“Can you compose a list of essential items that a Beginning Pro, Intermediate Pro and an Advanced Pro photographer should have?” — Alicia (Beba Photography)
Starting out can seem daunting in the financial department because camera equipment is so expensive. Here is a camera gear list for the three stages of photographers from Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. I have only included the basic items. There are tons of gadgets we all carry around with us. When you get into the Advanced stage most shooters are super picky with their gear and will be highly opinionated about it. Feel free to ask around at other studios. They will all have their “must haves” when it comes to gear.
Beginning Pro
- Canon EOS Rebel T1i with the EF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (this lens is okay to start out with but is pretty much a throw away lens once you buy your first good piece of glass)
- Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash for Canon Digital SLR Cameras (basic flash, if you have more money, you will want to invest in the 580EXII which is about $130 more)
- Make sure you buy a UV lens filter for your lens and a Omni-bounce flash diffuser for your flash. You will also need a good camera bag along with one extra camera battery, 12-20 rechargable AA batteries for your flash, and 3-4 4 or 8 gig CF cards for your camera.
Intermediate Pro
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
- Some sort of back up camera (the old 5D works great as a back up and you can find them used for fairly cheep, otherwise you will want to buy new 5Ds. Your Rebel T1i will be your trusty travel camera so you won’t feel bad if it gets broken or falls off the boat into the ocean while visiting with the whales.)
- Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip for Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR
- Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
- Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras
- Make sure you buy a good ($50) UV lens filter for your lenses and a Omni-bounce flash diffuser for your flash. You will also need a good camera bag along with one extra camera battery, 12-20 rechargable AA batteries for your flash, and 6-8 8 gig CF cards for your camera.
Advanced Pro
- Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III 21.1MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP Full Frame CMOS Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)
- Two 5D’s are common as back up cameras.
- Canon BG-E6 Battery Grip for Canon 5D Mark II Digital SLR
- Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras or Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
- CANON – EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens for Canon SLR Cameras or Sigma 50mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro Lens for Canon SLR Cameras
- Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras
- Most Advanced Shooters will carry 2 or 3 extra flash units in case they break.
- Epson P-4000 80GB Multimedia Storage Drive, Viewer & Audio/Video Player (3.8-Inch LCD Screen) or
- NEXTO eXtreme3 160GB Digital Hi-Speed OTG Backup Storage or something to backup your files on site.
- Make sure you buy good ($50) UV lens filters for your lenses and a Omni-bounce flash diffuser for your flash. Here you will get into lighting things differenty so the diffuser may not be necessary. Look into flash units such as the Quantum Instruments QFX5DR TTL X5D Qflash Digital Flash System
You will also need a good camera bag along with one to two extra camera batteries, 20-32 rechargable AA batteries for your flash, and 8-10 8 gig CF cards for your camera.
To view more helpful photo tips go to JensTips.com and learn something new today!
Copyright © 2009 by Jen O’Sullivan http://www.jenosullivan.com