Photography 101: Equipment
Pin It!Have you ever wanted to pursue photography for business or simply for fun?
Welcome to Photography 101! My name is Ariana, and I am one of the many creatives behind Soul Sisterz! I am here to help guide you with opening up the creative side of your mind. Before I dive into the mechanics of photography, I want to ask you a few simple questions: what do you want to do with photography? What do you envision? What are you goals by the time you have gone through these guides? To get you more in touch with your goals, define these for yourself and keep it as your motivator. Once you have understood what is it that you wish to pursue with photography, we can get started here.
“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.”
Starting Out: Camera Kits for Newbies
If you are a newbie here, let me tell you how excited I am that you are here to learn! Photography is much more than just shooting a camera - it is a way of expression, a form of art. One of the many beauties of photography is that you can do ANYTHING with you want; there are no limitations to what you imagine.
If you are starting out with zero knowledge of cameras, you’re in luck. I am here to also provide you recommendations and links for when you decide to invest. Depending on how far you want to go into this field, photography can take you from spending hundreds to thousands of dollars. But do not fret, every photographer should take their baby steps first. This in turn allows you to comprehend the functionalities, focus more on your vision, and become more grateful as the journey continues. Side note: having $$$ equipment does not make the photographer - it is the knowledge and creativity that makes your photos genuine and captivating. With that, let’s start on listing out some recommendations.
EOS Rebel T7 Double Zoom Lens Kit $549.99
The “EOS Rebel T7 Double Zoom Lens Kit” by Canon is actually what I started with back in 2015, originally with the T5 series. I am a Canon user so I definitely vouch more for Canon because of their great quality and history of business in hardware. The one aspect I love about this package is that you get not one but two zoom lenses: the fundamental wide-angle/portrait zoom lens size 18-55mm with an F-stop range of 3.5-5.6 (if you do not know how F-stop works, stay tuned for the next article as we will dive into aperture settings)! The second zoom lens (which is an absolute favorite of mine) is the close-up zoom lens size 70-300mm with an F-stop range of 4-5.6.
The reason these two lenses couple so well together is because you are starting out with the best of both worlds in distance and mechanical focus for photography. The 18-55mm is great for landscape with wider views to taking pictures with groups of friends; you can really shoot and capture anything with this lens as it concentrates on every subject in the photo. The 70-300mm gives you a great distance to shoot objects that are farther away and actually produce a sharp portrait lens effect if you wish to center on one object. This helps to fabricate a bokeh effect, which is defined by Nikon USA as “‘the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.’ Simply put, bokeh is the pleasing or aesthetic quality of out-of-focus blur in a photograph.” You can the bokeh of a branch behind the hummingbird in my example below!
Shot on Canon 70-300mm 4-5.6, Ariana Zahedi Photo
Shot on Canon 18-55mm, Ariana Zahedi Photo
Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Camera Two Lens Kit $699.99 sale
Many well-known camera brands carry starter kits - above, we have the Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Camera Two-Lens Kit. This kit is similar to Canon’s, by including two lenses of approximately the same focal length. The first lens is 16-50mm with an F-stop range of 3.5-5.6. The second long range lens is 55-210mm. As you can see, the lengths are a bit shorter, but still do much justice and achieve what they are meant to do at the end of the day. However, this camera body is quite special, given in its title “Mirrorless”.
Defined by MasterClass, mirrorless cameras are “types of cameras that work without a reflex mirror. Light passes through the lens directly to the digital sensor, which then displays your image on the camera's LCD screen, allowing you to adjust settings and preview your image before its shot.”
The additional benefits of a mirrorless camera include its lightweight and compact form, image stabilization (making the camera less susceptible to shaking), higher shooting speed, and silent mechanism (less susceptible to noise) [MasterClass].
The package is originally sold at $999.99, but with this hyperlink to best buy, you will easily save $300 off - what a steal for mirrorless!
Fujifilm X-T200 Mirrorless Camera $799.99
Similarly, the Fujifilm X-T200 has been a popular mirrorless starter camera for beginner photographers. One difference that stands out from the Canon and Sony kits is that this Fujifilm camera comes with one lens rather than two, however it is not one to dismiss. Its focal length range goes from 15-45mm at f3.5-5.6 with a camera body that records a maximum ISO (also known as light sensitivity) of 12,800! Fujifilm’s cameras have been known for their incredible replication of film images, specifically the Fujifilm GFX series. The company has researched and experimented thoroughly to recreate the same painterly aesthetic and natural colors that come from film photography.
If you want to learn more about new terms, separate lenses, accessories, aesthetics, and more, be sure to follow Mind Body Soul Sisterz blog update! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly at arianazahediphotography@gmail.com :)
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