workshop question: what camera equipment would you buy first?

We had an awesome photography workshop today. It was all about learning how to use your fancy camera on manual (more details here). It was so much fun. Well, anyways, I thought I would share my favorite question of the day because I thought it would be quite applicable to all of you out there.

Question: “If you were going to by some camera equipment, what would you buy first? What’s most important to you to purchase?”

Answer: Assuming you have a good camera body, I would buy these things, in this order:

1. Canon’s 50mm 1.8 lens (or nikon, etc, but research to make sure it’s the right one) – approx $100 and well worth the moolah.
2. A second memory card. I don’t think it’s smart to only have one memory card. Life isn’t always perfectly planned ahead and memory cards are not cleared off and ready to go…realistically. (8 GB from costco is great)
3. A second camera battery. I also don’t think it’s smart to have only one camera battery. Again, life (especially if you’re a busy mom like me) isn’t always prepared and perfectly ready to go.
4. A UV lens filter, to protect your lens. It’s not to distort or make your images funky. It’s simply to protect your lens in case your camera is dropped or your lens gets scratched. ($20ish from amazon.com)
5. A custom white balance target. It usually runs about $40 and perfects the color tones of your image.

And… because every blog post is SO much better with a picture. Here’s a picture, just one cause I don’t have time for more, from today. This is Hailey, our little morning model. She took modeling really quite serious. :)