Accessories for Mirrorless Digital Cameras
By: Date: June 30, 2019 Categories: Camera

Accessory Types Here you can find a short list of the different types of accessories available for a Mirrorless Camera (or, actually, any Digital Camera).

  • Memory Card
  • Probably the most important of all, as you can’t use your camera without one. Unfortunately, most Mirrorless Cameras are sold without a Memory Card, therefore you’ll have to buy one separately.
  • Flash
  • In my opinion, the second most important accessory, if your camera doesn’t have a built-in one. In case it does, you could still need a more powerful and flexible one to get particular effects.
  • Spare Batteries
  • Almost as important as the flash, as some cameras tend to drain the battery very quickly. Besides, some cameras (like the Sony Alpha NEX 5) require you to remove the battery to charge it, which means you’d find yourself stuck if you don’t have a spare one handy. Batteries can be expensive, but they are a good investment if you use your mirrorless camera very often.
  • Viewfinder
  • If you can rely solely on the LCD Display to adjust the camera’s settings, maybe you won’t need a Viewfinder. However, since the Electronic Viewfinders of some models provide extra features, it could be useful to get one.
  • Microphone
  • As mentioned earlier, this accessory would prove useful only if you take lots of videos and you need to have a good audio quality.
  • Underwater Case
  • If you like diving, this accessory will allow you to take your Mirrorless Camera underwater, and take great pictures of the “Treasures of the Deep”.

Please note that not all the mentioned accessories are available for all Mirrorless Cameras, as their design can vary greatly between different manufacturers. To get started, have a look at the different models and check what features do they include and what extras are available for each.

Let’s now have a more in-depth look at the different types of Camera Accessories.

Batteries

Mirrorless Cameras, like any other Digital Camera, are powered by Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries. The main advantage of this type of batteries is that they can last very long, but they also take long to recharge. If you have only one battery, it effectively means that can’t use your camera until it’s charged. Unfortunately, these batteries often have a special shape and voltage, which makes it impossible to replace them with the standard Alkaline batteries you can find in the shops.

To make sure your camera won’t “die” just before taking the best picture of your life, it would be a good idea to buy at least one extra Battery. Below you can find the different types of batteries used by each manufacturer.

  • Panasonic G1, GH1, GF1, G2, G10
  • Battery Model: DMW-BLB13
  • Samsung NX10
  • Battery ModelBP1310
  • OlympusE-P1, E-P2, E-PL1
  • Battery Model: BLS-1
  • Sony NEX-3, NEX-5
  • Battery Model: NP-FM500H

Memory Cards

Since, most probably, your Mirrorless Camera won’t contain a Memory Card in the box, you’ll have to buy one separately. There are many different types of card on the market, but the one used by the majority of cameras are the SD (Secure Digital) and the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity). There’s also a new type of cards called SDXC with an even higher capacity, but not all models support it. Usually, a camera that supports a newer format is compatible with older ones (i.e. a Mirrorless Camera supporting SDXC should support SDHC and SD as well), but it’s always better to double check.

The use you make of your camera will help you choosing the right size of Memory Card. If you only take pictures, an 8GB card should be enough, while you should get bigger ones if you plan to frequently record High Definition Videos.

Other than capacity, Memory Cards are categorized by their Class, which represents the speed at which they can read/written; the higher the Class, the faster the Memory Card. Considering that the size of each picture produced by a modern Mirrorless Digital Camera, it would be a good idea to buy Class 6 Memory Cards.

One last consideration. Some people asked me if they should get a single big Memory Card, or several smaller ones. There are advantages and disadvantages in both cases, but I prefer to have more cards of smaller capacity. This is because, even if the Memory Cards are very reliable, they can still fail, or get damaged. If you have everything on a single one, all your work is lost. Splitting your data amongst different cards will make sure that you will save at least something. On the other hand, the cards will fill faster, but it’s not a big deal to swap them. If you are concerned about the possibility of running out of space in a crucial moment, simply develop the habit of emptying all your Memory Cards regularly.

Flash

Some Mirrorless Cameras come with a small, integrated flash, while other manufacturers, to make them more compact, removed it from the main body of some models. In such case, you’ll have to buy a separate flash to be able to take picture in conditions of poor lighting. If you instead have a camera with a built-in flash, then you could buy a more powerful and flexible one (i.e. one like the “big ones” you often see in the hands of professional photographers) to achieve special effects, like softer tones or ceiling bounce flash.