What gear do I need as a beginner
Everyone will have their own opinion, but as my previous post you certainly don’t need to go out and spend thousands of pounds on all the latest gear. These days most of the latest smartphones have excellent camera’s which you can utilise to practice before you make that step up to a DSLR camera.
In my opinion as a beginner I would suggest a camera, a couple of lenses, camera strap, camera bag, tripod, memory card and possibly a couple of spare batteries.
Depending on what photography you intend to do you might want to add some lighting to that list.
DSLR camera
To elaborate on the above, don’t go out and spend thousands. Buy second hand where you can. As my previous blog post there are some fantastic websites where you can purchase second hand equipment in fantastic condition which include a 6 month warranty. You can even trade your old camera equipment in. I recently upgraded one of my lenses by trading in an old lens and got £300 off the lens I purchased.
Also depending on the camera brand you use you may find that you can purchase third party lenses. For example, Tamron & Sigma make lenses to fit my Canon camera at a fraction of the price of the equivalent Canon lens.
MPB.com
MPB is a great website with thousands of second hand camera equipment that has been checked and tested by specialists to make sure everything is in good working order. They grade the equipment accordingly so you know what the condition is you are buying.
It’s such an intuitive website to use and there delivery times are extremely quick. Trading in my old lens only took, from quoting and sending to delivering my new lens was 4 days and was packaged extremely well and safely delivered by DPD.
Cameraworld is also another great website that I would highly recommend. If you ever get the chance to visit the shop in Chelmsford, Essex or London the staff there are so helpful and friendly. They listen to you and suggest the correct equipment rather than being pushy and trying to upsell you something you don’t need!
Equipment
Before I digress further a few suggestions on equipment you will need to get started in your photography journey.
Camera suggestions - Canon EOS 250D, Canon EOS 90D, Sony Alpha A7 ll
Lens suggestions - 50mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm (search for correct model for your camera)
Tripod suggestion - JOILCAN Camera Tripod for Canon, Nikon & Sony.
Camera bag suggestions - TARION Camera Backpack Waterproof Case Bag.
Memory card suggestions - Research what memory cards your camera requires.
Lighting suggestions - RALENO Softbox Lighting Kit, NEEWER Photography Lighting kit with Backdrops.
All the above are just my suggestions to give you an idea of camera equipment. I strongly suggest you do your own research before purchasing anything!
Other pieces of equipment you might want to add are some spare camera batteries and a camera strap if your camera didn’t come with one.
I still use the original camera I brought as a beginner which is a Canon 200D. I am looking to upgrade this next -
a) once I know which canon camera I want to upgrade too and
b) when I have the funds. It cost me around £500 and came with a 17-55mm kit lens and in fairness its a great little camera which has a 24 megapixel resolution and produces great images which you can see on my gallery.
Apart from the kit lens I have a Canon EF 50mm lens, Canon EF 20-35mm, Sigma 24-70mm and my newest addition a 150-600mm Sigma lens, all which I brought second hand.
My tripod and lighting was new from eBay but very inexpensive, you can always upgrade these to a more professional setup later.
Memory cards for your camera is one piece of equipment I wouldn’t scrimp on. Make sure you research and buy one that is suggested for your camera make and model which is also going to have enough memory and one that has quick enough write speeds so it doesn’t slow your camera down.
Training
If you do have some money left over once you have purchased some camera equipment I would invest that into some photography training. Whether that is an online course or practical lessons with a local processional photographer it will be money well spent!
You will learn a lot more by having 1-2-1 training session but if your budget won’t stretch to that then explore YouTube as there are thousands of great beginner photography tutorials on there however don’t fall down the rabbit hole of watching video after video, remember get out and practice. That’s what will make the difference in the end!