And, some things you might want to consider avoiding so that you can save some money!

Camera Bag

This is a must if you’re taking your camera out with you. You want to keep it safe ans protected. 

You won’t only buy one camera bag. I have 3 and will probably acquire another one by the end of the year. A good starting point is something like the LowePro Tahoe 150. This was my first camera bag around 6 years ago and it’s still going strong. It has enough space for a decent sized body a couple of lenses, as well as pouches for things like filters, shutter release cable, camera multi-tool, spare batteries etc. 

I also own a LowePro Pro Tactic 450 AW II. This is a much bigger bag and will take everything I have mentioned above, my drone, a laptop up to the size of 16”, a 70-200 F/4 lens, filter pouch, lens cloths…you name it (within reason), this bag will fit it. It’s designed for walking longer distances and has hip straps to help distribute the weight better throughout the bag. Its a big bag for carrying a lot of kit so you can end up making it very heavy. It also has a lot of webbing on the back which you can attach things like tripods and water bottles to. 

Another bag I love using is my LowePro (Can you see the pattern here!?) FastPak. This is a great day bag and has a couple of compartments for camera gear and then anything else you need to take with you for the day. There’s a full review of this bag here. 

Filters/Step Up and Step Down Rings. 

There is a huge range of filters on the market, all doing slightly different things. 

They come in all sorts of different styles from a bunch of different manufacturers. I like the ones from K&F concept, as they are of decent quality and at a price point which suits me and what I can afford. 

You can get Neutral Density (ND) and Variable Neutral Density (VND) filters. These aim to limit the amount of light which is hititng your sensor and can help to increase exposure times or manipulate your shutter speed if you’re shooting video. I prefer a VND as in means I can fit one thing to the front of the lens and not have to worry about keep taking things on and off the front of the camera.

Circular Polariser Filters - these are great when you’re shooting near to water and want to minimise any glare you’re getting. They are also great when you want to see through the water as well (but good luck trying to see through the water in the Thames - they remove the glare, not the silt/filth!). 

Mist filters - add a “dream like” quality to your photos and soften a lot the light. These look especially cool in low light and give the light a softer appearance.

Natural Light Filters - Help to filter out light pollution in photos that you are taking at night. Useful if you’re out in the countryside and want to minimise the glow from a town on the horizon! 

Remember, when you are buying filters that you need to buy ones which fit the internal thread on your lens. You will find this printed on your lens, usually next to a symbol that looks a little bit like a no entry sign. 

One work around for this that can help keep cost and weight down, is to buy the biggest filter you can afford and then pair it with some step-up/step-down rings. These will enable you to use larger filters than your lens can accommodate but just be aware that these can impact the way your camera works by limiting the amount of available light that can enter you lens and at very wide focal lengths, you will be able to see these rings in your image (the Canon EF 10-18 can see it’s own lens hood when it is 10mm!) and these rings could potentially stick out much further than that does.

Things you DON’T need to buy… 

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go and buy these things, but they aren’t things you don’t need in you arsenal when you’re first starting out. Essentially (in my opinion), you would be better spending your money on other things, like those that I have mentioned above, or you could save the money and go and buy some nice new glass!

So there you have it, some things I would recommend you consider buying and adding to your bag and some things to avoid (even if you only avoid some of it for now).

Remember, this is a pursuit which takes to progress in unless you’re blessed with a strong amount of natural ability, but please, learn to use your camera and don’t try and take the short cuts!