Photography Equipment Essentials for Beginners in 2024

Camera gear can be expensive and when starting off, it can be a daunting task trying to balance your gear purchases with your budget. In this article, I have compiled a list of all the gear you will need as well as given my opinion on each option to give you the best chance at success.

Camera Bodies

Finding the right camera body for you can be a difficult task. Beginners often times get caught up in questions like “what brand should I buy?” or tech specs.

When considering what brand you want to buy, I always recommend that people get the brand that their friends shoot so they can collaborate and share lenses. If you do not have friends who have gear to borrow then that’s ok! Whatever brand you choose, you will not regret it. There are differences in color right out of the camera - Sony being a bit flat, Nikon and Canon being a bit truer to color from the start, but every image can be edited to look almost identical in post-production if you shoot in RAW format.

As far as tech specs go; at the end of the day, a camera is only as good as the photographer holding it and any camera 20MP or above can take photos that you can print as large as you’d like so long as you know how to get good quality images. I still shoot with a 24MP camera for weddings and outdoors and print off images on a 40x60 all day. To be frank, specs do not matter near as much as technique and learning to capture quality images. Don’t get caught up in the numbers; other than the price tag of course.

Below I have listed the best starter camera bodies for beginners at or below the $1,000 mark.

Best Nikon Beginner Cameras

Nikon D5600 ($596.95 new on Amazon)
- APS-C CMOS | 24.2MP | 3.2-inch screen with 1,040,000 dots | 5 fps shooting speed | 1080/60p max video resolution
- It is hard to recommend DSLR models anymore because Nikon is moving away from them altogether. That being said, this is still a great beginner camera that will get the job done.

Nikon Z5 ($996.95 new on Amazon)
- Full Frame | 24.3MP | 3.2-inch tilting touch screen with 1,040,000 dots | 4.5 fps shooting speed | 4K/30p max video resolution | Eye and subject tracking
- My personal choice for a hybrid entry level camera. This camera will be the best bang for your buck hands down and is night and day better than the older D5600.

Best Canon Beginner Cameras

Canon EOS R100 - ($479.00 new on Amazon)
- APS-C CMOS | 24.1MP | 3-inch screen with 1,040,000 dots | 6.5 fps shooting speed | 4K/24p max video resolution | Eye and subject tracking
Canon EOS RP - ($999.00 new on Amazon)
- Full Frame | 26.2MP | 3-inch vari-angle touch screen with 2,360,000 dots | 5 fps shooting speed | 4K/24p max video resolution | Eye and subject tracking
- My personal choice if you want a full frame camera for a great price.

Best Sony Beginner Cameras

Sony A6400 - ($898.00 new on Amazon)
- APS-C CMOS | 25 MP | 3-inch tilting screen with 921,600 dots | 11 fps shooting speed | 4K/30p max video resolution | Eye and subject tracking
- Unless you buy used, you will not find a beginner camera from Sony for any cheaper; and for the price only to get a CMOS sensor, I’d recommend jumping to Nikon or Canon at the $1,000 mark to get the full frame option.

Best Beginner Camera Lenses

I remember the feeling of buying my first camera body. It is VERY exciting. One thing you may want to consider when buying your camera is that you may also want to buy a lens (or lenses) to go with it. The kit lenses that come with beginner cameras are not terrible but certainly not the best; and if you have the option to purchase the body alone to save money, then I’d do that and buy a better lens to start.

I would always recommend having two lenses when you first start off if you can; a general purpose zoom lens (very versatile and great for landscapes) and a prime lens (great for portraits among many other things). Below I have listed off the basic, better, and best options for the cameras listed above. Do note that some of these cameras are crop sensors and so there can be a crop factor to take into account on some of the lenses that are full frame lenses. Full frame lenses will work on a crop sensor but crop sensor lenses will not work on a full frame. Also, if you know that you will be buying a full frame camera later on, I’d recommend buying full frame lenses so that you save yourself the headache of selling the crop sensor lenses to buy full frame ones. Here are my top recommendations:

General Purpose Zoom Lenses (24-70mm)

Nikon D5600 (crop sensor)

Only recommendation: Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM (with the 1.5x crop on the D5600, this will be a 25.5-75mm equivalent) ($589.00 new on Amazon)

Nikon Z5

Basic: Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-50mm f/4.0-6.3 ($396.95 on Amazon)

Better: FTZ adapter ($246.00 on Amazon) + Tamron 24-70mm F/2.8 G2 Di VC USD G2 ($1,199.00 on Amazon)

Best: Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/2.8 S ($2,096.95 on Amazon)

Canon EOS R100 (crop sensor)

Basic: When purchasing the camera, buy the RF-S18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 option for a decent starter lens for only $120.00 more

Better: EF-EOS R Adapter ($129.00 on Amazon) + Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD (with the 1.5x crop on the R100, this will be a 23-45mm equivalent) ($1,199.00 on Amazon)

Best: EF-EOS R Adapter ($129.00 on Amazon) + Canon Rf 15-35mm F2.8 L is USM (with the 1.5x crop on the R100, this will be a 23-53mm equivalent) ($2,399 on Amazon)

Canon EOS RP

Basic: Canon RF24-50mm F4.5-6.3 is STM ($299.00 on Amazon)

Better: EF-EOS R Adapter ($129.00 on Amazon) + Tamron 24-70mm F /2.8 G2 Di VC USD G2 ($1,199.00 on Amazon)

Best: Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM ($2,399.00 on Amazon)

Sony A6400 (crop sensor)

Basic: Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM ($458.00 on Amazon)

Better: Tamron 15-30 mm F2.8 USD (with the 1.6x crop on the A6400, this will be a 24-48mm equivalent) ($1,140.43 on Amazon)

Best: Sony FE 12-24mm F2.8 G Master (with the 1.6x crop on the A6400, this will be a 19-38mm equivalent) ($2,998.00 on Amazon)

Prime Lenses

There are two main focal lengths that photographers start off with for prime lenses; a 35mm or a 50mm. I personally love the 50mm but you will likely also love the 35mm if you go with that. Here are the best options for each camera:

Nikon D5600

35mm - Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G ($196.95 on Amazon)

50mm - Sigma 35mm F1.4 Art DG HSM Lens for Nikon (with the 1.5x crop on the D5600, this will be a 52.5mm equivalent) ($664.00 on Amazon) - Nikon no longer manufactures 50mm dx lenses in the F-mount

Nikon Z5

35mm - Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.8 S ($846.95 on Amazon)

50mm - Nikon NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S ($526.95 on Amazon)

Canon EOS R100

35mm - Canon RF24mm F1.8 Macro IS STM (with the 1.6x crop on the R100, this will be a 38mm equivalent) ($599.00 on Amazon)

50mm - Canon RF35mm F1.8 IS Macro STM (with the 1.6x crop on the R100, this will be a 56mm equivalent) ($499.00 on Amazon)

Canon EOS RP

35mm - Canon RF35mm F1.8 IS Macro STM ($499.00 on Amazon)

50mm - Canon RF50mm F1.8 STM ($199.00 on Amazon)

Sony A6400

35mm - Sony Carl ZEISS Sonnar T E 24mm F1.8 (with the 1.5x crop on the A6400, this will be a 36mm equivalent) ($798.00 on Amazon)

50mm - Sony SEL35F18 35mm f/1.8 (with the 1.5x crop on the A6400, this will be a 52.5mm equivalent) ($473.00 on Amazon)

Final Remarks

I hope this article has proved to be useful to you. This is one of the topics I get the most questions about from people who want to buy their first camera so I wanted to take time to create a well-researched article. As new cameras and lenses are released, I will continue to update this article. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. If you disagree with any of the points of have more information I should add, also feel free to reach out! Thank you all for reading along.

If you liked this article, make sure to go check out my guide on How To Earn Money From Photography On Instagram and my article on The Best Photography Backup Workflow As A Photographer.

-Zach

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