Lenzy Ruffin is a Cooking Show Advisor. He helps chefs create revenue-generating cooking shows.
What Camera Accessories Do I Need to Get Started?
This post is a companion to the "Which camera should I buy?" blog post. You may need to read that post to understand the recommendations in this post.
Must-haves
Memory card
The camera doesn't come with one. In the case of the Fuji X-T2, you need two cards. The Lexar 64GB memory card is perfect for any of the cameras I recommend.
Extra batteries
These cameras deplete their batteries much faster than your cell phone does. You need at least one spare battery and many people find that they need to own two spare batteries. All three Fuji cameras listed in the "Which camera should I buy?" blog post use the Fujifilm NP-W126S battery. This is the official Fuji battery. Substitute batteries are available much cheaper from third-party vendors, but camera batteries are one place where you want to stick with the camera manufacturer's overpriced product. There's just too much variance in the quality of the batteries from one third-party manufacturer to another.
For the Panasonic G7, this is the official Panasonic battery.
This is the battery pouch I use to hold my extra batteries.
Camera bag
There are lots of great options to choose from when it comes to camera bags. Any of these three companies will have a bag that meets your needs.
Good-to-haves
Tripod
You'll eventually need a tripod, but you don't have to buy one immediately. That's a good thing because, as is the case with a camera bag, you'll need to sort through quite a few options to find one that matches your needs. You can buy a traditional tripod or one of the Gorillapod models or both. But you have to get something to hold the camera steady for when you need to shoot longer exposures.
I use tripods from a number of different manufacturers, but I like the MeFOTO tripod line for those new to photography. The MeFOTO tripods aren't the cheapest ones on the market, nor are they anywhere near the most expensive. They're priced right for the quality they deliver and you do need a quality tripod. Buying a cheap tripod is money wasted because you're going to eventually end up buying a higher-quality tripod to replace the cheap one that just doesn't work well.
Fun extras
Who wants to print?
EVERYONE should, but most people don't think about doing it. This little printer might make you reconsider. You don't even need to buy a camera to use the Canon Selphy Wireless printer. You can print directly from your phone. And you can print from any camera that uses an SD card, like the three Fuji cameras I recommended. AND this printer can travel with you and run on battery power. Printing couldn't be easier. Don't let all those great photos you're taking stay trapped in your phone. Print them out and give them life.
Who wants to print IMMEDIATELY?
For the instant gratification crowd, there's the Fuji Instax series. There are a number of models, but the one I like is the Instax Wide 300.
Educational resources
You have this nice new camera, now you need to know how to use it. These are some of the resources I learned from when I got started:
Everything else
For any camera equipment you think you may need that I didn't cover, an excellent resource for researching products and getting bottom-line recommendations is Tony Northrup's Photography Buying Guide. You can get find a recommendation for pretty much any piece of photography equipment in this book.
This post is part of my How Do I Get Started in Photography? series. Check out the complete series below and share it with anyone in your network who wants to get into photography and could use some help getting started.
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