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Camera Gear
Gear You Need For Starting Photography Every hobby has its accessories. I sometimes joke that my dive buddy only became interested in
scuba diving after she discovered that scuba gear was a whole new way to spend money.
While there’s no doubt some truth to that, it’s also true that there are some things you really
need to buy to accompany any activity, and digital photography is no exception. Here’s a short
shopping list of things you might consider buying as you get more into shooting digitally:
A camera It goes without saying that you need a camera, but don’t rush into the
purchase. You can even use a 35mm camera to begin with, and scan the images into
the PC for editing and printing. Keep what you think is important to your creative edge so
An adequate PC Crunching data to process digital images takes a bit more horsepower
than you might be used to when working with Word or Excel. I suggest using a Pentium
III–class PC with no less than 128MB of RAM. If you want to work with really big
images—like 6-megapixel pictures—then consider 256MB of RAM. You might be
surprised to learn that more memory is generally more useful than a faster processor.
Batteries Digital cameras are power hogs. I highly recommend buying two sets of
NiMH rechargeable batteries, since they’ll pay for themselves before you can say
“alkaline.” If your camera didn’t come with an AC adapter, I suggest that you buy
one from the camera vendor’s accessories store so you can power the camera when
you’re transferring images to the PC or displaying images on a TV.
Memory Buy the biggest memory card you can afford. The measly 8MB memory
card that came with your camera won’t last a day when you’re on vacation, so having a
128MB or 256MB card is almost essential. A spare card, if it’s in the budget, can keep
you going when you fill up your main card far away from your PC.
Image editing software Your camera probably came with some rudimentary image
editor, but it may not be up to the task. Try a few out, and buy the image editor that you
like the best. I typically use Paint Shop Pro (from www.cnet.com), for instance.
Printer Get a good color inkjet printer and premium photo paper. Don’t skimp on this
step—when the time comes to print your pictures, why bother having a good camera,
this book, and taking the time to improve your photo skills if you’re going to print
pictures on a budget printer with lousy paper? Tripod If you want to extend your photography into the world of close-ups or long-range
telephoto images, a tripod is a necessity. It needn’t be large or heavy, because most
digital cameras are significantly lighter than their 35mm counterparts.
Lenses and filters The time may come when you want to take pictures—like extreme
close-ups, wide-angle shots, or extreme telephotos—that are beyond the range of the
lens that came with your camera. Likewise, you might want to reduce glare or add other
special effects to your images. If that’s the case, you want lenses and filters for your
camera. You may not need them right now, but consider them an advanced purchase
for later on. Camera bag Choose a bag that lets you arrange your camera and accessories in a way
that they’re protected from theft and damage, but easy to use when the time comes to
shoot a picture. Look for bags that don’t really look like they’re holding camera gear—
that might make them less of a target for thieves. What about film ? The two kinds of film in common use today are negative and slide film. They work a little
differently, but the end result is similar. When you use color negative film, also referred to as
reversal film, the film itself becomes a “negative” image of the scene you photographed. After
processing—which includes letting the film sit in a chemical bath that coaxes the grains of silver
to visually materialize on the film—the negative is used to create positive prints of the scene. It’s a two-step process, and one that is highly subjective. When creating prints from negatives,
photo-finishers often tweak the picture to improve its appearance. Of course, what the corner
shop considers an “improvement” may not be what you were trying to achieve, and that explains
why your pictures never seem to benefit from filters, exposure changes, or any of the other
corrections you try to make when taking pictures.
But I digress. The other kind of film is simple slide film. This is a color positive development
process—after fixing the slide film in its chemical bath, the film becomes slides that can be held
up to the light to display images. No matter what kind of film you have, it eventually needs to be exposed to light. When you
take a picture, you obviously press the shutter release. The shutter release instructs the camera to
open a diaphragm in the lens for a brief period of time and then close again. If all went well, that
was just long enough to properly expose the film. Special Note: If you want to shoot with 35mm film, scan the results, and then edit and print the
results on your PC, you might want to work with slide film. Slides are more exacting
they require you to nail the exposure fairly precisely, as I explain more in newer articles but
they’ll better represent what you actually photographed instead of the local photo
shop’s vision of what you photographed
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Contributor's Note
Adding some of my Photos Later for Viewing as examples of how I try different techniques and lens for effect.
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