Photography Lens Accessories

Choosing Camera Lens Accessories

Camera lens accessories perform the vital function of protecting and extending the capability of your lenses. Protective accessories keep lenses clean, prevent scratches, and avoid damage to lens mechanisms. Additionally, you can enhance the capability of your lenses and take higher-quality pictures by adding converters, adapters, and add-on lenses.

Camera Lens Protectors

Lens caps protect the front and rear of your lenses, keeping out dirt, and preventing accidental damage to the glass. If you lose or damage your caps, obtain replacement lens caps to avoid the risk of accidentally scratching your lenses. A lens cap leash keeps the lens cap safe when shooting, and prevents its loss if the cap drops off accidentally. Other ways to protect lenses include permanently fitting skylight or UV filters. Alternatively, minimize the potential for optical distortion from a filter by fitting a lens hood, such as the 52mm lens hood that screws onto the front of a 52mm lens.

Use a lens case for safe camera lens storage, and when traveling. Other ways to protect your lenses include using a camera case, fitting a cushioned lens skin, or adding a lens bumper.

Adapters, Converters, and Other Lens Accessories

If you use more than one type of camera or have incompatible lenses from your days of film photography, consider a lens mount adapter to attach lenses from one make of camera to another. While these adapters are effective, note that some functions, such as autofocus and aperture control, may not work.

Extend the capability of your telephoto lenses with a teleconverter. These are available in various magnifications, the most common being 1.4x and 2x. Minor limitations include a slight loss in sharpness and a reduction in the effective lens aperture due to less light. Other popular general lens accessories include wide-angle and telephoto add-on lenses, T-mount adapters for screw-mounted lenses, and lens cleaning materials.

Camera Lens Kit for Macro Photography

Macro Photography, the close-up photography of small objects, is a fascinating pastime. While dedicated macro lenses are available, it's possible to convert standard lenses to achieve similar magnifications.

The main limitation of a standard lens is its inability to focus close enough. Extension tubes or bellows overcome this problem and move the lens away from the camera, increasing the effective magnification. Other options include adding close-up lenses, or reversing a standard lens with reversing rings. Other tools for macrophotography include a tripod and focusing rails to achieve pin-sharp focusing. These techniques make it possible to take macro photos without a macro lens, and can also enhance the capabilities of an existing macro lens.

Camera lens accessories are excellent tools for increasing the range and flexibility of your lenses. To learn more, check out B&H Photo and Video's comprehensive range of lens accessories.