Let’s say you have just bought your new Digital SLR Camera, you’ve shown it off to your friends and you’re the new big man in town. But you don’t know what kit to buy for it, well in this tutorial I will go through some of the accessories you can buy these days for cameras. Some are more essential then others and it’s down to what you want to buy - I am just trying to make it easier for some people!

Spare Battery
Now I would consider this to be one of the most important things you buy for your camera. Trust me when I say this, there is nothing worse then being out on a photography shoot and your battery dies. If you have had to pay for a studio then you will have lost money, if you have traveled along way for a beautiful scenery it would have been a waste of time and money. Whenever I go out I always have a backup battery ready to pop in, just in case the worst happens!

Spare Film / Memory Card
Another essential - again nothing worse then not being able to take more photos when you run out of space. If you have digital, the last thing you will want to do is trawl through all the photos and have to make decisions on weather to delete photos out on location.

Kit Bag
If you are like me and have a few lenses to carry around when out shooting, for general storage or even traveling, something useful to have is a kit bag to store it all in. They come in all different styles. You can get the hard plastic cases, which offer more protection to your equipment and camera. You also have the soft bags, which can go over your shoulder or carry which I have. The advantage of a kit bag is you can keep lots of stuff in them. I keep my camera manual’s, filters, lens’s, camera in there, so when I go somewhere all I have to do is pickup the bag, easier said then done in some cases.

Tripod
A tripod is a nifty bit of kit to have; it provides a good solid base to hold your camera on for photographs that require long shutter speeds. Be careful with what tripods you do buy, some cheap ones can be very flimsy and can break easily. They fold up to be quite small and can go in small bags which can just go over your shoulder, so it’s very easy to carry them around.

Different Lenses
This day and age there are lenses to fit every photographers needs: macro, telephoto, wide angle, your standard zoom lens, and many more. The downside to them is they can get very expensive and can be damaged easily if proper care isn’t used with them. I would say only really invest in a new lens if you really need it. It is nice to have different lenses, but unfortunately like I said, they do come at a cost.

Filters
Filters are pretty cheap these days, and can be a lot of fun playing around and trying new things out with them. There are so many different types; you can get UV, IR, coloured, polarizing and so many more. Well worth it if you are looking at trying some new ideas, you can really get some good results with filters when used correctly.

Flash
I have a small strap-on flash for my camera. It’s not really something I personally use much - they are mainly used in portrait photography and quite a bit in abstract photos. They can be useful to have but, when not used right, they can ruin photos just as well as they can help make some photos. Again its one of those things I wouldn’t bother buying if you won’t use it, but they can be useful to have.

That is it really, there are still lots more items you can buy, like hand grips or remote controls for camera to keep them more steady, but I just wanted to look at some of the more common pieces of equipment you can buy these days for cameras.