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The question that I am most often asked as a photographer is a simple one: “Which camera should I buy?” In most cases, this is asked by people who are just planning to take up photography and rightly believe that it is difficult to do without a camera.
It is curious that many potential amateur photographers vaguely think that their expenses for a new hobby will be limited to buying a camera. Unfortunately, a camera is just the beginning (keep this in mind if your spouse is thinking about buying a camera, and if you are thinking about buying one yourself, make sure this article does not come to your attention). Photography is an expensive hobby, and in order to engage in it with any seriousness, a future photographer will need many things that he did not even suspect existed before, and if he did suspect them, he considered them something insignificant and not worthy of special attention.
The purpose of this article is to show that the cost of a new camera is not that high compared to total costs to develop a passion for photography, as well as help a novice amateur photographer acquire the necessary minimum photographic equipment and not go around the world.
Since not every amateur photographer is ready to buy “everything at once,” we will highlight three unequal stages of purchasing photographic equipment, sequential passage through which will somewhat lighten the one-time burden on your wallet. Moreover, you are free to stop at any stage until you see an objective need to move on.
I will also note that the set of photographic equipment I recommend does not pretend to be absolutely universal and complete. To some it will seem flawed, and to others it will seem excessive. This is the nature of any general recommendations. We will talk about the equipment needed by the average amateur photographer to solve average photographic problems, but if you have a desire to modify the described set in any way, I can only welcome such an initiative.
First of all
First-line photographic equipment is the equipment without which photography is either impossible in principle or makes no sense.
Camera
Your first big purchase will indeed be a camera. There is no point in chasing a complex and expensive camera. If this is your first serious camera, then you should probably stick to one of the simpler DSLRs. In any case, compared to a point-and-shoot camera or smartphone, it will greatly expand your photographic capabilities.
Why not a mirrorless camera? It’s just that at the moment the situation with the price/quality ratio for DSLR cameras is better than for mirrorless cameras. When buying a DSLR, you either pay less for similar parameters, or get better functionality for the same price. From manufacturers SLR cameras I usually recommend Nikon or Canon.
The estimated price of a budget DSLR is about $500. They are usually sold complete with a lens having a focal length of 18-55 mm (such a set of camera and lens is called a “kit”). If you are used to shooting with a point-and-shoot camera or a phone, and now you just want to slightly improve the technical quality of your photos, then you can stop there.
More advanced cameras (around $1000) are often sold without a lens (“body”). If your budget allows, then you can, of course, buy a camera “for growth.” The only problem is that digital cameras become outdated very quickly, and buying a camera whose capabilities you will not fully use is simply impractical.
Lens
Without a lens, a camera is useless. If you are new to photography, then I strongly recommend that you buy a camera along with a standard, so-called. "whale" lens. Such a lens is inexpensive, and its capabilities are quite enough to master the basics of photography and to understand what you generally want from a photographic lens.
The cost of a kit lens is about $100 if you buy it separately, but when bundled with the camera you get it for practically nothing.
For a Nikon camera, instead of the kit 18-55mm, you can take a fast Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX prime - a lens of much higher quality, although less versatile. $200 is not a lot for a lens of this level.
Over time, you will probably need additional lenses, but at the initial stage it is better to limit yourself to one.
Memory card
Obviously, you will need at least one memory card - the pictures need to be recorded on something. Most likely it will be an SDHC card. They are not too expensive, but you will have to pay twenty dollars.
A card reader is a convenient thing, but you can easily do without it by transferring pictures to a computer via a USB cable, which usually comes with the camera.
Computer
Speaking of the computer. You probably already have one, and in any case its performance is sufficient to transcribe pictures from the camera, sort them, put them into catalogs and upload them to the Internet. Any more or less modern computer can handle this. If you are going to use your computer as a darkroom, then an ordinary office machine may not be ready to edit RAW files with a resolution of a couple of tens of megapixels.
If you are planning to buy a new computer in addition to a new camera, keep in mind that a desktop (a system unit without a monitor) suitable for deep photo processing can hardly cost less than $500. Prices for more or less decent monitors start at about $300.
Software
If you are not going to spend time processing photos, then you don’t need specialized applications. It's another matter if your plans include full editing of the resulting images. Professional standard Adobe Photoshop is deservedly considered in the field of digital photo processing. Unfortunately, nothing better or more universal has been invented yet, but if you wish, you can do without Photoshop by using one of the self-sufficient RAW converters like Adobe Lightroom or DxO Optics Pro.
Annual subscription to Photoshop + Lightroom costs $120; a perpetual license for Lightroom will cost $150; for DxO Optics Pro in the Essential version they ask for $130. I, of course, am aware of how things are going in Russian-speaking countries with the purchase of a license software, but I was still obliged to provide prices, even if only for reference.
In addition, the tight-fisted amateur photographer can use one of the free converters offered by photographic equipment manufacturers - Canon Digital Photo Professional and Nikon Capture NX-D. These programs are not very convenient to use, but the conversion quality is quite good.
The first stage has been completed, and now nothing prevents you from starting shooting. However, it will be much more convenient to shoot if you add a few more accessories to your camera.
Second stage
Second-stage equipment, strictly speaking, is not absolutely necessary, but it significantly improves the photographer’s quality of life.
Photo bag
In a good way, immediately after purchasing a camera, it is advisable to buy a suitable bag for it. Firstly, carrying a camera in a bag is much more convenient than on your neck, and secondly, the bag provides your equipment with good mechanical protection.
The variety of camera bags is amazing, and since the image quality is not particularly affected by the bag, you can choose the model that seems most convenient to you. A good bag will cost no less than $50.
Tripod
The need for a tripod for a novice amateur photographer is more than a controversial issue. Not every type of photography requires a tripod. Many photographers do without a tripod at all and do not experience any discomfort, but since we are collecting the most universal set of photographic accessories, we will include a tripod in it in order to expand the range of available shooting situations as much as possible. Feel free to ignore this point if you think you don’t need a tripod yet.
It is better to avoid tripods that are too cheap, due to the fact that they are rarely convenient to use and are never reliable. For a tripod that you don't mind holding in your hands, be prepared to pay at least $100. High quality tripods cost significantly more.
Optical cleaning accessories
No matter how careful you are, if you regularly use the camera for its intended purpose, the front lens element will periodically need cleaning. I advise you to get at least microfiber cloths and a soft brush. The cost of this will not exceed $10, and your soul will be calmer.
The second stage has been completed. Now you can not only shoot, but also do it with relative comfort. You can stop there, but it is possible that further creative growth will require additional investments from you.
Third stage
Thirdly, you should buy various highly specific accessories, which you could do without, but which make the shooting more varied and interesting.
Additional Lenses
I won't give you a budget for purchasing additional optics, since it is too individual and highly dependent on your photographic specialization, as well as the unique balance between your creative needs and financial capabilities.
Filters
The most useful filter for landscape photography is without a doubt the polarizing filter. I don’t want to say that after buying a polarizer your photos will shine with new colors, but it will add a certain zest to some of them. If you are not into landscapes, then you don’t really need a polarizer. This is even more true for gradient filters.
Protective (or UV) filters are designed to protect the front element of your lens from dirt and scratches, and it won't be a big deal if you equip all your lenses with protective filters. However, if you are confident in your own accuracy, then you can do without protection.
Prices for high-quality small-sized protective filters start at about $20. As the diameter increases, so does the price. Polarizing filters are more expensive, but you can get by with one filter for all your lenses by purchasing a lens filter with largest diameter threads, and equip the remaining lenses with appropriate adapters.
Remote release
When shooting from a tripod, you can use a timer, but a remote release is much more convenient. A small infrared remote control will cost you about $10.
Bubble level
A bubble level installed in the camera's hot shoe (flash connector) allows you to accurately level the camera and avoid a blocked horizon. The bottle costs a penny, but Lately More and more cameras are coming with a built-in virtual horizon, eliminating the need to purchase an additional accessory.
Spare batteries
If you shoot a lot, it will be difficult for you to get by with a single battery. Here a lot depends on the shooting style and the type of camera. If the camera is a SLR and you do not abuse LiveView mode and video shooting, then most likely a total of two batteries will be enough for you. This is enough for full day very intense shooting. With economical use, two batteries can last a week. Mirrorless cameras are significantly more power hungry, and the more spare batteries you have, the safer you will feel.
It is not necessary to purchase branded batteries, prices for which start at about $40. Third-party batteries are usually a little worse, but cost much less than branded ones - $10-20.
Lighting equipment
When there is not enough natural light, flash comes to the aid of the photographer. On-camera flash is usually of little use, and depending on the conditions in which you prefer to shoot, you may need either an automatic on-camera flash or a studio lighting kit.
Branded on-camera flashes cost from $200 to $500 depending on power and functionality. Flashes from third-party manufacturers are significantly cheaper, although they do not always work correctly in automatic modes.
Studio lighting is relatively cheap. For the price of one on-camera flash, you can equip a small home photo studio.
Calibrator
If you are seriously interested in computer image processing, you may need a calibrator (colorimeter) for your monitor. It is extremely difficult to achieve perfect color rendition without a calibrator. For a careful attitude to color correction you will have to pay at least $100.
As you can see, the camera is just the tip of the iceberg. To really take up photography, and even more so to enjoy this activity, a camera alone, unfortunately, is not enough. With this article in hand, I hope the reader will be able to easily calculate the required starting budget, balancing his photographic enthusiasm with his economic potential and common sense.
Thank you for your attention!
Vasily A.
Post scriptum
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If you are completely tired of the standard “whale” glass of your camera, it’s definitely time to expand your collection. You shouldn’t buy everything at once, since you can get by with a limited selection of lenses that will cover all the areas of photography you need. However, you will be prepared for any situation and will be able to choose the right glass for every occasion.
For those who are new to photography, choosing and purchasing lenses for a camera is a very labor-intensive process. There are too many things: brands, types of glass, focal lengths. In the end, you should always keep in mind that any lens is not cheap. Yes, creating your own selection of lenses is a significant investment, but if you are serious about connecting your life with photography, it will pay off. In each category you can find a reasonable balance of price and quality, and select an excellent collection. We will limit ourselves to +-20,000 rubles and see what the lens market is ready to offer us.
Prime Lenses
Every photographer simply must have at least several of these lenses in his arsenal. Unlike zoom glasses and standard kit lenses, which allow you to enlarge the image, prime lenses have one focal length, but this is where they achieve perfection. Therefore, in terms of quality, they surpass zoom glasses, providing you with optimal sharpness, contrast and a minimum of aberrations.
Standard prime lenses are great option for a beginner. With a focal length of 50mm, they provide results that are as close as possible to what the human eye sees. The picture on them turns out to be naturalistic, and the price is quite affordable.
Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8
This lens is designed specifically for Canon DSLRs with EF Mount. Its characteristics can be compared with the similar Canon 50mm f/1.8, but it costs almost half as much. The maximum aperture of f/1.8 allows you to shoot in low light conditions, while the minimum aperture of f/22 allows you to achieve shallow depth of field. Similar glass from the same manufacturer, by the way, can also be found for Nikon.
Pentax SMCP-DA 50mm f/1.8
These fast, lightweight, and well-built lenses have been developed specifically for Pentax K-mount cameras. The Pentax SMCP-DA 50mm f/1.8 copes well with shooting in low light, creates spectacular bokeh and, in principle, allows you to shoot high quality photos. This is an excellent glass for portrait photography, with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and a minimum of f/22.
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
If you can afford to go a little beyond your tight budget and prefer to use original glass on your camera, then the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 is a lightweight, compact and quite affordable lens that, like its analogues, is great for shooting portraits, but It also copes effectively with both action shots and night photography. It has a focal length of 50mm on full frame cameras, on cropped APS-C matrices, its effective focal length changes to 80mm. At the same time, with this lens you can get precise color balance, minimized reflections and flare, and rich bokeh.
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D
The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 is a fast prime lens that delivers natural, sharp images and exceptional performance in all lighting conditions. All this is offered at a very affordable price. It is compatible with FX DX, DX in crop mode and 35mm film.
Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT
Technically, the Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT is considered a standard prime lens, but considering that the 35mm focal length is equivalent to 75mm on APS-C sensors, it can serve as a short telephoto for beginners. It takes clear and high-sharpness photos, allowing you to get blurred background with stunning bokeh and fast autofocus thanks to SAM (Smooth Autofocus Motor) technology.
Olympus 25mm f/2.8
This standard lens is very thin and light, making it very easy to work with. It does a great job with portraits, landscape shots, and even macro photography in some cases. On a 35mm film camera the focal length is 50mm, but the camera also creates a natural perspective, so it is just perfect for everyday shooting.
Wide Angle Lenses
Wide angles provide a wider viewing angle, allowing us to fit more objects into the frame. This tends to work very effectively when shooting landscapes or architecture. But even if you're not much of a landscape enthusiast, you should definitely have at least one wide-angle lens in your collection. With it you get a completely different perspective than other lenses, and at the same time greater creative freedom.
Typically, the focal length on wide-angle lenses is 35mm or longer on full-frame sensors. Ultra wide lenses have a focal length of 24mm or longer. Plus, there are also such glasses as fisheye, although they are precisely the ultra-wide type.
Such lenses can also have either a fixed or variable focal length.
Pentax SMCP-DA 35mm f/2.4 AL
The Pentax SMCP-DA 35mm f/2.4 AL is an affordable wide-angle lens with a fast aperture and f/2.4 aperture. On a full-frame sensor, the focal length will be equivalent to 52.5mm, so this lens will do an excellent job with landscapes, portraits (better, of course, group ones), and many other tasks. Despite its low price, this lens offers photographers high image quality and resolution, contrast and sharp images, proving that you don't have to spend a fortune to get quality optics.
Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM
An ultra-thin and ultra-lightweight wide-angle lens from Canon offers many possibilities, easy transportation and high-quality performance. All this makes it a great glass for everyday shooting. It was originally created for Canon APS-C cameras, and they didn't skimp on its hardware either - it consists of high-quality lenses with anti-reflective coating, which suppresses glare, and uses an STM stepper motor for smooth and silent autofocus. Another advantage of this glass is the ability to manually focus.
Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX
Designed for DX format cameras, this lens is ideal for users who require incredible performance at a low price. The focal length of 35mm on FX cameras gives as much as 50mm, providing a natural viewing angle and, in general, an image familiar to the human eye. This fast, quiet lens produces incredible image quality with rich, vibrant colors.
The Samyang company produces relatively inexpensive fisheye glass for Sony, Canon, Nikon and Pentax cameras. The Samyang 8mm Ultra Wide Angle f/3.5 Fisheye lens incorporates hybrid aspherical lenses to give you clear and sharp images. Multi-layer lens coating helps suppress glare and reflections, while the 180-degree viewing angle creates a dramatic perspective.
Nikon 28mm f/2.8D
Among standard wide-angle lenses, Nikon's 28mm f/2.8D provides a comfortable field of view of approximately 74 degrees without creating distortion at the edges of the frame. Compared to its peers in the same price range, it offers higher quality, especially for the money. Images from this lens are sharp, clear, and have beautiful, rich colors.
With this glass you can shoot landscapes, street photography, indoor photography and much more.
Varifocal Lenses
Well, here we come to those lenses that are considered the most convenient for various types of shooting. Already from the name it is obvious that if prime lenses offer us a fixed focal length, zoom lenses allow us to work with several. That is, with the same glass, you can shoot portraits, landscapes, reports and much more. Simply put, zoom glass gives us the ability to zoom in and out of a scene.
It is also obvious that zoom lenses are very useful when we need to shoot from long distances. But in any other case, a zoom lens (be it wide-angle, telephoto or any other) in a photographer’s arsenal will always be useful for varying perspective, composition and, in principle, everything that concerns the frame.
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG
This lens is available for Pentax, Sony, Canon and Nikon cameras. This is a telephoto zoom lens that provides high performance and great features at a reasonable price. Thanks to special low dispersion (SLD) glass elements, it reduces chromatic aberration. It also features fast and silent autofocus and manual focus capabilities, a macro switch allowing macro photography at focal lengths between 200mm and 300mm, and a maximum magnification of 1:2.9 to 1:2.
Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD
This lightweight and compact telephoto zoom lens is almost ideal for outdoor photography - sports, wildlife, events, you can do it all with the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD. This lens is capable of working with both DSLR and film cameras. Like Sigma's counterpart, it has a macro switch that will allow you to take enlarged photos at focal lengths from 180mm to 300mm with maximum magnifications of up to 1:2.
In addition to being easy to transport due to its small size, this lens is also very durable, has fast and accurate autofocus, and photographs taken with it are sharp.
You can find inexpensive lenses for Canon and Nikon with similar focal lengths.
Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
This lens is suitable for portraits, travel photography, sports photography, events - whatever you want to shoot, you can shoot with the Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G. This is one of the most affordable telephoto zoom lenses. For beginners it will be a great assistant, since it has a lot of application possibilities. A light weight and its small size will allow you to always carry it with you, and it is very simple to operate. For precise focus control, this lens has a manual zoom wheel. Fast and reliable autofocus (it is only supported on DSLRs with a built-in focus motor), wide range focal lengths and special lens coatings for improved light transmission and flare suppression truly make this lens a worthwhile investment.
This lens is designed specifically for Pentax DSLR cameras, it allows you to magnify images up to 4x and is ideal for outdoor photography as it is protected from weather conditions and includes a special protective coating that allows it to repel dust, water and other troubles.
Among the features of the Pentax SMCP-DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6, what stands out is the high-quality glass, which allows you to get realistic colors in your photos. The autofocus system is very responsive and allows you to quickly switch to manual mode if necessary.
Sony 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DT
The lens from Sony is designed for SLR cameras with a cropped matrix. Otherwise, this is an excellent and capable telephoto lens that will provide focal lengths from 82.5 to 300mm. It is suitable for photographing wildlife, animals, sports and other events, and of course, portraits. It is designed with Extra Low Dispersion (ED) glass elements that help reduce chromatic aberration. Circular aperture blades allow you to defocus with ease, creating stunning bokeh. A separate plus is the built-in SAM, which provides fast and silent automatic focusing.
Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6
The Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 is a compact and lightweight telephoto zoom lens with very large capabilities. The first thing that needs to be noted is the impressive zoom capabilities, then, of course, the sharp, high-quality photos that this glass takes and the pleasant, effective bokeh.
All this is impressive, as is the fairly wide viewing angle of 32 degrees. Therefore, the Canon EF 75-300vv F/4-5.6 also copes well with landscape photography.
It is affordable and very easy to use, making this lens an excellent choice for any beginner.
A photographer's standard arsenal always consists of several lenses for any occasion. About six months of active shooting is enough to learn how to determine when and which lens will be most relevant, and as soon as you get the most out of your kit lens, that is, the glass that came with the camera, it’s time to take care of special lenses: for landscapes , portraits, reports, etc. We did it for you and selected the most suitable lenses for different genres of photography, which a professional should definitely have on hand.
Standard
Standard or “kit” lenses are usually supplied with the camera. They are distinguished by a variety of possibilities of use, and they are very versatile, which is why they are used as the main ones.
Prime Lens
For those who don't like heavy lenses and prefer to be on the move while shooting, without being afraid to get closer and move away from the subject, a prime or prime lens is an ideal and portable option. Its name speaks for itself, but you shouldn’t think at all that the capabilities of such lenses are lower than those of their zoom counterparts. Moreover, in terms of image quality and aperture ratio, fixed lenses are significantly better than their zoom counterparts.
For Canon: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
Affordable and versatile, the ideal lens for Canon prime cameras is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM.
This lens is compatible with full-frame and APS-C DSLR camera sensor formats. Its focal length is 50mm and its aperture is f/1.8. At the same time, on APS-C matrices the active focal length will be 80mm, and on full-frame ones, respectively, 50mm.
For photos and videos, the lens has a quiet autofocus motor that ensures smooth operation. The glass is top quality as always and the lens is perfect for Canon cameras. All these characteristics make the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM an excellent choice for a variety of genres - from portraits to night photography and, if you know exactly what you want to get from the lens, it is one of the most advantageous and versatile options.
For Nikon:
About the same thing that a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM will provide a photographer can be said about Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G. This lens has all the same parameters and functions, although the price tag is slightly higher.
But the versatility of this lens cannot be underestimated: it can be used for any type of shooting, from portraits to dynamic shots.
Nikon AF-S FX NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G is a convenient and compact lens option for all owners of Nikon SLR cameras, both for beginners and amateurs. It should be noted that even in low light conditions the frames still turn out sharp and clear, and the lens itself, even with permanent job saves new appearance, which speaks about good quality assemblies.
Please note that the lens is not designed for macro photography, but for this type of shooting we have another option.
We smoothly approached the next sore point:
Fix or Zoom?
Let's look at their differences, pros and cons.
Primes (lenses with a fixed focal length): Plus - the opportunity to get greater aperture for less money compared to a zoom lens. The downside is that when shooting, you will get tired of moving around the site.
Zoom (varifocal lenses): Plus - Versatility. Sometimes it comes in handy to be able to zoom in on an object while remaining in place. Disadvantage: high price more weight, less aperture.
In fact, if you have no shortage of funds, then it doesn’t matter whether the lens is fixed or zoom.
Take the top-end zoom model and it will perfectly capture shots at an open aperture and you will have the main advantage of a zoom - versatility.
But if you have money restrictions! Then you should look at the fixes because... at much lower costs, you can already take a lens with a decent aperture ratio of ~ 1/4 or 1/8. True, you may have to have 1 more lens in your kit to cover all the necessary focal lengths, but it will still be cheaper than buying an expensive zoom.
As for the need to move when using a fixative, it’s not a big problem! During studio shooting, you are still running around the model, regardless of whether you have a zoom or not! If you remove the object, then everything is even easier. Once place the tripod at the desired distance from the subject and off you go! The ability to change the focal length is not fundamental here at all.
Lux or not Lux (here we mean the marking of top lenses).
As a rule, “Luxury” refers to lenses with the maximum aperture in their focal range. At Canon, such lenses are marked with the letter “L”. Such lenses use very high-quality coated glass with minimal light absorption and high accuracy grinding - which reduces aberration and chromatic defects of the lens. The image obtained with these lenses is mesmerizing in its quality!
Another characteristic of such lenses is the price, which is by no means linear dependence from aperture ratio and image quality!
Based on the above, the conclusion suggests itself: “Luxes” are of course cool and good, and if you have a lot of money you need to take it! But, if you had tons of money, you probably wouldn’t read this article, but would already go and buy yourself a set of the most expensive lenses. And so I tell you - do not despair! Buy primes that are the next step down from Lux in terms of characteristics and I assure you that for most tasks you will not feel the difference, although the price of such lenses will be several times cheaper! And as soon as you save up some money, upgrade your lens to the same luxury one.
I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that there are many offices and studios from which you can rent lenses! So think about how often you will use this or that lens? Sometimes it makes more sense to simply rent some kind of optics. And before buying a luxury lens, you can rent it plus a lens of a worse level and compare them, perhaps you will understand that the result is not worth the investment.
Other.
There are a couple more characteristics that I would briefly go over.
- Lens weight! This parameter does not affect the result of the work, but it can be critical if you are a fragile girl and you need to shoot a wedding all day! Holding a camera with a heavy zoom suspended for long periods of time is stressful! And carrying it in a bag or backpack all day is also tiring. Although weight has never been a problem for me, I... strong guy J.
- Focus speed. This parameter is also not always important, but you should not forget about it! For subject matter and studio photography, focusing speed is not important. In general, I often work with manual focus adjustment. But if you are going to shoot a wedding or reportage, then focusing speed can be critical and you should read reviews where this parameter is taken into account separately.
- Bokeh (background blur). The importance of this parameter, in my opinion, is far-fetched. Firstly, bokeh is not needed in all shootings, and secondly, lenses that we classify as professional according to my classification have good bokeh by default. This can be debated, but, IMHO, this is a question from the category of “taste and color, no friend.”
P.S. At first it seems like the lens is crazy important thing! That only with a cool lens can you get cool photos. This is not true at all! The most important thing in photography is Light! If you learn how to work with light, then even with an average lens you will get first-class shots. I hope you find this article useful.
So, you have become the proud owner of a digital SLR Canon camera, and this is a great choice because this camera system is considered one of the most compatible and offers versatility, multi-functionality and a wide range of applicable accessories and attachments.
However, even for novice photographers it is no secret that image quality is mainly determined by optical system cameras. That is, in fact, receiving good pictures depends largely on the right choice lens rather than from the camera system. Therefore, we will concentrate our attention on considering the favorites among lenses for Kenon cameras.
This is a good 50 mm lens, the so-called “fifty-kopeck” lens, which is recommended for beginning photographers. If you don't already have this lens, be sure to purchase it. It is inexpensive, around $100, which is partly due to the fact that it was designed relatively long ago and has a plastic body.
So why is this lens so good and why is it recommended for all beginning photographers? First of all, it should be noted that it has a wide f1.8 with eight blades, which allows you to capture images with the beautiful and smooth uniformity that every photographer appreciates. An f1.8 aperture makes it easy to shoot in low-light conditions without using a flash.
This lens is sharpest at f4, and the best balance of subject in focus and bokeh is achieved at f2.8. The Canon 50mm f1.8 works optimally in manual mode, but not in aperture priority or on auto. The reason for this is that it is in manual mode that there is the greatest scope for experimentation using the full range of all the capabilities of this beautiful lens.
Pro tip: Shooting with the aperture wide open gives best results with manual focusing, which can be read about in the instructions for use of a particular camera.
One thing to keep in mind when choosing this lens is that if you set it to digital SLR camera with an APS-C system, taking into account the crop factor this will give a field of view equivalent to a focal length of 75 mm. What does this mean? If you have a Rebel, 70D (or any xxD) or 7D camera, then your camera has a partial frame APS-C sensor and therefore the camera does not take advantage of the full capabilities of the lens.
Read the full review of this lens
Choosing Canon lenses for beginners , There’s no way you can do without a 50 mm lens for an APS-C camera, and the Sigma 30mm F1.4 II is perfect for this. This lens is designed for use with APS-C cameras such as the Rebel and provides a field of view almost equivalent to 50mm. At the same time, it’s pleasantly surprising that the lens also works great with full-frame cameras.
Vignetting as such is practically absent and the lens provides high level sharpness over almost the entire field of the frame. However, the greatest sharpness is observed in the center, and closer to the corners of the frame it smoothly and slightly decreases. The reason for this is most likely because the lens is not designed for use with full frame cameras.
The 30mm f1.4 Sigma lens is also highly ergonomic and compact, and fits very comfortably in the hand. It produces excellent image quality with high contrast, sharpness and it's safe to say that the 30mm f1.4 Sigma is virtually free of flaws, except that at high magnification you can see some purple ghosting at the pixel level.
But, honestly, this nuance is so insignificant that it pales in comparison to all the advantages and advantages of the Sigma 30mm F1.4 II lens
This lens, combined with an APS-C camera, is perfect for . It has excellent build quality, but what really impresses about the Tokina 12-28mm f4 II is its sharp edge-to-edge sharpness.
Who is this lens recommended for? If you love to travel and photograph architectural landmarks, if you are a street photographer who needs a good zoom, and especially if you prefer to shoot wide apertures, then this is the lens for you.
This is the only zoom lens on our list, but zoom isn't the only thing main reason that it is recommended for all beginning photographers. Tokina 12-28mm f4 II has every chance to become your favorite and constant companion on long years, because it is versatile and guarantees the highest image quality.
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