When the holidays come around my email box fills with questions from my couples. One of the most common questions is about buying photography gear as a gift for their loved one. It makes for an amazing present that you can use as a couple for years to come. But which camera and accessories should you buy? To make things easier on you, I’ve written out the same recommendations I regularly make to my couples and photography students.
First you need to decide what brand to go with. If you are planning on shooting lots of shots of people, I suggest going with Canon, as their rendering of skin tones in the auto setting is quite good. If you are planning on shooting mostly landscapes and nature shots, I suggest going with Nikon.
Here are the key elements for someone who wants to buy their first “real camera” or dSLR. I have outlined the kits for both Canon and Nikon and have linked to each piece of gear on Amazon.com. I find Amazon.com and B&H Photo Video are the best prices for photo gear.
Canon Set:
2 Sandisk 32GB SD Cards: the only memory card company I suggest people use is Sandisk. They are the very best and most reliable. They are a little bit more expensive than the competition but they are much less likely to result in card failures than other brands. Always own at least 2 memory cards as you don’t want to be left having to delete shots because your card filled up. I would suggest purchasing either 16GB size or 32GB size.
A second camera battery: it is a smart idea to have at least 2 batteries for your camera, particularly if you are taking the camera on trips where electricity will be in short supply. I suggest getting only Canon brand batteries, not 3rd party versions.
External hard drive: the pictures we take are very important to us. Nowadays people everyone just leaves pictures on their computer hard drives. Unfortunately, these devices are prone to failure. So be sure to have a backup. I suggest all my students have an on site external hard drive and an off site back up as well. Now you can get Terabyte hard drives that cost only about $100!
Camera bag: You should have a properly padded bag to transport your camera with you. Digital SLR cameras are expensive and delicate. A good camera bag can help keep your camera in good working order for years to come.
Photo editing software: I suggest to all my students that they get Adobe Light Room 5. This is an amazing user friendly program that will allow you to edit your images and catalog them as well. If you are currently a student at a high school or college or are a teacher you may qualify for the discounted student’s version. You must have a valid student id or teacher’s id to be able to activate this discounted academic version, which is exactly the same as the non-academic version, just cheaper. Light Room 5 is so great you will likely not need any other photo editing software, but if you want to be able to do more advanced edits than Adobe Light Room is capable of you can also get Adobe’s Photoshop Elements. Elements is a stripped down version of their very popular program Photoshop, which is aimed at professional photographers and graphic designers.
Canon 55mm-250mm 4.0-5.6 IS lens: If you are shooting things like a child’s soccer game this lens will become your best friend. It allows you to zoom in on the action and has Canon’s Image Stabilization technology to help you get a steadier shot.
Canon 430 EXII speedlite: This is an external flash for your camera that is much more powerful than the one that pops up on the camera and can be used to bounce the flash so that you get much better results when doing flash photography. Canon does make weaker and more powerful flashes. Most students outgrow the less powerful 270 EXII speedlite quickly and want the versatility afforded by the 430EXII. Others may choose to go ahead and purchase the more powerful professional grade 600EX-RT at the very start.
Rechargeable AA Batteries: Flashes eat up batteries quickly. Rechargeable ones will save you money over time. I suggest the ones that hold their charge for a long time like the Duracell Stay Charged ones.
Nikon Set:
2 Sandisk 32GB SD Cards: the only memory card company I suggest people use is Sandisk. They are the very best and most reliable. They are a little bit more expensive than the competition but they are much less likely to result in card failures than other brands. Always own at least 2 memory cards as you don’t want to be left having to delete shots because your card filled up. I would suggest purchasing either 16GB size or 32GB size.
A second camera battery: it is a smart idea to have at least 2 batteries for your camera, particularly if you are taking the camera on trips where electricity will be in short supply. I suggest getting only Nikon brand batteries, not 3rd party versions.
External hard drive: the pictures we take are very important to us. Nowadays people everyone just leaves pictures on their computer hard drives. Unfortunately, these devices are prone to failure. So be sure to have a backup. I suggest all my students have an on site external hard drive and an off site back up as well. Now you can get Terabyte hard drives that cost only about $100!
Camera bag: You should have a properly padded bag to transport your camera with you. Digital SLR cameras are expensive and delicate. A good camera bag can help keep your camera in good working order for years to come.
Photo editing software: I suggest to all my students that they get Adobe Light Room 5. This is an amazing user friendly program that will allow you to edit your images and catalog them as well. If you are currently a student at a high school or college or are a teacher you may qualify for the discounted student’s version. You must have a valid student id or teacher’s id to be able to activate this discounted academic version, which is exactly the same as the non-academic version, just cheaper. Light Room 5 is so great you will likely not need any other photo editing software, but if you want to be able to do more advanced edits than Adobe Light Room is capable of you can also get Adobe’s Photoshop Elements. Elements is a stripped down version of their very popular program Photoshop, which is aimed at professional photographers and graphic designers.
Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens: This lens allows you to have nice blurry background with your subjects in crisp focus. It also lets you shoot in much lower light than the kit lens that comes with the camera does. Once most of my students put this lens on their camera they never want to shoot with anything else because the pictures are so much better. If you are thinking of making photography a serious hobby you may want to skip right to the more expensive Nikon 50mm 1.4. Do not get the cheaper versions of these lenses from Nikon. They do not work with most consumer grade Nikon cameras.
Nikon 55mm-200mm 4.0-5.6 VR lens: If you are shooting things like your children’s soccer game this lens will become your best friend. It allows you to zoom in on the action and has Nikon’s Vibration Reduction technology to help you get a steadier shot.
Nikon SB-700 Speedlight: This is an external flash for your camera that is much more powerful than the one that pops up on the camera and can be used to bounce the flash so that you get much better results when doing flash photography. Canon does make weaker and more powerful flashes. Most students outgrow the less powerful SB-400 quickly and want the versatility afforded by the SB-700. Others may choose to go ahead and purchase the more powerful professional grade SB-910 at the very start.
Rechargeable AA Batteries: Flashes eat up batteries quickly. Rechargeable ones will save you money over time. I suggest the ones that hold their charge for a long time like the Duracell Stay Charged ones.
After you have bought one of these wonderful cameras you will want to learn how to use it outside of the green auto setting. You can start by reading the manual, but that often is a bit tough for people. What I suggest is getting this FANTASTIC online class by CreativeLIVE which will help you immensely to get the amazing shots you have always dreamed of.
Hope that helps you and happy shooting!
Great suggestions. Do you have any comment for people who want to get a professional camera lighter weight?