Filters, supports & spares
The parts in between, where a picture is actually decided
24 categories of filters, supports and spares, judged the same way as the equipment itself: by what they change, and whether the cheap option is already good enough. A support takes the rating of its weakest part, which is why legs declared for eight kilograms under a head declared for four is a four-kilogram combination — and a filter only helps on the thread it was actually cut for.
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- Tripod heads The head is rated separately from the legs, and the lower figure governs 3
- Light stands Maximum height, folded length and a spigot size that decides what mounts 4
- Quick release plates A profile is a shape, and only one of them is published as a standard 4
- Camera cages A cage is cut for one body, and the port cutouts are the specification 2
- Reflectors and diffusers Diameter, surface and whether anything holds it but a hand 4
- Flash triggers A trigger belongs to a system, and the system is named on the box 7
- Flash diffusers A small modifier on a small flash is still a small source 3
- Lens adapters An adapter fills a gap in millimetres, and only in one direction 5
- Teleconverters Reach is bought with light, and the arithmetic is published 6
- Close-up lenses Dioptres screw on and cost no light, which is the whole appeal 4
- UV and protection filters On a digital sensor this is a glass lid, and it should be sold as one 4
- Polarising filters The one effect no editing reproduces, and it costs light to use 4
- ND filters Three notations for one quantity, and the box may use any of them 2
- Lens hoods Cut for one field of view, which is why a generic one vignettes 7
- Lens caps Front, rear and body caps are three different parts 3
- Lens cleaning kits Air first, then a dry cloth, and a liquid only when both have failed 3
- Camera straps The attachment is the part that fails, and it is the part least described 6
- Camera backpacks Internal dimensions decide what fits, and they are published less often 4
- Camera hard cases A sealing rating and a drop rating are two separate claims 2
- Camera rain covers Sized by lens length, and the eyepiece opening decides the rest 5
- Camera batteries Capacity in watt-hours is the figure that travels, and it is printed on the cell 5
- Battery grips Two cells and a second set of controls, cut for one body 6
- Remote shutter releases Cable, infrared or radio — and the socket is proprietary 4
- Grey cards and colour targets A reference is only a reference if it sits in the same light as the subject 4