Recommended camera gear for beginners
GEAR GUIDE
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Here’s my take on camera gear.
#1 The latest and greatest, newest, the expensive gear won’t make you a better photographer.
#2 Keep it simple!
If you’re a total beginner or photography is your new found hobby, all you need in the beginning is one camera and one lens.
I know the temptation. You either bought or received this big clunky, nice looking camera that you think is going to automatically take awesome pictures. You might soon realize, you’re not quite getting the results you’d like. Then you think, “Maybe I need to a new lens. Maybe I should have bought the “other camera”, or the “other brand”. Or, I need that “new camera!”
Let me frankly say, NO, you don’t need more gear. You need to learn and practice photography. If you’re ready to learn, start here.
My hope for this site is to help you take better pictures, not make you go into debt.
If you’re looking to purchase a digital SLR camera(digital single-reflex camera), minimally you need a lens, and a memory card to begin taking pictures.
Here’s my list of gear that I’d recommend.
CAMERAS
There are so many cameras out there targeted for beginners that I can’t even keep up.
In my opinion, most cameras currently in the market are all superb. Technology simply blows my mind. However, cameras have a shorter life cycle than lenses. In my humble opinion, if you’re going to spend money, invest in a better lens versus spending the extra cash on a “latest and greatest” camera body.
For example, the Canon Rebel EOS T3i is/was one of the best selling cameras. It’s a great camera. But do you know that there are previous models like Canon EOS T3 that have similar specifications but you can possibly get for less money? UPDATE: Though T3i is still available, it’s no longer being produced. The latest model is the Canon T5i, and I bet there’ll be T6i, T7i, etc. you get the point.
In all honesty, decide on what you can afford. The differences in the specs really won’t make a huge difference for a hobbyist. A camera has a shorter life cycle than a lens, as long as you take care of it. And in my opinion, all the camera bodies currently available in the market are all great. You can’t go wrong. Do your best not to get caught up in all the technical specs such as “more megapixels” and “larger viewfinder” etc, the camera makers use to entice you with. So I’d rather you save some money and invest in a camera body that isn’t necessarily the latest, and focus on investing in a nice lens for your need.
One technical spec that I DO value in today’s cameras is the wide range of ISO sensitivity. If a camera produces clean images at HIGH ISO then I’d recommend that. If you’re lost in all the technical specs companies use for marketing, I’d suggest pay attention to what the ISO range is whether it performs well in high ISO.
To put it simply, high ISO allows you to take photos in low light situations and that is a valuable thing, as it increases the situations of when and where we can take photos. In the past, ISO 1600 was the highest most camera allowed but it produced “grain” in images and the quality of the photos wasn’t great in high ISO. As technology advanced, many newer cameras perform extremely well at high ISO’s beyond 1600, 2000 or even 3200, and I love that. Read more about ISO.
So, here are some cameras that I’d recommend.
LENSES
Prime lenses have one focal length without a zoom function. Zoom lenses have a zoom function, and the 18mm-55mm kit lens that usually comes with the camera will fall into the zoom lens category.
One of the most common questions I receive is, “What lens should I get?” There’s no single perfect lens that will meet all your needs. I’m not a fan of most zoom lenses on the market that are under $500. It must cost more to make a quality zoom lens.
see the article about Which digital camera lenses do you need?
However, there some prime lenses that I’d highly recommend. So here are some of my recommendations for the best camera lenses for beginners.
Prime Lenses
There are some quality prime lenses in the market that are also affordable. Two of my favorites are the 35mm and 50mm 1.8 for both Canon and Nikon.
***For someone starting out in photography, my suggestion is to get one of the cameras “Body only”(without the lens that comes as a bundle) and get either the 35mm or the 50mm f/1.8 listed below.
35mm Prime lens – The more I use this lens, the more I love. UPDATE: I’m so bummed that the affordable Canon 35mm f/2.0 lens is no longer available. Canon instead came out with a newer 35mm f/2.0 lens with an Image Stabilization(IS). I personally don’t see a reason why a short focal length lens with a 2.0 aperture needs to have an image stabilization feature so I find that pretty useless, but if you’re looking the 35mm focal length, it’s going to cost you more than the older version I reviewed on this blog and like.
50mm Prime lenses – The 50mm f/1.8 lens for both Canon and Nikon are great starter lenses! It’s the most affordable lens out there, and you’d get the most bang for your buck! *Nikon users, there are a couple different versions of this lens,
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is a first lens I recommend to any beginner.
Especially if you’re a Canon user this is the least expensive lens right around at $100 but you get the most bang for your to buck with this lens.
Especially if you’re a Canon user this is the least expensive lens right around at $100 but you get the most bang for your to buck with this lens.
Here are two major benefits of this lens in my opinion:
1) The wide aperture(f1.8, f2.0) enables you to produce images without of focus background(or blurry background = “bokeh”) with a subject in focus look, and
2) The ability to photography even in low light conditions.
All at an affordable price! Besides this lens, if you want a lens with a wide aperture, you’d have to pay at least double this price.
Nikon has an older and less expensive Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF and a newer and more expensive Nikon 50mm f/1.8G AF-S.
Keep in mind that the older 50mm f/1.8D autofocus will not work with certain Nikon camera bodies such as D40, D40x, D60, D3000, D3100, D5100…
so make sure you check compatibility with your camera model before purchasing.
If you’re thinking more long term 50mm f/1.4 lenses will be an upgrade with the better built quality and wider aperture of f/1.4.
Canon 24mm EF-S STM Lens – Although I’m bummed that Canon discontinued the older version of 35mm f/2.0 lens, I’m happy about the new release of the Canon 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens. In a crop sensor camera, the focal length is equivalent to 38mm, which puts you closer to a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. The $164 price tag makes it even better.
Canon 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens is also affordable and worth considering. The compact size of this lens is definitely a huge bonus.
Canon 85mm f/1.8 – This is an excellent portrait lens. The color, contrast, and sharpness on this lens is outstanding.
Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is a lens I will strongly consider investing in. If you have a crop sensor camera such as the Canon Rebel series, Canon 60D, or Nikon D7000 the 30mm focal length will give you a field of view close to a 50mm lens. This is a newer version of this lens and with a wide aperture at f/1.4, it might just be the everyday versatile lens you’re looking for.
For Canon
For Nikon
Also, consider the 28mm Prime lenses. There’s an f/1.8 model and an f/2.8 model.
Zoom Lenses
I’m really not a fan of the “Kit Lens”, but it’s usually included with the camera for not much extra money, so if you get it, it’s fine.
If a zoom lens will serve your purpose better then a third-party company called, Tamron, has some decent lenses that you can use with your Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax or brand cameras. Just make sure the lens you purchase is for your camera brand.
For Canon
For Nikon
MEMORY CARDS
The last thing you want to happen is for your memory card to go bad and lose your images.
I recommend Sandisk memory cards, because Sandisk is the leading brand for memory cards, and I’ve used it for years without any issues, so I’m sticking with them.
Make sure to check whether your cameras uses a Secure Digital(SD) or Compact Flash(CF) card before purchasing.
EDITING SOFTWARE
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5: 99.9% of my photo processing is done in Lightroom.
TRIPODS
The best advice I received before my wife and I went on our honeymoon was to bring a tripod. We were able to get photos of us together instead of, a picture of me, a picture of her, and a picture of us with our heads cut off taken by a stranger.
Tripod is an important tool for taking nature photos. It’s also nice to have if you’d like to be in your family photos, or if you want to be in photos when you travel. Professional tripods will cost you hundreds of dollars, but here are a couple of affordable options for you.
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