As a professional photographer, I get asked a lot what camera lens and accessories I would recommend to someone. If you are just starting out with photography either as a hobby, or you want to document your kids growing up you certainly don’t need a $30,000 set up! Below you will find the gear I recommend for moms, hobbyists, and bloggers. You can do so much with this gear! If you’re interested in learning more about your camera click here to sign up to be notified when I am teaching my next camera class. The last 3 classes have completely sold out so you definitely want to be on the list!

Camera

I am a Nikon gal through and through! To me, they just seem sturdier! I also love some of the new features that have come out in the newer cameras! One of my favorite new additions is the snap bridge and wifi capabilities. This means you can transfer photos from your DSLR camera to your phone wirelessly! This is super handy if you are on vacation and want to post to social media. This would also be handy to bloggers of all kinds! I have heard from so many people who just leave their photos on their sd cards because they haven’t taken the time to plug it into their computers!

This camera offers beautiful photo and video capabilities. It will allow you to shoot in manual if you want to start doing so or full auto mode (and various in-betweens) if you prefer that route! It has every function you’ll want and need and produces quality images!

Lens

If you are going to invest money in something to improve your photos your lens is actually a great place to start. Eventually, you will upgrade your camera body when you do you can keep your lenses as long as you stay with the same brand! Your lens really determines what your settings will be and how professional your photos will turn out. The 50mm is generally one of the first lenses I recommend purchasing. This is a great lens if you are looking to get that blurry creamy background (or depth of field if you want to sound professional)!

Accessories

There are a few items I would for sure suggest purchasing. If you are wanting to take photos of you and your family a sturdy tripod is great to have! I use my tripod a lot to get full family photos, or even photos of myself for Instagram when I can’t talk someone into helping me out!

Both of the tripods above work really well I would suggest the black one if the extra $10 is in the budget. It’s a bit more sturdy and you can use a sandbag to stabilize it a bit more if you need to!

SD cards have gotten so much more affordable in the past 5 years! Lexar is my favorite brand for memory cards, SanDisk is also a great brand. I would definitely suggest getting some type of memory card holder. This way you can keep your cards all in one spot! I also suggest using an external hard drive to back up your images! Check out this post on how to organize your digital images!

Camera Bag

Protecting your new camera is a smart idea! Choosing a cute camera back is even smarter! Check out the camera bag I use on wedding days over here. Amazon has some really cute camera bags! I am loving the neutral canvas and leather bags!

Camera Straps

Your camera will come with a strap that will work just fine! but if your looking for something a bit more customized here are some great choices! Many of these have Prime Shipping!