Sometimes, it’s the smallest thing that make the biggest difference. Adding a few simple accessories to your camera can not only help make it more usable, but help you to enjoy using it more. Two of the first things I have always replaced on every camera are the eyepiece and the focusing screen.

Eyepiece

The standard eyepiece that comes with most cameras is just short of pathetic. It’s really meant as a temporary solution, to prevent you from gouging our your eye against a sharp corner or scratching your glasses, rather then a permanent fixture. On Nikon cameras, the eyepiece is actually two pieces: a glass disk to prevent debris and contact with the prism, and a rubber gasket surrounding that glass. While it is possible to replace one and not the other, I always replace both.

At around $10,and probably the cheapest photography item you’ll ever buy, the Nikon DK-19 replaces the simple rubber washer with a full rubber cup. This cup can either be used extended, to block out light from entering while looking through the viewfinder, or folded back onto itself to act like the original washer, but provide extra protection. The other half of the eyepiece, a little more pricey at $25, but still worth it, is the Nikon DK-17A. This replaces the standard glass disk with a higher quality glass featuring an anti-fog coating. If you ever plan to use this camera anywhere near a cold area, the eyepiece is almost guaranteed to fog up without an anti-fog coating. This eyepiece does a perfect job at stopping fog, something that the original glass is quite prone to.

Focusing Screen

For as long as there have been SLR’s, there have been focusing screens. The focusing screen is located just bellow the prism, in between it and the lens. It acts as a medium to display overlays onto images, used for anything from manual focusing, to autofocus point selection, to crops, and so on. The one that comes standard on the D3 is about as plain as it gets. I much prefer a screen like the Nikon E-Type, featuring a grid and crop guide, for around $30. The grids not only help to compose a picture, by clearly marking the rule of thirds, but helps insure the picture is straight, by giving you something to line it up against. There are numerous screens available, both from Nikon and third party, suited for various purposes. Installation is usually quick and painless, as the upper model bodies are designed to have the screens replaced on the go.