Photographer's Essential Equipment: A Budget Pick for Beginners

We will tell you what equipment you will need for a photographer if you are just starting a career, and also calculate the approximate budget for a basic kit.

We will not talk about camera bags, flash drives and spare batteries - this is optional and does not significantly affect the quality of work.

Cameras

For a beginner photographer, an entry-level DSLR or a lightweight mirrorless camera will do. When you first choose a camera body, that is, its body without a lens, pay attention to how manual settings are arranged.

With experience, a beginner “outgrows” automatic modes and learns to control the details of shooting himself, “by hand”.

 

Type of	Advantages	Flaws
SLR camera	Does not distort the image and focuses faster in motion. Saves battery as it does not waste energy on digital image processing.	More expensive than mirrorless, bigger and heavier. If dropped, moving parts inside may be damaged.
mirrorless camera	Compact and lightweight body - easy to carry. Less risk of damage to the "insides" of the device upon impact. Cheaper mirrors.	The image is electronic, color and lighting distortions are possible. The speed of the appearance of the picture is late. The battery drains faster.

 

We monitored the market and were surprised at how much more affordable DSLRs are in 2022 than mirrorless cameras. For 20,000 - 30,000 rubles you can buy quite a decent camera with an optical viewfinder.

 

We will not consider expensive models like the Fujifilm X-T3 or the giant Sony Alpha series. Let's talk about two models that are popular among novice photographers and at an adequate price.

Canon EOS 600D Kit

Produces excellent picture with natural color reproduction. Even at high ISO values, up to 1600, it does not make the image noisy, so you can shoot calmly in low light conditions. There are Feature Guide tooltips, it will be useful for a beginner. In general, the menu is simple, all the necessary buttons are placed on the body for quick access. The screen is swivel. There is a lens in the kit, but it’s a little dark - it’s better to immediately take a fast lens separately.

Nikon D3300 Kit

One of the lightest and most compact DSLRs, with a clear menu and auto modes. Ideal for beginners. Comes with an 18-55mm lens to try out shooting from macro to portraits and landscapes. Judging by the reviews, even the whale lens does not darken, the photos are sharp and colorful. At dusk, it shoots perfectly - up to ISO 800 without noise. There is a fast shooting function - it will click the shutter at 5 frames per second. Comfortable in the hand, all buttons are easy to reach.

Everyday Lens

Boats moored near the shore are best captured on a lens with a focal length of 28 mm, with 70 mm you can fix football goals, and at 15 mm you can shoot cartoons. But while you are a beginner, you do not need to buy 3-5 lenses for different types of shooting. Take a universal one with the ability to zoom - 18-55 mm or 18-135 mm.

When choosing, be guided by the mount - the type of attachment of the lens to the body of the camera. The lens and camera mounts must match.We have selected lenses for the models of cameras that we have described above.

Canon EF-S 18-135mm Lens

Autofocus in this model works silently, which can be important if you are photographing a sleeping cat or a shy butterfly. Stabilization works perfectly, suitable for shooting at short shutter speeds. Can be recommended as a travel optician.

Nikon 18-140mm lens

More suitable for travel, but it is also used for creative shooting. Doesn't play. There is auto and manual focus, it works louder than Canon. The picture is clear, juicy, although with slight distortion at the edges, but the camera itself corrects this problem in the process.

external flash

The built-in flash will not be enough if you shoot from a distance of more than five meters. It’s better to buy an external one - it “shines” further, recharges faster, and its viewing angle and power can be adjusted manually. The head of the device rotates in different directions, which allows you to change the lighting pattern and take the puff away from the camera. And the external flash has its own battery, so it does not consume the energy of the camera, unlike the built-in one.

Flash Godox TT685C for Canon

A high-quality replica of the original flash, only three times cheaper. There is an autofocus backlight, manual mode, display. Swivel head - up 90 degrees, down 7. When turning, it does not crunch.

Flash Godox TT350N for Nikon

Can work in TTL mode. This means that the flash will give out as much light as the scene requires. So the battery consumption is more economical, and the photos are more natural. The TT350N quickly syncs with the camera and can be used remotely from up to 30 meters away from the camera.

Tripod

There are situations where it is indispensable.

subject and food shooting, macro. Objects are shot from a short distance, and the depth of field must be large so that the details are in focus. This is possible only with a clamped, covered aperture. So that the camera can "squint" and at the same time not flinch, does not blur the picture, it is placed on a tripod.

"Milk Rivers". The effect when a waterfall or a mountain river looks like a stream of milk. Filmed on a tripod, with a slow shutter speed and at the minimum ISO.

Panoramas of night cities. Also done at long exposures. The panorama is glued together from several frames with lighting effects. This technique is called stacking. "Dial" the correct frames with one camera angle is possible only from a tripod.

self-portrait. A tripod will allow you to arrange your own photo shoot at any time, anywhere and not depend on anyone.

The most popular tripods are three-legged tripods, extendable monopods, screw clamps and clothespins.

Monopod Rekam RM-120

Take it if you are a frequenter of mass events or are going to participate in dynamic shootings. On a monopod, you can raise the camera and shoot an object from a point where your hand cannot reach. Another option is to rest the tripod on the floor. The rocking may persist, but the up and down shaking will go away. The hands of the photographer will not get tired and tremble.

Tripod HAMA Star-700 EF Digital (04133)

The traditional type of tripod, the most stable. The axis of the tripod is fixed on three "legs" - spacers, which make the structure static. On more expensive models, there may be four or six such legs.

Clothespin FUJIMI FCL-BH1

Clothespin - a type of tripod to fix the camera on the edge of the table.A clamp has a similar purpose - a tripod that is attached to trees or pipes with a clamping screw.

 

Lens 50mm

This is a portrait lens - the perfect lens that does not distort facial features and creates a beautiful blur around the main subject. The depth of field of the “fifty dollars” is small, so you will have to look for the correct focus point or calculate it in advance using the depth of field calculator.

 

Such a lens can also be used for catalog shooting, although the image will have to be stacked. But there will be no distortions and other optical distortions. "Fifty kopecks" gives a picture close to the one that the human eye sees.

Canon EF 50mm Lens

Suitable for wedding, portrait and macro photography, makes beautiful bokeh. Compact and lightweight, but it is better to store in a case - it quickly collects dust.

YongNuo AF 50mm Lens

A good budget portrait lens that focuses quickly even when shooting moving subjects. Two times cheaper than the original Nikon lens.

Reflector

It is also a reflector or a light disk. It looks like a shiny canvas stretched over a plastic frame. On the set, it is used to even out lighting or get rid of shadows.

Fujimi FJ702-80 Reflector 5 in 1

Reflectors help diffuse light, darken or highlight the desired side. A bag for storing and transporting the reflector is included. Each sheet folds easily. The table below gives a description of the 4 main reflectors.

Color	Purpose
Silver	Use in cloudy weather to highlight the model, but not to disturb the shades of the composition.
Gold	Used to enhance the beauty of the skin, make it warmer.
White matt	Take on street shooting in sunny weather. Its reflection does not blind, but emphasizes natural light.
Black	Enhances shadows and "subtracts" light. Used as a background, popular in portrait and silhouette photography.

 

So the total cost beginner photography equipment will cost 83,000-88,000 rubles (at the exchange rate as of the date of writing the article).

Software for a beginner photographer

In addition to equipment, a novice photographer will need programs and services to plan shootings, process photos and build a portfolio.

For photo editing: PhotoMASTER editor

A professional, but simple photo editor from the domestic developer AMS Software serves as an alternative to Adobe Photoshop, which has left Russia. The program is easy to navigate - the menu is logically arranged, and the tabs, tools and tips are in Russian.

With the PhotoMASTER photo editing program, you can easily correct optical distortions, perform fine color correction, remove unwanted objects from the frame and touch up insufficiently bright details. To make the picture even more expressive, you can stylize it with filters or add a sunburst effect. The program works with RAW files and supports batch processing. Before you post your first photos in your portfolio, put your name logo on all the pictures at once.

For storing images: Yandex cloud service

Previously, photographers used physical disks, but now it is more popular to give images to a client with a link to the cloud. Yandex.Disk is a platform on which it is convenient to store footage and send it to the customer for download. Usually there are two links - one leads to a folder with photos for printing, the other - to compressed pictures for social networks.Some photographers upload all the source files to Yandex.Disk, and the client chooses 10-20 options that need to be processed.

The free plan provides 10 gigabytes of memory and 10 is given additionally if you have a Yandex.Plus subscription. The most inexpensive package for 100 gigs costs 69 rubles per month. At the same time, video backstages popular with photographers from the site can be downloaded from the phone without restrictions.

For lighting scheme planning: Strobox service

A cool service that will help a beginner to plan a black and white drawing. You choose the type of shoot - food, macro, glamour, etc. - then the lighting, and start looking for references. The system will give examples, each of which has a scheme - how to set the light, place the object.

 

You can do the opposite. First, choose the photo you like in the gallery, and then look at the diagram and what kind of flash or reflector you need.

There are other examples of similar sites on the Internet, but Strobox is more suitable for beginners. It is intuitive, does not operate with complex numbers and shows how to work with light using simple examples.

To determine the shooting point: depth of field calculator

The calculator helps calculate where the camera needs to be in order for the subject to be in focus. Everything that is closer or further away will be blurred. Using the service, you can calculate in advance where to put the camera on the set and what settings to make in the camera.

For sale photos: stock sites

Photos can generate passive income if stored properly. Upload pictures that other people could buy on stock services.

Adobe stock. You upload content, enter keywords that other people can use to find it, set a price, and submit it for moderation. If everything is in order, the images will appear in the stock collection. For each picture sold, you receive 33% royalties (deductions). Adobe takes the rest.

Shutterstock. For 15 years, he has already paid the authors a billion dollars. Shutterstock has a developed community, so newcomers here quickly adapt and will always find those who will support. You can also create a portfolio page on the site.

Conclusion

Now you know that even at the initial level, professional photography requires investment. You need an inexpensive but good camera, a pair of lenses, a tripod, reflectors and a flash on a hot shoe.

 

For image processing, it is better for a beginner to use the functional and easy-to-manage PhotoMASTER editor. It is more convenient to transfer photos to the customer not on a flash drive, but as a folder in the cloud.

 

And don't be afraid to go to the drains. There you will not only be able to sell works, but also get help and support from like-minded people, which is especially valuable at the beginning of a creative journey.