Let’s say you’re ready to move on from taking all your pictures on your phone and step up to owning a digital camera. In the studio, and on vacation, you want to be ready to take a professional looking shot. Starting with a camera and adding on the right lenses, lights, and other accessories will turn your camera into a versatile rig capable of shooting anywhere you want.
With a little guidance, you should be able to assemble the necessary gear for all purpose photography without breaking the bank. Here is a short list of what you need for a DSLR camera in most situations.
1. Basic DSLR
There’s a lot of bells and whistles on modern DSLRs, but entry level and prosumer models make it easy to start. Beginning in auto mode will handle most shots, but taking the training wheels off and experimenting is the first step to learning correct lighting and focus.
With time, you’ll experiment with things like “aperture” and “ISO” to tweak the look and exposure of your shots, and nearly every model today has the tools to transition to manual mode at your own pace. You can find a year old model with most of the common features present such as the Nikon D5300 or the Canon Rebel T5. The Rebel T5 starts at only $399 on Amazon, while the Nikon D5300 will cost you $599.
2. Lenses
Most camera bodies come with a 18-55mm zoom lens, but for more specialized purposes, a fixed lens and bigger zoom are must haves. The 35mm or 50mm is perfect for portrait work or “bokeh”-the fancy term for those timeless blurry background photos. A 55-200mm for greater zoom effects intending to capture far subjects. As with most parts, be sure a lens is the proper format and fit for the camera you bought, or certain features like auto focus won’t work, or worse-it may not fit.
As with many things, going either Nikon or Canon is safe here. The 50mm will run you around $215, while a 55-200mm lens will run around $350.
3. Tripod
