Essential Gear for the Beginning DSLR Photographer

Guest Post | Nov 02, 2009 | Comments View Comments

This guest post was provided by Laura Charon of BeyondMegapixels.com

It all started somewhere, this shared obsession we have with photography. At some point in the past we all bought our first digital SLR camera, we were baffled by the variety of gear available for it, and we struggled with the size of our budget vs. the size of our WANT.

With that beginner photographer in mind, I’d like to share four items of gear which I, looking back upon my first experiences with my DSLR, consider to be essential in order to hit the ground running. This list assumes that the photographer has already decided upon and purchased a camera with a lens.

ONE – A Remote Shutter Release

Using the camera’s timer function is all well and good, when capturing shots that would be significantly sensitive to camera shake. I quickly discovered, though, that it’s a pain in the neck to re-set the timer every time I wanted to take a picture – for instance, it’s harder to call to a crowd participating in a group photo, “Hang on, one more,” when you have to spend a good twenty or thirty seconds fiddling with the camera, on top of the timer’s delay. A remote shutter release is also essential if you’ve got the shot composed JUST SO, and any touch of the camera at all will cause you to have to re-compose and re-focus the shot.

TWO – A Tripod

Pairing the remote shutter release with a tripod exponentially increases the quality and sharpness of your photo. A tripod is essential for photography in low-light settings, where long exposures make the shot more prone to camera shake and blurriness. Another benefit to the tripod is the opportunity to actually get YOURSELF into some of the shots that you take (I have years and years worth of vacation photos in which I appear in not a single shot). Finally, it seems that every budding photographer will at some point play around in the back yard at night, capturing images of the full moon or the stars. In order to be able to do that, you’ll need a tripod.

THREE – A Memory Card Reader and Spare Memory Cards

I actually owned my DSLR for a full year or more before I obtained a memory card reader. Prior to that I was just attaching my camera to my laptop via the USB cable and downloading from the camera itself. While that isn’t a bad method in and of itself, it does cause wear and tear on the camera and battery, it is harder on the memory card itself, and it usually takes longer to download all of the pictures than a dedicated card reader. The need for spare memory cards should be self-evident – you don’t want to be in the middle of shooting and run out of space on the one card you own. And, too, occasionally a memory card will become corrupt, and you don’t want to be stuck without the ability to take pictures.

FOUR – A Backup Battery and Battery Charger

Another item that may seem self-evident is the purchase of a backup battery and battery charger. Most (if not all) of today’s DSLR camera kits come with a charger, but not a spare battery. It’s a very wise idea to keep a backup battery (fully charged!) in your camera bag so that when the little battery indicator starts flashing at you, you don’t have to panic that you’re miles and hours away from an electrical outlet.

Every item on this list, with the exception of the tripod, can be purchased for under $50. A quality tripod can be purchased for between $200 and $300 – less expensive models can be found, but they tend to be flimsy.

For more great articles on photography from Laura Charon head on over to BeyondMegapixels.com

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