So you’ve got a new digital SLR. You did your research, read the reviews, asked your friends’ and family’s opinions. It’s likely that your decision was focused on the features and functionality of the camera body, which is normal and stands to reason. But it’s all the rest of the stuff that goes along with the camera that can sneak up on you. That’s what this article is about: the “hidden costs” of buying a digital SLR (DSLR). And while they’re hidden costs, they’re also the hidden joys because there’s a lot of fun to be had with this hobby.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, because the number of photography-related products you can purchase is virtually unlimited. But the following represents a few of the costs that accompany a new digital SLR camera:

Lenses

It’s likely your new DSLR came with a kit lens. An 18-55mm is a typical kit lens. What’s a kit lens? It’s the lens that came along as a package deal with your camera. It’s normally a decent lens and will suffice for many of the photos you want to take, especially at first. Eventually, however, you’ll develop an interest in experimenting with different lenses. High quality lenses (“glass”) can be expensive. Fortunately, however, you can rent lenses at a reasonable rate.

Once you’re ready, you can begin investing in additional lenses. A relatively inexpensive lens I recommend purchasing is the 50mm. I wrote a blog article about The Thrifty Fifty. You can pick up a Nikon Normal AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D autofocus lens for about $150 at B&H. The 50mm has a number of attributes that make it a good choice as one of the additional lenses you may consider.

Printer

After you start taking great photos with your new digital SLR, you’ll naturally want to make prints. Producing high quality prints isn’t as challenging or expensive as it used to be. You can purchase a high quality photo printer at a relatively low price. What’s the gotcha? The gotcha is how much ink these suckers use. And ink cartridges aren’t cheap. It’s the old Gillette razor / razor blade marketing model.

Instead, consider using your local drug store, or Costco for making prints. Costco’s photo paper and processing machines are known to be some of the best. Also, Walmart will let you upload photos online, choose the store where you’ll pick up the prints, or simply have them delivered by old-fashioned “snail” mail (USPS). That’s also handy for your sister who lives 2,000 miles away and needs prints of the baby shower. You can upload and pay for the prints, then send her to pick them up at the local Walmart!

• Also try AdoramaPix for high quality prints. These guys are “all things photography” and take care in producing quality prints.

Memory Cards

You have to buy a memory card. There’s no way around it. It’s where the digital photos are stored. There are essentially 2 variables: storage size and speed. I recommend getting one that’s fairly large. That way, you can take a lot of photos and not have to worry that you’re running out of room. It can be depressing to run out of memory in the middle of a photo walk! Unless you have your computer close by and can download, you’re out of luck. Bottom line: Expect to spend an additional $75-85 for a good/fast 16 gig memory card.

Memory cards are like any of the other accessories you’ll come across in photography. You can virtually spend as much as you want. The SanDisk Extreme Pro cards are pricey, but they’re engineered for pros who need lots of storage, and blazing fast speeds. If you’re on a tight budget, get 2 smaller cards. It may be less expensive that way.

Tripod & Tripod Head

You may have read my blog entry, Hints for Taking a Sharp Photo, and already know about how tripods help you take sharper photos. Do yourself a big favor and purchase a quality tripod. As they say, “Buy once. Cry Once.” This adage is applicable here. Tripods come in a wide variety of choices. The two top brands of tripods are Manfrotto (fairly expensive) and Gitzo (even more expensive). I have a Manfrotto and like it a lot.

The required companion to a tripod is its head. That’s the part that attaches to the top of the tripod and holds your camera.

There are basically 3 types of tripods/heads:

1. Nice (hundreds of dollars)
2. Nice and light (many hundreds of dollars – carbon fiber, etc.) If you’re a hiker, or expect to carry your tripod around on a long trip, spring for the lighter, more expensive tripod. Save money on less Advil.
3. Nice price, but lack in quality (will wiggle around, break and you’ll have to get another one). Please don’t be tempted to overly cheap out on one of these. You’ll only return to the store next year once it busts.

Camera Flash

Your digital SLR will likely include a built in “fill flash” — a small pop-up flash that pops up and fires when you’re shooting in automatic mode, or when you force it to fire. It works for light-duty flash situations and taking the shadow off of a face in a portrait. But if you want to get high quality flash results you’ll need to invest in a quality flash unit. It will probably come as no surprise that, again, you’re looking at hundreds of dollars.

Photo Editing Software

You can use the photo editing software that came with your camera. It may include a trial version of Photoshop, or other photo editing software. Photo editing software is something you’ll need to process, or alter the digital photos once they’re downloaded. You’ll use it to adjust white balance, color saturations, exposure control, and lots of other things. It costs about $75-100 to buy Photoshop Elements (the “light” version of Photoshop). Full, unabridged versions of photo editing software cost many, many hundreds of dollars. I think Adobe CS4 runs about $600. Nikon’s Capture NX 2 runs about $130. Aperture 2 (for the Mac) is about $200. Pixelmator is about $60.

• Also, there are formidable free photo editing software options: The Gimp, Picasa, Picnik, and others.

Camera Bags

What kind of photographer are you? Do you go on hikes? Do you carry your camera everywhere? Do you expect to carry your camera on trips that require air travel? Consider your most common scenario and get that bag first. If I’m good at predictions, I predict that you will eventually purchase multiple camera bags (if you have children, you can think of camera bags like diaper bags and strollers – you end up buying multiple ones for different reasons). A nifty little backpack-style bag will run you about $100. But the prices go up from there. Expect to shell out between $150 and $350 for a nice backpack-style camera bag. And, of course, there are cool little pouches and bags for everything else you carry: lenses, etc. Check out B&H’s selection of camera bags and cases.

Lens Filters

There are bunch of lens filters. Two filters you ought to consider investing in are a circular polarizer and an neutral density gradient (ND) grad filter. Read more on circular polarizers in my blog entry about circular polarizers. The ND grad filter is a piece of smoked glass you hold in front of your camera to reduce the glare of the sun. It’s great for landscape photos where the sun may be bright in the sky, but you’re taking a picture of a mountain range with trees coming down the side. So you can hold the ND grad filter in front of your lens so the bright upper portion of the sky isn’t too bright, and overexposed compared to the darker, lower portion of the photo. Lens filters are generally less than $100 each.

More Accessories

Yes, there’s more and more. By now you realize that you’ve just dipped your toe in the water. Once you really dive in you’ll discover a variety of photography-related items you’ll “need.” Just remember, you can rent the expensive lenses. And you can purchase most DSLR gear online at reasonable prices.