Nikon D3300 Digital Field Guide

Appendix B: Accessories

The D3300 has a few accessories, which may not be actual necessities, but are just nice to have. These gadgets enhance your picture-taking experiences in different ways, from adding light when you’re shooting in dark environments to making it easier to track where you’ve taken pictures. They also allow you to share your images on your favorite social networking sites, and to control your camera from afar using a smart device.

Speedlights

I’ve found that having at least one Speedlight is essential if you want to use the D3300 in all types of shooting scenarios. Not only do Speedlights add light when the scene is dark, but you can also use them to create light where it’s needed, and you can control the light to make the subject appear exactly as you want it to, as opposed to being at the mercy of existing light. Speedlights give you the power and flexibility of professional lighting at an affordable price. They are compact and can be controlled wirelessly from the D3300 with an additional commander unit (either another Speedlight or the dedicated SU-800 Commander).

Nikon Speedlights operate as part of the Nikon Advanced Wireless Lighting (AWL) system and are part of what is known as the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS). AWL allows you to control multiple Speedlights and groups of Speedlights wirelessly while using the Nikon proprietary i-TTL (Through-the-Lens) flash metering system. This allows you to achieve professional lighting results with a much ...