These camera accessories were delivered to my door this week, which was perfect timing as I’m gearing up for a wedding this weekend. My second shooters always bring cool camera accessories to weddings, and I’m so excited to share with you some of my favorites and must-haves.
1. The Joby GorillaPod Tripod
I’ve had my eyes on this mini tripod for a while now. One of my second shooters brought it to a wedding and I was amazed. She used it as a light stand for her flash. It can sit on top of a table, in a tiny corner, or pretty much any small space that your regular light stand won’t fit. What I love the most about it is that it’s so much lighter and easier to carry as opposed to a regular stand. I plan to specifically use it during the exit this weekend instead of having my second shooter scooch down with a flash behind the couple as they are walking towards the camera. Honestly, you could also use this as a tripod to record behind-the-scene footage with your phone. It’s not obstructive at all and I love that it can be used in so many ways!
2. Cold Shoe Mount for Off-Camera Flash
You might have heard the term “hot shoe” before. So what’s the difference between a cold shoe and a hot shoe? Well, a hot shoe is the metal bracket on top of the camera. You use it to attach an external flash to your camera. It’s called a “hot” shoe because it has electrical contacts that allow your camera to communicate with your flash. A cold shoe on the other hand, doesn’t have ay electrical contacts, so it is not able to trigger a flash in any way, which is why it’s called a “cold” shoe.
I purchased a pack of 4 cold shoe adapters because I plan to use one on my Joby GorillaPod Tripod in order to be able to attach my external flash to it, and one on a light stand (that was gifted to me but was missing the adaptor part) in order to be able to attach my flash to it.
3. Light Stand Carrying Case
If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I keep all of my equipment and camera gear in one rolling carryon bag that I bring to weddings with me. The only thing that I would carry in my hands is my light stand. At most weddings, I use one on camera flash and one off camera flash. You can read more about my flash setup in this blog post: Tips for Photographing Your First Wedding Part 2.
I really want to start experimenting with multiple off camera flashes and loved that one of my second shooters had a carrying case for her light stands. It was so much easier to carry everything around. So I scoured the internet for a similar bag and came across this one with over 2,020 reviews. I’m so excited to use it for my light stands and umbrellas going forward!
4. Lens Cleaning Kit
Keeping your cameras and lenses clean is so important. Dirty lenses can affect the quality of your images, and this can be a real pain if you try to fix things in post. One of my pre-wedding rituals is cleaning my cameras and lenses. I usually just use the air blower cleaner and cleaning cloth, however, I’ve wanted a cleaning pen for a while now, so when I found a kit that included all 3 for the price of 1, I knew that I had to get it. Plus, I had lost my air blower a while back so I needed a new one anyway. You can shop the cleaning kit here.
5. Battery Case Holder
This might be my favorite purchase! I knew that I needed a better solution for storing my camera batteries and was so happy when I found this battery case holder. It’s the perfect solution for keeping things organized inside my camera bag!
These are the camera accessories that have come in the mail this week. For a list of more accessories you can visit my Amazon list. Which ones are on your list to purchase next? Let me know below!
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