Starter Kit

Many of you will want to get in to amateur photography, although you do not know what kit to start off with. This guide should get you on the right lines to become a great amateur photographer.

• Cameras: This is the item you will need first: a digital SLR. The best ones to start off with are the low-mid range SLRs which are easy to use, but still have most of the functions an amateur photographer would need. A couple of cameras I find very good to start off with are these: Nikon D40, Nikon D3100, Nikon D3000, Canon 500D, Canon 1000D, Canon 450D, Pentax K100D, Pentax K200D, Sony alpha a330 and  the Sony alpha a230. These cameras are all very good, easy to use, have a fair amount of megapixels and are not at all expensive. Ease of use and megapixels is what most people look at when they are buying a camera, but there is more to it, the camera needs many adjustable settings to provide the optimum image quality. High sensitivity is also a great function for shooting in low-light, you will want something as high as 6400 or even 12800. Overall these cameras excel in most of these areas and are a great starting point for an amateur photographer. Below there are some pictures of some of he cameras I have listed.

• Lenses and filters: Good lenses are a must have for amateur photography, and so are filters. The first lens you'll want is the standard 18-55mm kit lens, this lens comes with almost all digital SLR's in a kit and is a definite must have. The 18-55mm can be used almost anywhere and it has a great range; 18mm is a wide angle focal length which makes it a universal lens for most conditions. The aperture on these lenses is usually 3.5-5.6, this is quite a wide aperture, and is useful for shooting in low light. The second lens you will want to have is a telephoto zoom lens such as a 55-200mm or a 70-300mm. The latter is a great zoom lens but you also sacrifice wide aperture for such a long focal length making it almost useless in low light. The 55-200mm is a great addition to the 18-55mm, and it is manufactured by most big brands. It is usually quite small and versatile unlike the 70-300mm so it is good to take with you in trips as your second lens. Generally a 55-200mm will set you back around £120 for a Nikon or Canon, and around £80 for a Tamron. The last lens you would want as an amateur could possibly be a wide-angle or a macro lens, depending on which area you specialize most in, if you like taking pictures of the family, or on holiday, a wide angle is the way to go. I would recommend a 10-24mm or a 12-24mm. The one problem with wide-angles is that they are quite pricey, a Nikon 10-24mm will set you back at least £600, which for an amateur like me, is above my budget. Macro lenses come in many different focal lengths and usually aren't cheap either, all though one I can recommend is the Tamron 90mm macro lens, which will typically set you back around £290. Most lenses now also come with the option of VR or Image stabilizer, which is an internal mechanism which significantly reduces shake and vibrations. Filters are also a must-have, and there are 3 which I find most useful, these are : UV filter (This will prevent you from getting those annoying sun spots/glares on your images) Polarizing filter (This usually reduces reflections, and darkens very bright areas on your images) Neutral Density filter (This is absorbs colours and makes the image rather flat , which may sound bad but is great for taking long exposure waterfalls or waves). Filters are generally quite cheap with brands like Massa coming in at the bottom of the price range (£2-£3) and brands like B+W and Hoya topping the spectrum (£20-£100).

• Tripod: A tripod is an absolute essential if you will be shooting in low light quite often, as a flash will simply not do. A good tripod should be light-weight, compact and be very stable. Upmarket tripods are generally sold without the head, but reasonably priced ones come with an included removable head. A good brand of tripod is Manfrotto, they sell high end tripods for amateurs and professionals. The standard model (The "Modo") starts at around £40. You may also consider investing into a Gorillapod which is a tripod with many different ways of positioning it, because of the bendable legs, allowing you to coil it around pipes and ledges. The Gorillapod SLR starts at around £25.
• Camera Bag: If you will be embarking on photography trips, or if you are just going on holiday, you wont want to be carrying your lenses, camera, tripod etc. just like that; you will want to have them stowed away in a rucksack or a case. Typically you will be carrying 2 lenses, a camera, maybe a tripod and some SD cards and filters, A small rucksack will do just fine for this. I would recommend something like the Lowepro Slingshot which has space for all of your needs. If you are looking for something smaller, which can carry just your camera, I would recommend a CaseLogic slrc200.
• Memory cards: As oppose to a compact camera, an SLR takes much higher quality pictures, and therefore needs alot more space to store them. To begin with, something like 2 or 4GB should do fine, but as you start to develop your skills and maybe start to experiment with RAW shooting, you will want to be looking at 8,16 or even 32GB cards. 2-4GB cards usually cost around £5 or £6, and the larger ones can get up to prices of £60 or £70.
• Of course, the best place to buy any of the kit that I have mentioned would obviously be Amazon.