For the budding photographer....

[Madame Razz]

I am hoping that you good and learned folk here in this forum can help me:


My OH bought a digital SLR (Canon 'Rebel') earlier this year and since then has been getting more and more into photography. He's already bought himself a few bits including a larger lens, and is familiarising himself with GIMP. He really seems to love it and I'd really like to get him some photography things for Christmas.

But I know nothing about photography and haven't a clue what to get or where to get it

So, what would would your recommendations be in this instance for something(s) useful that would enhance his new hobby? I'm interested in any suggestions regardless of cost. I haven't gotten him anything else yet so if there was something expensive but brilliant out there I might stretch to it.

Thanks in advance!!

MR

[KarmaGarda]

There's a few things I'd recommend for a DSLR.

- Canon 50mm 1.8 lens (also called Nifty Fifty). If you shop around I've seen this for under €100.

- Depending on what he has already you could get him another lens rather than a 50mm 1.8. Like something with more zoom. Canon users here might advise better on those lens

- Lensbaby - I'm getting one of these for christmas, I'm going for the Lensbaby composer. I hear it's a tad easier to use than the other Lensbaby variations

There's a few ideas. Let's see what others say too.

[Ricky91t]

When he's not there,Take a photo of his gear,post it here(or just list it if you know!)..Give us abit of information about what he mainly shoots,And along with a budget we should be able to help you get the right thing

The reason I ask for a budget,Is if he's into sports users could recommend lenses that will cost over €1000

[Chorcai]

A good tripod, I got a SLIK 400DX for only 89 euro in Camera Ex, 50mm prime lens (from 100-145€) A good camera bag/back pack ? A flash gun maybe ?

[Madame Razz]

Originally Posted by Ricky91t

When he's not there,Take a photo of his gear,post it here(or just list it if you know!)..Give us abit of information about what he mainly shoots,And along with a budget we should be able to help you get the right thing

Great idea but he's away for the next three weeks and unfortunately has most of his gear with him!

But I can tell you most of what he has and I can 'cunningly' find out the size lens that he has already

So the camera as I said is a Canon 'Rebel'

He has a larger lens for it but I don't know what size it is.

He has a nice backpack, a gorilla pod and a tripod, the tripod is here, it's an 'Optex' OPT255. He also has some sort of fancy lens cleaning pack. I think that's all he has, at least that's all I'm aware of; but he could have more than this

Photowise he seems to be keen on a variety of things. I know he's doing lots of research and a lot of playing around on GIMP so I think for now he's taking photos of anything that catches his eye just to work on his skill.

But most recently he had some lovely shots of some wild flowers and some pretty impressive shots of his friends vintage car at dawn.

Thanks so much for all of the really helpful replies so far btw

[Ricky91t]

Originally Posted by Madame Razz

Great idea but he's away for the next three weeks and unfortunately has most of his gear with him!

But I can tell you most of what he has and I can 'cunningly' find out the size lens that he has already

So the camera as I said is a Canon 'Rebel'

He has a larger lens for it but I don't know what size it is.

He has a nice backpack, a gorilla pod and a tripod, the tripod is here, it's an 'Optex' OPT255. He also has some sort of fancy lens cleaning pack. I think that's all he has, at least that's all I'm aware of; but he could have more than this

Photowise he seems to be keen on a variety of things. I know he's doing lots of research and a lot of playing around on GIMP so I think for now he's taking photos of anything that catches his eye just to work on his skill.

But most recently he had some lovely shots of some wild flowers and some pretty impressive shots of his friends vintage car at dawn.

Thanks so much for all of the really helpful replies so far btw

Sounds like he has some sort of Telephoto lens then,So he'll be OK with that..

I'll assume he's using the kit lens still and maybe an upgrade from this would be good...But I'm not 100% sure on what would be a good upgrade so I can only mention lenses I've looked into before...

You said he took some wild flowers shots,I'd assume they were macro(close up's) so a Lens with a macro function would be good...I think the sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 could be what he's looking for,It's a good alternative to the kit lens,Not to pricy has a macro function and TBH looks like quite a good lens.

See here for examples..

Other than that,The cheaper option would be the canon 50mm f/1.8,This is a great lens and a great price!

[Chorcai]

A flashgun then seems like a good thing to get him.

[KarmaGarda]

Before I run out the door, just a thought, you could buy him Adobe Lightroom 2. Even though Lightroom 3 beta is on free trial until april/may, he'll have to pay for that then anyway. If he had lightroom 2 and wanted to upgrade to 3 when it's properly released it will be much cheaper than buying it outright.

[nilhg]

Unless you're very sure get him a voucher or hand him the cash, there is such a choice of gear out there that unless he's been dropping very clear hints, it's going to be next to impossible for you to get him what he wants as opposed to what you think he wants or what folk here would like for themselves.

[Kintarō Hattori]

I second the idea of a Flashgun, always a good present. You said he's using Gimp, that's a great program. Adobe Lightroom might be a good option. It'll help him catalogue his images, tag them and make quick and easy edits.

What kind of photography does he like? As someone above mentioned the 50mm lens is a cheap but impressive addition to his kit. It's ideal for portrait shots and working in low light conditions.

[Madame Razz]

Originally Posted by Ricky91t

Sounds like he has some sort of Telephoto lens then,So he'll be OK with that..

I'll assume he's using the kit lens still and maybe an upgrade from this would be good...But I'm not 100% sure on what would be a good upgrade so I can only mention lenses I've looked into before...

You said he took some wild flowers shots,I'd assume they were macro(close up's) so a Lens with a macro function would be good...I think the sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4.5 could be what he's looking for,It's a good alternative to the kit lens,Not to pricy has a macro function and TBH looks like quite a good lens.

See here for examples..

Other than that,The cheaper option would be the canon 50mm f/1.8,This is a great lens and a great price!

I'll find out what lens he has later on and post it up here. The flower shots were close up's. I think he still does use the kit lens so as you say maybe an upgrade on this might be good.

As regards sports photography, the only shots he would ever be taking would be sailing ones, boats and windsurfers, that sort of thing.

I don't really mind getting him a few decent bits as I'd rather spend the money on things that he'd use as opposed to the usual Christmas crap. I got him a decent present last year plus a few more bits so the pressure is on this year to top or at least come close to that

[Madame Razz]

Where is best to buy these things/get a voucher for??

The Adobe software is a really good idea but if I bought him software he'd kill me. He doesn't believe in paying for software

Cheers again for all the great advice

EDIT: having just seen what a flashgun looks like I think he has one of these already

[*eadaoin]

best idea might be to just ask him for a list of the stuff he'd really like! and you choose something from the list. i know it eliminates the element of surprise but it means he gets something he really wants & stops you possibly buying something he hadn't really planned on getting for the camera

last year on my request my OH got me a lensbaby composer and i was delighted, couldn't wait to open it!!

for me chiristmas lists are the way forward. because at christmas i find people asking what i might like i often jot things down in my phone during the year that i might come across and really want but can't really justify spending the money myself at the time. that way when christmas comes round the whole present thing is much easier and you end up with something you've really wanted

[DaireQuinlan]

Originally Posted by Madame Razz

The Adobe software is a really good idea but if I bought him software he'd kill me. He doesn't believe in paying for software

Excellent! give us a link to his online gallery if he has one so that we can copy all his images and pass them off as our own and sell them. If he doesn't believe in copyright he shouldn't mind, right ? Right ?

[*eadaoin]

Originally Posted by DaireQuinlan

Excellent! give us a link to his online gallery if he has one so that we can copy all his images and pass them off as our own and sell them. If he doesn't believe in copyright he shouldn't mind, right ? Right ?

she's already said he uses GIMP which is free, doesn't mean he's breaking copyright on other software! plus this lady hasn't said she's condoning it either so lets be nice to her