Digital camera accessories

Point-and-shoot digital cameras are designed to take great pictures, right out of the box. Some digital cameras are made to extend your picture-taking fun, thanks to add-on lenses and accessories.

If your camera is designed to work with accessories (check your owner’s manual or the box your camera came in), you can increase your photographic possibilities by trying some out. Add-on lenses either screw onto the front of your camera’s existing lens or snap right onto it, and accessories make your camera better for flash photography or to use in special situations. The following is a guide to some of the most popular lenses and accessories you can buy for your camera

Lenses

Telephoto lens— One of the most popular add-on lenses, the telephoto lens, magnifies your image, allowing you to take pictures of things that are farther away than you can photograph with your normal camera lens. Use a telephoto lens when you’re trying to capture a photo of a bird up in a tree, for example, or when you’re at the zoo and want to take a picture of a lion, without getting too close

Did we have to sneak up on a bird to photograph this? No. We used a telephoto lens to get close without the bird ever knowing.

Wide-angle lens— A wide-angle lens gives your camera a different view of the world. Imagine looking at something through a paper towel tube — you can’t see the things around you, only what’s right in front of you. Now take away that tube, and suddenly you see much more of the world around you. A wide-angle lens does the same thing for your camera; it changes the way the camera sees — from being a narrow area of the world to a much wider one so your pictures will be able to “see” more of a scene, but everything will look wider

Fisheye lens — This lens is like a super powerful wide-angle lens. Using a fisheye lens is like looking through the peephole on your front door — everything looks distorted and strange. Most people use fisheye lenses only when they are trying to take a creative or artistic picture.

Macro lens— In order to take pictures of things that are really close, you should try a macro lens. Many digital cameras already have some ability to take macro photography, but macro lenses are more powerful than what comes standard. They’ll let you capture the details on a flower or get right up close to a bug.

Accessories
Flashes — The built-in flash on most digital cameras is only powerful enough to light up just a few feet, which is enough for snapshots of your friends, but it might not be enough if you’re trying to take pictures of a larger area. Some digital cameras can use flashes that connect to the top of the camera and allow you to shed more light on your subject.
Remote controls — A remote control allows you to take a picture without having to stand directly next to your camera, which is great for group portraits or long-exposure shots where you don’t want to shake the camera. Many cameras come with a remote control these days, but often people just leave them in the box. Be sure to carry yours with you, because you never know when having a remote control could come in handy.

Card readers— There’s a cable with every camera you can use that connects it to your computer in order to transfer images. But leaving your camera on while you load pictures into Adobe® Photoshop® Elements or onto your hard drive takes lots of battery power. Use an external card reader and you can save the life of your batteries. Pull your memory card out of your camera and put it into a card reader connected to your computer and your digital camera will have plenty of juice when you need it. (Just remember to put the card back into the camera when you’re done.)

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