ACCESSORIZE YOUR DIGITAL CAMERA by Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence
Are you getting or giving a digital camera for the holidays? Perhaps
you're planning on getting one in the after Christmas sales? Don't
forget, to get the best out of a digital camera, there are some other
things you might want on your shopping list. We have listed a few
things we think are essential below.
In camera storage - the "film" for your digital camera. There are a
number of formats, though compact flash is probably the most popular
(others include smart media cards, secure digital cards, and Sony
memory sticks). Almost all digital cameras are sold with a storage
card that is way too small for them - if you can fit a number of
photos on the card that comes with the camera, there is a good chance
you want to consider reducing the file compression. The more you
files are compressed on your card, the lower the quality of your
final images. Price per megabyte of storage varies by format of the
card and by how large the card is, but plan on buying something
reasonably large, and preferably at least one spare card. How big is
large? Many camera manuals will tell you how many photos fit on
different size cards, plan on something that you can afford, but will
take more than you imagine you could possibly take in a session. We
have three 1-gigabyte (1,024 megabyte) microdrives, which fit in most
type-II compact flash compatible cameras, and an emergency 128-
megabyte compact flash card (which also doubles as our digicam
storage card) for our main cameras, and we are due to add to our
storage supply soon. More is definitely better here - it is better
to have too much storage rather than having to stop taking photos
when your storage is full.
Spare batteries - Digital cameras are notorious battery hogs,
especially digicams which use the LCD on the back as a viewfinder to
take your photos. It is always a good idea to have a spare
rechargeable battery around (if your camera uses them). If your
camera uses AA batteries, look into a good set (or 2!) of NiMH
rechargeable AA batteries.
A case - Large or small, depending on how much you carry, it's nice
to have something to protect and store the camera, and to carry
around all the necessities like spare batteries.
A computer - Normally, this would be considered a little expensive to
be a digital camera accessory, but the rest of our list requires one.
A CD or DVD writer - All those photos add up in the amount of space
they take in your computer storage. Back them up to a CD or DVD. We
recommend at least two copies, preferably stored in different places.
A card reader - Some come free with storage cards, others will cost
you up to about $30. These devices allow you to insert your camera's
storage card into the reader, which is attached to your computer (we
recommend getting one compatible with USB 2.0). You can then treat
the card as another disk drive, and copy all your files to your hard
disk or to CD. We have found this much easier than trying to link
the camera directly to the computer.
Photo editing software - How powerful depends on your level of
comfort, but you should at least have software for viewing, cropping,
and making basic adjustments to your photos, such as lightening or
changing the color balance.
A photo printer - A printer designed specifically for printing
digital photos is optional, but if you plan on having prints of a
good number of your digital photos, is much easier than going to your
local Walmart or 1-hour photo place. There is a learning curve to
doing this right, though, so if you haven't done much photo printing,
you will want to pay attention to the printer's manual and look at
its settings. "Why don't my printed photos look like what's on the
screen?" is a very common question on the newsgroups (say . . . not a
bad topic for a future article!). There are many good printers out
there in reasonable price ranges, but we have found the Epson C82 to
be a good entry-level printer that can act as both a good photo
printer and a document printer.
You may also find information in these articles we've published
previously to be of some help in getting started with your digital
camera. They can be found in the newsletter archives at
http://www.hankinslawrenceimages.com
Digital Photography:
Avoid Too Much File Compression (Feb 03)
Digital Photography: File Size Matters (Jan 03)
Get the Noise Out of Your Digital Images: Neat Image (May 03)
Printing Your Digital Images: Q-Image Pro 2003 (Aug 03)
Software to Organize Your Images: BreezeBrowser (Apr 03)
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Patty Hankins & Bill Lawrence are the co-owners of Hankins-Lawrence
Images, LLC, a digital photography company based in Maryland. HLI
Photonotes, their monthly ezine, provides information and tips for
photographers. To subscribe email hl_images@earthlink.net with
subscribe in the subject or visit www.hankinslawrenceimages.com.
More articles on HOBBY
Tips for Taking Better Photos of Holiday
Disposable Digital Cameras: The Worst of Both Worlds
Accessorize Your Digital Camera
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