10 Accessories for Your New DSLR

The holidays brought you a new camera body, so now it's time to return those lame gifts and get some gear you actually want.

By Kathleen Davis on March 9, 2009

How-To

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1. Delkin Snug-It Camera Skins

$15, direct, for compact; $40 for DSLR • www.delkin.com

From bags and pouches, cases to rain covers, there's certainly no shortage of ways to protect and cover your camera. Few though, protect your camera while you're shooting. Delkin's Snug-It Camera Skins are specially designed for major compact and DSLR models, you don't have to remove them to access the controls or even the battery and card compartments.

2. Domke Color-Coded Protective Wraps

$17-$19, street • www.tiffen.com

Remember Mom's advice: "You can never be too careful." Especially if you toss your gear into a catch-all bag, you'd be wise to take a little precaution. Domke's color-coded protective wraps are made of padded nylon and wrap around items of any shape, including lenses, tools, and cameras. Touch-fastener tabs on all four corners, ensure that you don't have to worry about them staying closed. Plus, the different colors will help keep you organized.

3. EZDigiMagic DM220-D08 DVD Burner

$350, street • www.ezpnp-usa.com

Sometimes you have to cut out the middleman, which is why this direct memory-card-to-DVD burner is genius. Plug your camera (or any storage device) into the USB port or insert your memory card, and burn your images directly to a CD or DVD -- no computer needed. Or reverse direction and transfer your photos from disks onto storage devices or cards. Need to back up images while traveling? Not a problem. It weighs less than 2 pounds and runs on four AA rechargeable batteries.

4. FoxFury Command Series

20-LED Headlamp $75, direct • www.foxfury.com

It's not the most fashionable of photo accessories, but you'll be glad you have it if you do a lot of low-light setups. This FoxFury Headlamp has 20 LED lights with three intensity modes, a 90-degree tilt, and beams that reach up to 120 feet. Perfect for adventuring way off the beaten path, it runs on 4 AA batteries for 32 hours and is water and impact-proof.

5. Keyboard Shortcut Skins

$30, direct, for laptop; $40 for desktop • www.photojojo.com/store

Can't keep all those Adobe Photoshop keyboard commands straight? Save yourself the headache and slap on a Photojojo keyboard shortcut skin. Available for Photoshop, Apple Aperture, Final Cut Pro/Express, and other imaging software, the skins are color-coded by function and easy to remove and reapply. They have all the normal keyboard functions printed on each key, in case you need to switch back and forth between you photo edition and other programs. If you work with a PC (or you live outside the U.S.), though, you're out of luck -- these fit only Apple's domestic keyboards.