The legitimacy of the saying may be challenged by the fact that it is always small people, and people who impart insignificant gifts, who declare that the best things come in small packages, but AP technical editor Angela Nicholson knows just how much truth there is behind that age-old wisdom. When we discussed the idea of putting an accessories supplement together we weren’t sure how many really genuinely useful items we’d be able to root out between us. As soon as we started writing down our favourites, however, the list grew until we had well over 100.

Of course, it is cameras and lenses that record photographs, and imagination and determination that make them interesting, but accessories make life easier, opening doors that would otherwise remain closed and making convenient activities that would otherwise take too long. There aren’t many accessories that do a job you couldn’t do yourself, but why spend hours levelling a camera by eye, working out where the sun will rise or merging two exposures in the darkroom or in software when you can do it all in seconds with a single device?
Can an accessory really change your life? I think so. And often the small ones really are the best.

Go to the home page to take part in this week's poll Is there an accessory you can't live without?

Thanks for playing - and see this week's issue of Amateur Photographer magazine (dated 4 July - on sale Tuesday 30 June) for our '100 accessories to change your life supplement'.

damien