DSLR Photography For All Budgets

A reader recently asked me to make more videos about DSLR photography for all budgets. That’s really what DSLR NERD is about! If it ever seems like I’ve strayed from that, don’t worry that’s our foundation here. But suppose you just got to the site and want a quick guide on putting together budget gear to start shooting and that’s what this post is about.

Let’s talk about the essentials of digital photography. You have to have 1. A Camera, 2. A lens 3. A memory card. That’s it really. A computer with Photoshop is helpful but hey, you could just take the memory card to Wallgreens. Next in line for importance are 4. A flash and 5. A tripod. Lighting is very important for raising the bar of your work and a tripod is very helpful for steadying your camera to reduce blur. Now pull together as much money as you can spend. You do get what you pay for, but you can get great results from budget gear. You can go Nikon, but I shoot Canon so I’m a little biased on this site. Just Google “Nikon equivalent to X” with X being the Canon I mention. “Aren’t there other camera companies?” Yes. But Canon and Nikon are the top two.

In the end this list is my opinion. Arguments can be made to the contrary. You have to take in all the knowledge you can and make your own decisions.

$212 Budget

Canon XSI body $125 used
Canon 24mm f/2.8 FD lens $40 used
Fotodiox FD to EOS adapter $33 new
Transcend 32gb SD card $14 new

The XSI is a wonderful starter camera you can get <$200. Many Canons come with a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens which is okay, but starting with a film-era or digital prime with an f-stop of <f/2 will really help the quality of your shots. If you’re serious about photography you will grow out of that kit lens fast, so why not start better. Note: Some people prefer film-era Nikon lenses and adapters to EOS because Nikon doesn’t require the adapter to have a glass element (= better pictures).

On a crop-body camera (all EOS Rebels and 60D, 70D, 7D, 7D2) you multiply the lens mm by a factor of 1.6 so a 50mm lens is essentially an 80mm lens. If you only have one lens for a crop sensor, get a 24 or 28mm. 50mm is great on a full-frame to match what your eye sees, but on a crop you will need a lot of room to back up if you’re taking pictures of people.

$316 Budget

Canon XSI body $125 used
Canon 24mm f/2.8 FD lens $40 used
Fotodiox FD to EOS adapter $33 new
Avantek EOS TTL Flash $89 new
Transcend 32gb SD card $14 new
Ravelli Tripod $15 new

The Avantek flash is a great TTL flash for <$100. TTL lets your camera determine flash output so that’s a good training wheel for lighting. Start with it on your camera, rotate the flash head to bounce off walls. Later you can use it off-camera via a TTL cable or wireless solution.

$558 Budget

Canon T2i body $240 used
Canon 24mm f/2.8 $165 new
Avantek EOS TTL Flash $89 new
Transcend 32gb SD card $14 new
Dolica Tripod $50 new

The Canon EOS crop-sensor line goes XSI<T1i<T2i<T3i<T4i<T5i Then above that 60D<70D<7D<7D2. If you want a full-frame sensor your choices are 5D2<6D<5D3<1D2<1DX. Unless you’re a sports or wildlife photographer who benefit from the 1.6x to lenses, full frame is better than crop-sensor. So get as much camera as you can afford.

$803 Budget

Canon T3i body $360 used
Canon 24mm f/2.8 $165 new
Canon 50mm f/1.8 $125 new
Avantek EOS TTL Flash $89 new
Transcend 32gb SD card $14 new
Dolica Tripod $50 new

$1533 Budget

Canon T4i body $660 new
Canon 28mm f/1.8 $500 new
Yongnuo 600exrt Flash $179 new
Transcend 64gb SD card $31 new
Vanguard Alta Pro tripod legs $127 new and XCSOURCE Arca-Swiss ballhead $36 new

On memory cards, try and get the fastest transfer rate. 90x is better than 40x and here’s why: If you’re shooting rapidly, your camera will lock up while it’s writing the images to a slow card. For video, you will “drop frames” or see glitches in your video if you are writing to a slow card. So get that 1000x card if you need the speed. If you snap one pic of Aunt Sue any speed card is fine.

$2784 Budget

Canon 70D body $1000 new
Canon 28mm f/1.8 $500 new
Canon 50mm f1.4 $400 new
Canon 85mm f1.8 $420 new
Yongnuo 600exrt Flash $179 new
Transcend 64gb SD card $31 new
Manfrotto Aluminum Tripod Legs $218 and XCSOURCE Arca-Swiss ballhead $36 new

Canon recently released two camera upgrades to the 60D and 7D. The 7DmkII being the better of the two, and with 10 frames per second, is the choice for sports and wildlife photographers.

$4886 Budget

Canon 5DmkIII body $3000 new
Canon 28mm f/1.8 $500 new
Canon 50mm f1.4 $400 new
Canon 85mm f1.8 $420 new
Yongnuo 600exrt Flash $179 new
Transcend 64gb 1000x CF card $133 new
Manfrotto Aluminum Tripod Legs $218 and XCSOURCE Arca-Swiss ballhead $36 new

I went from a Canon 60D to the 5DmkII and WOW, full frame is just so awesome. My 50mm lens is really a 50mm, not a 80mm (no 1.6x). Full frame makes gives better depth of field and less grain in video. It’s actually nice having both full frame and crop as a photographer. Apart from extra umph on your telephoto lens for wildlife and sports, the 1.6x on a crop-sensor body also gets you closer to your bug in macro photography.

$9676 Budget

Canon 5DmkIII body $3000 new
Canon 24mm f1.4L $1650 new
Canon 50mm f1.2L $1600 new
Canon 85mm L f/1.2 $2000 new
or
Canon 24-70mm L f/2.8 $2000 new
Canon 70-200mm L f/2.8 $2200 new

Canon 600exrt Flash $549 new
Transcend 64gb 1000x CF card $133 new
Oben Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs $349 and Arca-Swiss Ballhead $395 new

I own one L lens, the 17-40 f/4 and it’s just beautiful. The quality in the L line is just exceptional and though they are pricey, there are bargains to be had. Plus they hold their value in resale.

Can’t afford all L lenses? There are a LOT of choices as far as 3rd party brands (some cheaper than Canon, some not). Tamron, Sigma, Rokinon, and Yongnuo make comparable lenses for Canon and Nikon. Carl Zeiss makes outstanding lenses with outstanding prices.

So the above are your Canon choices. I’ll work on some Nikon choices. For now you can Google for Nikon. I’m totally open to other opinions on gear choices. Comment below.