Im new to Sims3, but how do I visit a community lot? or at least shop from home? I want my sims to have Apple trees and a better level of camera skills, a better camera too but the sims community lot choices seamed limited to there interests. I can't choose from all the choices. and if I build a lot my self I don't know where to find the item that lets the lot sell apples and cameras.

First, you cannot buy an apple tree, but you can buy an apple and plant it. Get your apple and other foods at the grocery store...easier to find when on map view. Locate the lot/store/community lot you want to send your sim, and click it. Options should appear.
I think better camera is found traveling to Egypt..if you have World Adventure expansion pack. But you can still work your skill using the one that every sim has in their inventory as a starter.

To visit a community lot in TS3:

1. Go to Map View. This is the icon on the lower left side of your UI that looks like a city skyline.
2. Your game will go to map view. You will see icons of all the different community lots in your town. Click on the lot you want to visit. Hovering over the lot icon will display the name of the lot.
3. Your Sim will now visit the lot.
4. Rabbit hole locations have their icons in red. Clicking on one of these icons will prompt a bunch of other interactions, such as shopping for groceries at a grocery store.

To build community lots in TS3:

1. Go to the lower left corner of your UI and click on the icon with an ellipsis.
2. Choose "Edit Town" from the drop-down list.
3. You will be prompted to save. My advice: always save, unless you literally just started up the game.
4. You can now edit the town.
5. Make sure that the lot is classified as the right lot type.
6. Make sure you have enough space for everything you want on the lot. If you find the default rabbit holes to be too large, use these instead inside a building you build yourself. Make sure that there are 2-3 empty squares in front of each rug and 1-2 squares on the other three sides for them to be usable, because routing in this game is a nightmare.

Also, I really don't want to be rude, but I'm going to encourage you to experiment more with the game's mechanics and try to discover things for yourself before asking for help. The game itself even offers tutorials if you ever get lost, and there's a comprehensive walkthrough of every feature in the game here. If you're ever lost, you can also always Google whatever problem you have. I understand that TS3 is a huge game and all the features can get confusing for a first-time player, but it's also really flexible if you allow it to be.

One bit of advice: As I said before, The Sims 3 operates on an open world, as opposed to TS2's closed one. That means that unlike in TS2, you can visit community lots without going to another loading screen, and your Sim's actions can have effects outside of your household. This also means that any Sim's location on the map is where they actually are, and they'll continue doing whatever it was they were doing even if you switch households.

If you have University Life installed, your Sims can also take pictures on their phone.

You can buy harvestable plants and better cameras by using the testingcheatsenabled cheat, then typing in "buydebug on". There's a few different tabs, so give them all a look. Since you're new to the game, I'm going to suggest not to place something if you have no idea what it does, because a lot of stuff in buydebug is for more advanced users/can fuck up your game if you use them inappropriately. But you can totally get apple trees in there too.

lol..I do have University installed, but never thought about taking pictures with their phone..my gawd..having no cell phone in RL, make funny happeningz.

Scrolling your middle button on your mouse should bring you into an "overhead" view of your town. Simply click on the lot you want to visit and if your sims has a car they will drive there (and you can follow them driving if you choose) or they will walk or ride a bicycle. Depending on what transportation vehicle they own.

And if your Sims don't have a vehicle, they'll call a taxi or walk.

You'll also see a teeny, TINY icon that looks like a house in the lower left corner of your UI. That's the "View my Home" tab; at any time, you can click it to check on what's going on inside your house without having to go back or switch to a Sim that's still at home.

It's not just University Life that lets you take pictures on the phone. That was base game. (If you have a sim who is a painter they can also get the ability to use the camera-phone to memorize a scene to paint, which cuts down on the need to plant easels all over town.)

Granted; the real cameras take better pictures, and the UL phones probably would as well. (I don't have that yet.)

ahahahaha.. you're not talking about TS4, weren't you??

I thought there wasn't a TS4, just an updated rerelease of TS2 with better graphics.

Ah no, TS4 is Sims 1 with better graphics. We sims 2 players have toddlers.

nope, it isn't TS2. TS2 has better toddlers (in many ways, not all) than TS3, for example, so TS4 is not "going backwards--" it's going sideways into a direction I don't want to go to.

Now that y'all mention it, I'm not even sure if it's Sims 1, because at least that game had pools. And a monkey butler.