Essential Starting Kit?

Jaykay

Jaykay

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James Knott
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Okay so I'm getting the Canon Rebel XT at Christmas, but I was just wondering what you would consider essential equipment for me starting out? I've heard the kit lens isn't too good, but I won't be able to get a new lens for a few months at least I think. I was thinking along the lines of tripods, and similar accesories. When looking at things such as tripods, are there any particular ones I should be looking at, or will any do? And how much can I expect to be paying for a decent one? I'm open to any suggestions of equipment or accesories that you'd recommend I get asap once I have the camera. Also any suggestions for the first lens I should look to buy when I have the money would be good, as I don't know too much about that. I think I'll mainly be doing stuff along the lines of portraiture, and landscapes, possibly some nature? Thanks!
 
In my opinion you have to ask yourself, what am i going to use my camera for? I have no experience of canon so cannot judge the kit lens though it will almost certianly be fine to get started with. Looking at what you say you will be using the camera for, you could do with any number of things. I would firstly recomend getting an external flash. The build in one will almost definately by crap, particulally if your taking any indoor pictures. Perhaps a basic zoom lens or wide angle. Also a carry bag to keep all your kit in. Something i completely forgot about for a until i started emassing lots of stuff!

I think someone with more canon experience will be able to answer this better than me!

Forgot to add, the most important thing is just get out and start shooting with what you have and not worry about getting loads of kit, get to know the camera and basic kit lens before thinking about buying other stuff.
 
50mm f/1.8

And some more memory. I wouldn't worry about flash, tripod etc for a while. When you've been using the camera for a while, you'll get to know what else you need. I've had a dslr for more than a year - I've never bought a flash unit as I've never felt the need for one.

A decent bag would be a good investment, though
 
My honest advice is take your time. The kit lens probably doesn't deserve the rep it gets and will be a good starting point. Get the feel of the camera and what you want to do with it before you decide what you want to splash out on. Tripods are like everything else - you get what you pay for - if you do a search on 'tripods' you'll find loads of threads on the subject. :)
 
This thread goes around fairly frequently, You know, its strange "everyone" seems to "rubbish the kit lens but no-one seems to have produced a crap picture with it :shrug:
There are some quite acceptable images on this forum from the kit lens.

I suggest that you get proficient with it, use it to practice with, then decide where you want to go from there.
What sort of "reach" you need etc
Having said that "we" are good at spending someone elses money, I guess its kind of a sport :D so you should get a lot of advice:thumbs:

Tripods / mono pods have there uses, Manfrotto is a good make but not cheap, depends on your budget
A dedicated flash is a good idea the speedlight 580 EXII is the top of the pile at the momment, again not cheap.
A multitude of lenses are available both Sigma (cheaper than) & Canon.

I personally "played around" for ages whilst deciding what I wanted from my kit,
before spending out much more money
Then its a down hill slope all the way ;)



This is from the kit lens

head.jpg
 
forget the problem about the kit lens, its not a problem, mine is quite good, not perfect but still quite good. I'd love to blame the lens but after 25 years of getting it wrong with various slrs I know the problems are me.
After a year, when you know why your pictures are so bad so often, then worry about the kit lens.
I've only just switched to digital and learnt that there's all the other essential bits that will drain your money:

- couple of big memory cards (a busy day out out can be about 250-300 photos, if you are using RAW thats a couple of GB of card, if its essential "must have" shots then you'll probably also want to switch to a second card to prevent the possibility of card fault or corruption losing all shots from the day)
- bag (start smallish, its nice to have a small bag as it limits the amount you carry around)
- spare battery
- big hard drive on the pc, and a big external USB drive for backups, plus a stack of blank cds and dvds for backups (and a dvd writer of course)
- UV filter for the front of the lens (protection)
- lens cleaning cloth (for the UV filter when you get dust or fingerprints on it)
- stupid brush blower thing (doesn't actually achieve much but I always end up with one)
- lens hood (minimises flare and protects end of lens, you can get fancy cannon bayonet ones or cheap universal screw on rubber type which folds back when you put camera away)
- grey card (to set white balance)

after that:

- nifty fifty (50mm f1.8, its reported to be sharp, cheap & also gives low light capability for indoors, mine's on order. Should also teach you to think about composition and position rather than lazy zoom habits)
- tripod + remote shutter (gets rid of the soft pictures and also allows long exposures)
- cokin P holder, 58mm ring, neutral density graduated filters (ND grads - to darken the sky and prevent the sky burning out on landscape shots) and a circular polariser (removes reflections off water & car windows, sharpens up clouds, lightens the wallet and other minor miracles)
- flash with a head that can point behind you for bounce and an extension lead (for when you get fed up of the onboard flash and the startled rabbit look)
- long lens, hood, UV filter & monopod (for when you realise that some things look small when they are far away, and for when you realise you don't like walking far with big heavy camera bags)
- a selection of bigger bags!

then after that lot you will be thinking of a replacement for the kit lens, a wide angle lens, photoshop and a lottery ticket to be able to afford it all
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'll do as you say and get a feel for the camera and practise with the kit lens first, then branch out from there. I'll definately remember and consider the lens you recommended though mobilevirgin, thanks.

Cobra, thanks for the useful reply. The picture looks pretty good, so I'll definately play around with the kit lens for a while.

A memory card is definately something I'll get as soon as I've got the camera, and I'll look at bags too.

Thanks again :)

Edit: Thanks Wookie that post was really helpful. I'll definately try and get hold of some of those smaller accesories when I'm starting out. I have about 250GB of HDD, but only around 80GB left at the moment, as I tend to fill up my HDD space very quickly with music. I'll probably get another external HDD. I've already got Photoshop CS3, and know my way around it well, although I've always used it alongside Illustrator for design purposes, so I'll have to play around with the RAW editing etc. There's certainly quite a few things that you listed that look like they'll be very useful though, I'll look into getting some of them, thanks!
 
As has been said before a BIG memory card is a must. Try and get 1 or 2GB. If you can afford it i would go for a sandisk extreme Card 3. reason being the write speed is very good and they are also very tough.

I have just brought a 50mm F1.8 and some cokin filters so i am following wookies way. I am now starting to do a lot more photography and am personally thinking something like a macro before replacing the kit lens as with a macro it opens me up into a new world of photography instead of just imprving (a little bit) on the one i am alredy in.

The other lens i brought is a sigma 70-300mm. A really good little lens and that allowed me to get good photos of objects further away.

REMEMBER you need to get a bag as if you don't you could damage it all.

so i hope that helps

Mark
 
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