External Flash-

If you don’t have one these can do more for the quality of your indoor, and outdoor, shots than any other upgrade/accessory.  Both Nikon and Canon offer fairly inexpensive but excellent flashes that allow you to bounce the light of the ceiling.  The result is bright, evenly lit photos without your subjects looking washed out or getting red-eye.

Canon
Canon Speedlite 270EX Flash for Canon Digital SLR Cameras $130

Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash for Canon Digital SLR Cameras $250

Nikon

Nikon SB-400 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras $115

Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras $218

In both cases the more advanced/expensive flash gets you faster recycling times, greater range/power and more detailed control.  If you are not likely to be using the flahs in professional settings the cheaper of the two will be fine.

Tripod-

I already have a post about a wonderful, feature laden tripod for only $45

Accessories-
Transcend 8 GB SDHC Class 6 $23 Easy stocking stuffer,stop worrying about running out of room, especially if you have a newer camera that shoots HD video.

Eye-Fi Share Video 4 GB Wi-Fi SDHC $64 This is one of those accessories that makes me feel like I am living in the future. Not only do you get 4GB of space on a standard sized SD card you also get Wi-Fi that lets you wirelessly upload pics as you take them to your computer and/or a handful of photo sharing sites online. One of the best uses of these cards is to hook your computer to your TV, run a slide show of the upload folder and as you are taking pictures of the party/fun they will appear on the TV slideshow – blowing your guests minds!

Waterproof your P&S DicaPac WP110 145X95mm Small Alfa Waterproof Digital Camera Case with Optical Lens (Clear)

Filters-

Another cross post – Filter information and links

Books-

For years I have been recommending Bryan Peterson’s Excellent “Understanding Exposure” He now has a second book Bryan Peterson’s “Understanding Photography Field Guide: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera” that looks to be very helpful

Another book getting rave reviews The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You: iPhone Photography by Chase Jarvis (Voices That Matter)

More Ideas-

Waterproof housing, Pro-membership on Flickr, Smugmug, a photobook of their best images, Gift Cards, something fun from Photojojo.com

I will add more ideas in the coming days!

Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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You have small children that will want to touch your lens, even then it is debatable. Modern lens are coated and it takes a bit of work to scratch them. And that is really all a UV filter does, protects your lens. In my opinion a much better protection is a lens hood. There are plenty of stories of dropped lenses with lens hoods taking most if not all the damage.

Lens Hoods: protect the front element of your lens, eliminates flare and stray light and can upon dropping absorb a good bit of the impact(hopefully). Lens Hoods.

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A: It is the one filter whose effects cannot be recreated in post-process.

Left - Polarizer On | Right - Polarizer Off

Left - Polarizer On | Right - Polarizer Off

What a polarizing filter does:

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Zooms

Super Budget Zoom
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
Decent lens with solid reviews very hard to beat the price. If shopping around make sure you don’t purchase the non-APO version which is crummy.
Price: $189.00

Budget Zoom -
Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Very good lens with IS (image stabilization) which allows you to get sharper images with less light- nicely compliments the kit lens.
Price: $250

Mid-Level Zoom
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Lens for Canon EOS SLR Cameras
Some call this a hidden “L” lens. L lenses are Canon’s professional level lenses that offer superb optics at a serious price. The lens is excellent and includes IS and USM (ultra sonic motor for focusing).
Price: $540

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For years I have cautioned folks against buying cheap tripods, there is no sense in putting $1000 of camera and lens on a cheap tripod that is not going to be able to hold your camera steady and worse may tip over. And then I discovered this Tripod, a friend on a tight budget was in need, the reviews on Amazon were excellent and I can now say after 9 months of use that this really is an amazing deal. For $45 you get a solid and stable tripod with ALL the features of a Gitzo or Manfrotto at a 1/4 of the price.

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Fantastic charger that provides a wealth of information about every battery you charge. Also I have heard reports of the charger bringing dead or nearly dead batteries back to life through it's very smart charging and draining algorithms.

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Best rechargeable batteries on the market. Save money and the environment if you have, or are buying, a camera that uses AA. They perform great in Flashes, GOS devices and anything else that takes AA.

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