Christmas Gift Ideas for Photographers 2024
A quick guide to some affordable Christmas gifts for photographers.
It’s that time of year again and I am going to try and inspire you with some ideas for unique photography Christmas gifts for the photographer in your life, or maybe just give you some ideas that you can treat yourself to!
I’ll break them down into the following price categories: Under £25, under £50 and under £100 as well as a couple of more expensive ideas right at the end. For the sake of transparency, all of the links in this blog are Amazon Affiliate links, so if you make a purchase, I may get a small kickback.
All these things are items that I currently own, have owned or have used; this isn’t just a Wishlist of things I would buy myself.
Let’s dive into my list of Christmas Gifts for photographers 2024.
Christmas Gifts for Photographers Under £25
This is a great, solid “pouch” for storing filters in. I say “pouch” because this is definitely more of a case. It’s very solid, providing adequate protection for those delicate filters. The inside is sectioned so that you can easily organise the filters and get them out quickly when you need them. The only drawback is that it’s quite large, but that does mean it’s easy to find and to operate when you’re out on those cold days!
One of best purchases for winter photography. First up, these things are really warm which is good as that means they fulfil their primary function! They also have “detachable” thumbs and index fingers, which mean that for those moments when you need to work your touchscreen or fiddle with buttons on your camera, adjust focus on your lens or tighten something up, you don’t need to go through the hassle of taking off the whole glove and getting your entire hand cold! I’ve had these 12 months and they have taken a real hammering and are still in great condition!
I LOVE this book. It takes you on a landscape photography tour of the UK looking at how the landscape is changing over time because of natural processes, human intervention, and climate change. A range of photographers are represented in this beautifully bound book which is printed on lovely paper and looks great on any coffee table.
An honourable mention here for Liam Wong TO:KY:00. This is a style that I used to shoot in and a look that I adore. The Cyberpunk vibes are strong in this book and the way that he controls the light is simply incredible – perfect inspiration for some night-time street photography in the big city lights!
Christmas Gifts for Photographers under £50
Is it a tripod? Yes. Is it exciting? No (unless you’re a photographer). And that’s what you want from a tripod! If your tripod is exciting, it’s probably falling over and that means it’s not doing a great job. This isn’t the lightest tripod going, but at this price point that’s to be expected. What is lacks in lightness, it makes up for in stability.
Photography tripods aren’t the most thrilling purchase, but they are one of the most important and this one does the job well. The ball head is smooth and tightens up well – my camera and biggest lens aren’t the lightest combination and so this a big consideration for me. The one I have is well into its fourth or fifth year and it’s still going strong!
This is one of the most useful things in my bag and I am never without it and it’s from Small Rig so you know it’s a great product.
When you have nuts and bolts on you kit, inevitably they tend to come loose after prolonged periods of tightening and loosening. This piece of kit means that this you always have something on hand to tighten things that are loose and loosen things that need to be removed. It has a few different attachments, all of which are geared to things that you’ll find in just about every photographer’s bag. It’s saved me on a couple of shoots both out on location and in the studio. Comes in a handy little pouch, is nice and light and is milled out of high quality material.
These are ace and the ideal gift for the long exposure, low light or still life photographer. The lights are big enough and bright enough to be useful, but not so big and heavy that they are cumbersome. They fit in most decent sized camera bags.
The lights have several special effects (such as lightning and TV) which means that they are great for video applications as well as photography.
They have a variety of colours across the RGB spectrum, controllable brightness and have magnets built into them so that you can attach them to different metallic surfaces when you are out on location. I have owned several different light bars and these are the best ones I have had at this price point. They are rugged and hard wearing!
Christmas Gift Ideas for Photographers Under £100
Remote shutter releases are a must for long exposure photography, especially at long focal lengths when you MUST minimise the amount of movement you are introducing into the camera. Wired options are great, but you can still add movement if you’re not careful and at 600mm, the tiniest movement can ruin the clarity of a shot.
The Aodelan Wireless Shutter release will help you to eliminate this as once it’s attached to the camera, there’s no need to touch it again! I have had one of these for a few months and it’s great for studio and on location applications. You can use these for things as basic as just releasing the shutter to more complex things such as setting up timelapses. Make sure that you check the model you’re buying when you make your purchase as these a brand specific!
One of my favourite photography toys. These are great fun and can be used in all sorts of fun ways and for those of us of a certain vintage, there’s a ton of nostalgia attached to these.
The only drawback is that the film is quite expensive (what filmstock isn’t these days?), but the results make great little memories!
This one is possibly contentious because people have so many different views about hard drives from the format they choose (HDD or SSD) to the brand that they choose. I have chosen to link this one as I have a lot of them, that I have filled and that have never let me down (at least they hadn’t until I have tempted fate by putting it in writing!).
There’s not a lot to say about a hard drive, but this one is quick enough, compatible with Mac and Windows and has proven itself to be reliable. The linked one is a 2TB HDD version, which is a lot of memory for the price.
Pushing the boat out? Here’s a couple of ideas over the £100 mark that you might want to consider:
If you’re not a photographer who is printing their work then I can understand why monitor calibration might not be high up your list of exciting things.
One of these is an excellent investment and will enable your photographic recipient to be able to produce colour accurate pictures and prints.
I love this bag and have a written a blog post review about it here if you want to read a bit more. Its hardwearing, comfortable and will thrill any photographer who likes to get out and about with some camera kit and still have space for some supplies!
It’s got everything you need from solid dividers and a laptop sleeve, to a waterproof cover and plenty of pouches for bits and bobs on the inside.
Honourable Mentions…
If none of that tickles your fancy, then how about one of these Camera Lens Mugs. They are all priced around a tenner and are probably all made in the same factory. No photographer’s Christmas would be complete without one!
Lens filters can make a great present as they are always useful, but if you are aiming for the element of surprise, they’re not the greatest as you will need to know at least the internal thread size of your intended recipient’s lens(es) so that you can buy the correct sized filters (the bigger they are, the more expensive the get). K&F Concept have a decent range of filters that get the job done without breaking the bank.
And finally, if you want something more practical and an experience that you can gift, why not consider buying a workshop from me! You can find full details on the workshops page of my website or can get in touch to find out more by contacting me here.
I hope that this has been helpful and has given you some much needed inspiration!
All prices correct as of 14/11/2024 at 13:00.