Last updated: April 9, 2002
Here's the executive overview:
Here's what I would get:
The UV filter is for lens protection. You'll be really pleased to break or scratch your $20 filter if it keeps you from breaking or scratching the $500 lens that's sitting behind it. If you buy a really expensive lens, buy a high-quality filter. Why pay for a triple-coated lens and then put a piece of junk in front of it? If you always use a lens hood (see below) that will probably provide as much protection as the filter. Get a UV filter, not a skylight filter. Skylight filters have a slight pinkish tinge.
A lens hood is the cheapest way to improve the performance of your lens. Be sure to get exactly the right lens hood for your lens; a hood that's the wrong shape can cause vignetting, or not provide as much protection against flare as the correct one. In general, every new lens you get will need its own lens hood.
Obviously, a flash isn't required, but you'll find it extremely useful for taking photos indoors (and for lots of other things as well). Some camera bodies have built-in flashes, but those will be a compromise (and if your camera uses those fancy (expensive) lithium batteries, you'll find that the built-in flash uses them up pretty fast. I would personally recommend against a body with a built-in flash.
After you take a roll or two of film, you'll have a much better idea
of what to get next.
The camera body has to hold the film flat and open and close a shutter.
I've seen plenty of people who spend $1000 on a really fancy camera body
and then they spend $100 for a lens and find they can't take the photos
they want. If they'd gotten the $100 body and the $1000 lens they would
be much happier.
I think the reason people buy the $1000 body is that it has 1000
different controls, while the $100 and $1000 lenses have about the same
number of controls.
By the way, I would not purchase a camera bag the first day. Since
you're virtually certain to get at least a few more accessories fairly
early on, you really don't know how big a bag you'll need.
Obviously, you can do even better at swap-meets and through newspaper
ads, but presumably you're a beginner if you're reading these pages, and
the stuff you get there might have something horribly wrong with it that
you won't notice, and you'll be stuck with some expensive junk and no
guarantee.
Don't buy a camera that's so massive you'll always leave it at
home.
Don't buy your spouse the camera you want; get the one your spouse wants.
If you're buying a camera that you'll share with your spouse,
make sure you can both stand to use it. I have an F4, and wanted
to get a second body for backup. I was going on what I thought
would be a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Galápagos
Islands with my wife (I was wrong; I've now been there three
times: trip 1, trip 2 and trip 3), so I wanted a camera she
could use. Another F4 would have been fine with me, but the
thing's massive and extremely complicated. I got the N90 which
worked great -- it had almost all the complexity I could ever
want, but no matter what bizarre mode I leave it in, my wife can
simply hold down the two green buttons, and it basically becomes
a point-and-shoot.
But if you really are a beginner, I would highly recommend going to a
local photo store instead of making your first purchase via mail order.
You can ask questions, you can play with the various options, and if
there's some problem later, or something you don't understand, you can
go back to the store and presumably get some help.
Once you know what you're doing, it's a different story. I get most
of my expensive stuff via mail order (I've had good luck with B&H
Photo in New York City and have made dozens of purchases there, but
your mileage may vary.)
If you decide to make a mail-order purchase, do your homework. Know
exactly what you want, and be certain that it'll work with your
particular camera body, et cetera. If you buy a lens, for example,
they'll almost surely ask, "Do you want a protection filter to go with
that? Do you want a lens hood? Do you want a case for the lens? Do
you want to buy insurance for it? Would you prefer the gray-market
version? Do you want 2-day shipping?" Know the answers to these
questions before you call, or you'll probably wind up spending more
than you'd planned.
Once you're hooked on photography, for something like film, it's
almost nuts not to use mail-order. Order 10 or 20 rolls at a
time (and the mailers to get the film developed if you want
them), and keep the film in your refrigerator or freezer. Here's
more information on film.
Return to the beginner's guide.
Want to send me mail? Click: (
tomrdavis@earthlink.net)
Spend money on lenses, not camera bodies
All the light of every photo has to travel through the glass of your
lens. Any tiny imperfection in the lens will lower the quality of your
photos. If the lens is too small, you won't have enough light to take
the photos you want.
It's going to cost more than you think
If you really have a hard limit on what you can spend, don't
spend it all on the first day. It is certain that you will need
something you didn't think of:
The above are just wild guesses; if you purchase all of these, then
you'll need something different.
Consider used equipment
Many yuppies can't stand not to have the latest equipment, so when Nikon
comes out with the F5 body, they trade in their almost unused F4 body to
get it. Most camera shops will sell this used equipment to you at a
pretty good discount, and will guarantee it.
Don't buy something you won't use
Don't buy a camera that's more complicated than you're willing to deal
with.
Where to get your stuff
If you've poked around in the back of the photography magazines, you've
surely noticed dozens of pages of advertisements for photo equipment, and
if you've checked out the prices in local photo stores, you'll probably
find that stuff costs more there.