CAMERA ACCESSORIES

Accessories for cameras are mainly for care, protection, special effects and functions. Every photographer has their own idea of what accessories are important to bring when they go out to shoot. In this lesson, I’ll be listing what I consider as important camera accessories when I leave home for a shoot. 

Tripod:

A tripod is a general term for a stand or support with three legs. A tripod is an adjustable three legged stand primarily to hold a camera steady. It is often used to support a camera or camera equipments. All photographic tripods have three legs and a mounting head to couple with a camera. The mounting head usually includes a thumbscrew that mates to a female threaded receptacle on the camera, as well as a mechanism to be able to rotate and tilt the camera when it is mounted on the tripod. Tripod legs are usually made to telescope, in order to save space when not in use. Tripods are usually made from aluminum, carbon fiber, steel, wood or plastic. Most digital camera tripod consist of two parts, the tripod with its legs, and the attachment on top – the tripod head. The head is where you attach your camera. The head is flexible so you can adjust the camera and shot in every possible angle.  More advanced professional tripods have changeable tripod heads for different use. Tripods come in different heights from a few centimeters and up to eyelevel of a standing adult. The height you need for the tripod depends on how you plan to use it. If you shoot landscape most of the time a higher one is more convenient as you can stay comfortable in front of the tripod. Shooting macro of flowers requires a tripod that can be adjusted to a very low height, just above the ground. Also consider the minimum length of the tripod when collapsed.

The Tripod Head

There are two types of tripod heads- the ball head and the pan and tilt head.

The ball head has only one lock screw. This allows a fast adjustments and the camera can be positioned in any position very quick. The disadvantage with the ball heads is they can be difficult to use if you have a camera with a heavy (and long) telephoto lens attached. If you want to pan the camera to the left with a ball head you have to loosen the knob, with the risk you also by mistake will tilt the camera up and down as well. Another possible disadvantage with the ball head is if you fail to tighten the ball head lock well enough, you might experience the camera will move slightly out of position.

A pan and tilt head have three separate locking handles or knobs, one for each of the axis. You can position the camera in three directions very precisely. Differently from the ball head, in this case you only loosen the handle you actually need to adjust. If you only want to pan the camera to the right, you open this handle without the risk of tilting the camera up or down. It takes a little longer to adjust, but as soon you have the camera in the right position the pan head is very precise and stable.

Monopod:

Monopod is simply a pole, adjustable for height, with a camera fitting on the end. If you think a regular tripod is too heavy to carry, a monopod is a good alternative as they provide far more stability compared to a hand held camera. Using a telephoto lens over a longer time can be a physical challenge. In this case the Monopod will be a great support. A monopod is ideal for supporting long lenses while still giving you the freedom to move around, or for preventing camera shake in low light. If you apply downward pressure to increase stability and use your body to provide extra support it is safe to use shutter speeds down to ¼ or ½ sec. They are very helpful for certain situations, such as to add extra stability when a tripod is not practical or to help balance extremely bulky telephoto lenses, such as those used by may sports or wildlife photographers. 

Advantages of Monopods:

Weight and Size: The portability that monopods offer is probably their best feature (coming from someone who hauled a massive tripod around for years). They are lighter and smaller and can often be thrown in a backback or camera bag (or hung off one) without too much trouble.

Quick to Set up: Instead of having to pull out and secure three legs you only have to do it with one. This means when the moment comes to take a shot you can be set up within seconds.

Flexibility: When using a monopod you are almost in between tripod and hand held shooting in that you have extra support to cut back camera shake but you are also less tied down and have more flexibility to move around.

Less Real Estate – shooting with a tripod in a crowded situation can be a nightmare as your tripod has a larger footprint and takes up quite a bit of room. If space is an issue a monopod is ideal as it takes up virtually no space.

Disadvantages of Monopods:

Camera Shake – Monopods won’t eliminate camera shake. They do give more stability than hand holding a camera but at best they’ll probably only buy you a stop or three. For full elimination of camera shake you can’t go past a tripod.

Flexibility – there are some shooting situations that shooting with a monopod can be difficult. For example shooting in vertical mode instead of horizontal is hard (unless you go for a swivel or ball head.

If you’re not going to be shooting at extra slow speeds then a monopod is definitely a worthwhile option to consider. For extra stability when shooting with a monopod find a solid object like a wall or tree to lean against. This will further eliminate camera shake.

Lens Hood:

A lens hood or lens shade is a device used on the end of a lens to block the sun or other light source in order to prevent glare and lens flare.

The lens hood is a piece of plastic that clips onto the front of a camera lens and extends beyond it.  Lens hoods serve two primary purposes: (1) reducing lens flare, and (2) protecting the lens from damage.  The intended purpose of the lens hood is simply to reduce lens flare, but the protection it provides to the glass elements of the lens is a beneficial side-effect.

A good lens hood can nearly eliminate flare caused by stray light from outside the angle of view. Ensure that this hood has a completely non-reflective inner surface, such as felt, and that there are no regions which have rubbed off. Hoods for zoom lenses can only be designed to block all stray light at the widest focal length.

The primary use for a lens hood is to prevent light from hitting the front lens element from the sides - reducing contrast and creating flare. Pictures taken with a lens hood installed can have richer colors and deeper saturation.

A secondary use for a lens hood is to protect the lens. The damage prevented can range from a finger-printed front element (a minor inconvenience) to a broken front element (possibly a major expense - and lost pictures/downtime). Lens hoods are generally strong and stick out from the lens some distance. Accidental touches and scratches to the front element are reduced simply because the glass is more difficult to reach with the hood in place. Some impact protection is gained from having a sacrificial part taking the blow. Of course, ultra wide angle lenses have very short hoods that offer very little protection.

Lens hoods on longer focal length lenses offer more front lens element protection from rain and dust. Of course, if your lens is not weather sealed, you should not let it get wet in the first place. A clean and dry front element will allow the camera to deliver the better image quality you expect. 

Filters:

Filters can basically be divided into three main groups. The largest comprises those that are used to correct faults or enhance the light so your pictures capture everything the way you remembered seeing it. The second includes filters that are designed purely to add creative effects to your pictures, such as starbursts, multiple image, prisms, and soft focus. The third covers filters that are designed for controlling contrast in black and white photography

Camera filters are transparent or translucent optical elements that alter the properties of light entering the camera lens for the purpose of improving the image being recorded. Filters can affect contrast, sharpness, highlight flare, colour, and light intensity, either individually, or in various combinations.  They can also create a variety of "special effects."

Filters are attached directly to the front of the camera lens and have a variety of purposes. Many photographers use a filter simply to protect the front of their lenses from scratching and other damage.

We can use filters to modify exposures or the quality of light entering the camera in order to control the contrast, tonality, glare and reflections or to produce the special effect. The most commonly used filters are made up of glass and are mounted inside a threaded rim that allows you to screw the filter onto the front of the lens.

 A filter for the lenses such as the UV protector is used to guard against the harsh sunrays. Along with the UV filter, you should get a polarize filter. The polarize filter is used in photography when you are shooting a shot into direct sunlight or other light. It will help to balance out the light in the photograph so that you do not get the washed out look. Other filters can be used to create the washed out effect if you feel your photography would speak more. The filters effects created using software such as Photoshop are not as wide as the filters you can actually buy for your camera lens, but they do offer some of the same effects that you are after.

ND filters, or Neutral Density filters, are a great way to take control over exposure time. These filters are used to reduce the amount of light that reaches the sensor, which makes it possible for the photographer to use a larger aperture for a longer period of time then what would be normal under given circumstances.

An example of this would be the ability to photograph a waterfall with a slow shutter speed during a bright day. Without a ND filter most lenses would not be able to use an aperture small enough for long exposures but with an ND filter attached the photographer can mix and match just how he wants it.

Colour filters are rarely used anymore; they were primarily used for black & white photography to manipulate the contrast. An example is using a yellow, orange or red filter, which will increase the contrast between skies and clouds, making the clouds really stand out. These days the effects can quite easily be reproduced digitally with the help of levels and channels.