugal. by Roanish

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Accessory guide: remote

Whether you like it or not, Christmas time is coming! Happy time for receiving, but it's also a time for giving.

If you want to offer a present to a photographer (maybe yourself!), these "Accessory guide" articles might come in handy. I know photography equipment is often very expensive, so I'll start with unexpensive yet very useful accessories.

Today: remote controllers. They start at a really affordable price (a few dollars!), and they are essential in some situations:

• self portrait or group portrait in which the photographer wants to appear
• long exposure shots (especially bulb shots)
• any case in which it is crucial that the camera does not shake while taking the picture

Usually they are categorized by communication type: wire, infrared, radio. You could also categorize them by functionality: only shutter release for the simplest, or advance controls such as timer settings, exposure length or zoom. And some can do a lot more.

Wired remote controllers do not allow self-portrait, unless you use a timer in which case you don't really need the remote... But in general they are the cheapest, and they are a good choice for light painting and motion blur.

Infrared remotes let you take self-portrait, the problem is then to hide the remote, as you need to point it to the camera!

And then, there are radio remotes which are more expensive, but easy to use and more practical.

Last but not least, onOne software presents... the iPhone app! Yes, that's right! This application only works for Canon and Nikon (sorry), and is not free, but it lets you perform many operations. The counterpart is that you need a computer with WiFi connection to the iPhone, and USB connection to the camera to use it (you'd better have a laptop...).


Remote controllers are great for the price, I am sure not every photographer has one, but all could use it!

01/52 In between by .lisakimberly. taken with a Canon RC-1

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