Digital Travel Photography Digital Field Guide

Chapter 5. Accessories for Digital Travel Photography

In This chapter

• The simple life

• More advanced add-ons

• Expanding your point-and-shoot camera's optical capabilities

• Expanding your dSLR's options with extra lenses

A camera properly equipped with its lens and a memory card is all you need to shoot great-looking travel photos, right? Oh, wait. Your camera must be powered, so throw in extra batteries and/or a battery charger, too. Hmm...maybe you should include a rain poncho to keep you and your camera dry during those misty (or rainy days). Some sort of camera support would be nice to hold your camera steady for long exposures or for when you want to include yourself in a picture of your entire group.

If you use a more advanced camera, you probably want an electronic flash for pictures at night, and at least one or two interchangeable lenses to give you a different perspective on your travel subjects. Now you need a bag to carry all that junk in. It looks as if you're going to have to take a serious look at the accessories you take with you on your trip — so you know what you absolutely must have and what you can get along without.

If you've read the Quick Tour and the first two chapters of this book, you already know the basic items that are essential for anyone traveling as light as possible: a camera, a spare camera (usually happily put to use by another member of your party), lots of memory card space, and sufficient power to keep your equipment operating for the length of your journey. ...