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Photography is not for cheapskates. A digicam is just the starting point — you'll need the rest of this gear to boost your pics from good to great.
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SR Digi-Slave Deluxe 3000 This accessory strobe waits for the exact moment a camera flash fires to add its own, superior light. Think of it as your wingman, swooping in on the cross to nail a shot in the far-off corner. It works with the majority of point-and-shoots, eliminating red-eye problems, and even syncs with most DSLR hot shoes for mounted shots. Manual flash and camera settings take practice but are worth learning to punch up pictures.
$130, srelectronics.com
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n PictureMate Dash</ste to print vivid 4 x 6 photos with almost no setup, the PictureMate Dash is a welcome guest at any family gathering. Just shove in a photo-filled flash card (all major formats) or connect a PictBridge camera: It prints bright, strong, glossy photos in 45 seconds for about 25 cents each. Optional battery ($50) makes it portable.</p>
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rks Quik Pod Pro+</strongl snap your photo at the summit of that solo K2 climb? You could ask a Yeti … or bring along a Pro+, which attaches to a camera's tripod socket and telescopes 18 inches. Then your timer-mode photos will show both shoulders, instead of that lean-away-from-the-camera pose. Includes a mini tripod stand.</p> <p>
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ments Cover E-690</strong> Whies open up and day-shooters go home, a rain cape turns an ordinary photographer into a superhero. The weatherproof E-690 wraps around small DSLRs to protect them from hazards ranging from light mist to pitter-pattering drops.</p> <p>$45,
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al UDMA 300x CompactFlash Card</strong> Flash eed matters almost as much as capacity. This 4-GB card saves time when uploading photos to a computer and even accelerates in-camera processing; our tests clocked it at 23 percent faster than budget cards, making it great for UDMA cameras.</p> <p>$130, <a
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Sensor Cleaner</strong> Static cliholds dust to a DSLR sensor, adding permanent specks to each photo. Regular air bulbs will puff some grime away, but the FireFly, a bulb retrofitted with "advanced ionizing technology," charges air to break that dust bond. Perfect for in-field fixes.</p> <p>$200, <a hre
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To hoodwink thte your high-end equipment in a low-profile bag. From the outside, the plain Atiba Mini is an ordinary backpack. Inside, 11 lightly padded Velcro dividers partition the space, with room for DSLR lenses, flashes, and even a 12-inch laptop.</p> <p>$98, <a href="ht
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camera, monitor,ter may reproduce the same image with very different hues unless all are properly calibrated. This dead-simple USB color tuner attaches to CRTs and LCDs to gauge and change colors. Peeled off a display, the squidlike arm even measures ambient room light and updates the screen automatically.</p> <p>$129, <a href="http:
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