Amateur Photographer's Guide - Photography Basics Part 1 - Equipment

I am complete beginner when it comes to photography so when I’m writing this, I am learning it all at the same time. There is always a learning curve, but you have to start somewhere and the very first thing you have to do is commit a lot of money to a hobby you may or may not love. 

Equipment

For some advice on cameras please click HERE for our post on the Lumix G7 and Sony A6000. Taking this good advice I have also chosen to purchase a Lumix G7 mirrorless camera. You obviously can’t start out in photography without a camera but you don’t need to spend thousands to get a great product with all the fancy features you won’t know how to use. For starting up purposes I have also purchased a “Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 Aspherical Mega-OIS” lens for some extra zoom. 





The next most important thing is a new strap, you will get one with your camera however these often don't offer a huge amount of support and will likely advertise to everyone you are carrying an expensive camera. Therefore I also bought a Focus F-1 Quick Rapid Shoulder Sling Belt Neck Strap (link above).

You will also need some kit to get started and I have bought an “AmazonBasics DSLR Gadget Messenger Bag Large” to keep it all safe as well as a “Primaphoto PHKP002 Tripod” and a “32GB SanDisk Extremem SDHC” for extra storage. I also bought an “AmazonBasics UV Protection Filter”, but this was purely on a whim and I have no idea how useful it will be (if at all). Lastly, if your going out on a long trek and want to be constantly snapping photos, you will need a spare battery or two so I also bought 2 DSTE DMW-BLC Rechargeable batteries. 



Unboxing and setting up

Opening everything up is kind of daunting when you don’t really know how it all works and you’re not sure where it all goes. I would advise reading the manual (and trust me I get the temptation not to) because otherwise you’re going to spend ages fiddling around getting things wrong and potentially wasting a load of time.

For me, you need to get it all working and just starting having a play. Charge it all up, get all your gear together and go for a walk. Getting used to a complicated piece of kit is always going to take time so don’t look for quick solutions.

Above is the first photo I took on my first walk around my home town after buying my camera, so don't judge me too harshly. As you will notice, I have played around with the photo on Adobe Lightroom (something I will discuss in later posts).

So there you have it, all the kit I have bought so far for my new hobby. I can tell you that so far it has all worked out well, except for the UV filter which turned out to be a bit of a waste of time...