In this article I aim to try and cover most of the accessories you can buy for a camera these days that are useful tools you should consider getting.

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 travelled 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, 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 lens’s to carry around when out shooting, for general storage or even travelling. 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 which 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 very easy to carry them around.

Different Lens's

This day and age there are Lens’s to fit every photographers needs, Macro, Telephoto, Wide Angle and your standard zoom lens. 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 only if you really need. It is nice to have different lens’s 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, polarising 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 right.

Flash

I have a small strap on flash for my camera, its 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 wont 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.

Thanks, Matt Godwin