FINALLY bought a camera. What else do I need? Uv filter, memory, strap etc...

[MrSquished]

dslrs definitely have a better battery life than cameras that use an EVF or live view all the time. if you shoot a dslr and mainly use the optical viewfinder you will not need another battery very often - however, it's pretty good to keep a fully charged backup in your kit. it's small, easy to carry and if you run out with your kit without a fresh charge, it's good to have the backup. no juice, no shot. it's not like keeping a backup camera strap at the ready, it's one of the two things your camera needs to function at all in any condition - well three - lens, memory card, battery.

i used the backup battery on my 40D a few times.

go third party battery as the manufacturer ones are overpriced. find a good third party one and go with it. cheap.

 

[randomrogue]

Although you guys bring up good points I have found the second battery to be invaluable.

If all you're doing though is going out for a couple hours and shooting then odds are you'll be fine most of the time. However what happens that day when you are out for 8 hours shooting? What happens on vacation? What happens when you are shooting pictures and video?

The best example I can give you is when I was in Africa on safari. By the first afternoon everyone was out of juice and I was the ONLY one shooting. I got the only sunset photos. Of course this was a two day safari so I was the only one to get photos of the African night sky as well as the entire next day. I almost used up the second battery. Everyone else was not happy.

Practically speaking it makes perfect sense to have that second battery handy since you will not remember to charge your battery each time. At least I don't. I bought a 3rd party battery for my old APC camera and my D600 came with 2 batteries so that was easy.

There are other reasons to have a second battery such as cold conditions. A fresh battery in very cold weather might only take a dozen shots. That second battery will come in very handy.

 

[Gintaras]

Anything else?

How to take good photos...Did you buy that?

 

[blastingcap]

How to take good photos...Did you buy that?

Gintaras is correct... and also obnoxious. OP should get a good memory card and then shoot with the camera and kit lens until he has a better idea of what he is missing. It's a mistake to try to buy everything all up front at once, because you don't really know what you need until you go shoot.

 

[iGas]

Gintaras is correct... and also obnoxious. OP should get a good memory card and then shoot with the camera and kit lens until he has a better idea of what he is missing. It's a mistake to try to buy everything all up front at once, because you don't really know what you need until you go shoot.

I agree.

I purchased 4 lenses in 1 month with my camera body, and I now finds that I rarely use the 14mm, the 24-105L is mostly use at 24-35mm end, and the 50mm prime is use only in indoor low light situation.

Most of my shots are at the wide end or at the long end on my S95. And, for FF I tend to use my 100L and 70-200L.

 

[glen]

Gintaras is correct... and also obnoxious. OP should get a good memory card and then shoot with the camera and kit lens until he has a better idea of what he is missing. It's a mistake to try to buy everything all up front at once, because you don't really know what you need until you go shoot.

I shot with a kit zoom in JacksonHole, because that is all I had.
Rubbish.
Never again. I know what I am missing, and why. The main problems I had in Jackson Hole were equiptment related. Some were my fault, because I was not that familliar with the Nikon controls, so I had to hunt through menues, and I missed shots.

 

[Syborg1211]

Although you guys bring up good points I have found the second battery to be invaluable.

If all you're doing though is going out for a couple hours and shooting then odds are you'll be fine most of the time. However what happens that day when you are out for 8 hours shooting? What happens on vacation? What happens when you are shooting pictures and video?

The best example I can give you is when I was in Africa on safari. By the first afternoon everyone was out of juice and I was the ONLY one shooting. I got the only sunset photos. Of course this was a two day safari so I was the only one to get photos of the African night sky as well as the entire next day. I almost used up the second battery. Everyone else was not happy.

Practically speaking it makes perfect sense to have that second battery handy since you will not remember to charge your battery each time. At least I don't. I bought a 3rd party battery for my old APC camera and my D600 came with 2 batteries so that was easy.

There are other reasons to have a second battery such as cold conditions. A fresh battery in very cold weather might only take a dozen shots. That second battery will come in very handy.

While I agree that you would need a second battery under those circumstances, those are very very special circumstances. I've NEVER been on a vacation where I didn't have access to power at night. It's just the way the world works now. Smartphones don't last as long as cameras do on a single charge. And for very cold conditions, I've only experienced that once in Finland (-22 degrees), and I was able to take as many pictures as I could before I felt like my fingers were going to freeze off. So I still don't believe 99% of people need more than one battery.

However, I just looked at pricing and they don't seem that expensive anyways. I just remember looking at battery prices last year when the D600 first came out, and Nikon was still having Thailand factory flooding issues. The batteries were over 120 dollars at that point.

How to take good photos...Did you buy that?

Please explain where we can go buy that! I seriously can't remember the last time I saw you post anything useful to this forum...

 

[JimKiler]

While I agree that you would need a second battery under those circumstances, those are very very special circumstances. I've NEVER been on a vacation where I didn't have access to power at night. It's just the way the world works now. Smartphones don't last as long as cameras do on a single charge. And for very cold conditions, I've only experienced that once in Finland (-22 degrees), and I was able to take as many pictures as I could before I felt like my fingers were going to freeze off. So I still don't believe 99% of people need more than one battery.

However, I just looked at pricing and they don't seem that expensive anyways. I just remember looking at battery prices last year when the D600 first came out, and Nikon was still having Thailand factory flooding issues. The batteries were over 120 dollars at that point.

I bought a AA adapter for my Pentax and i almost never use it, even with the lowly 415 shot charge my Li-on battery has i rarely pull out the battery to put AA's in. But yes when we would go on hikes to the top of Yosemite or the Smokies having extra batteries is a must.

OP price is no longer a premium, get a good memory card, i picked up the Sandisk 45MB/s rated card recently. It was only $20 for a 16GB, sure it was double the price of a cheaper card but that is only $10 and I know my camera is never waiting on the memory card more than it should.

 

[JimKiler]

Here is my first DSLR purchase - been waiting years to afford this.
Canon EOS Rebel SL1 DSLR Camera Body Only
Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Auto Focus Lens for Canon
Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG

So, I think I at least need a UV filter, a memory card, and a decent camera strap, right?
Anything else?

Congrats, but you should get a strap with your camera. And if you upgrade try to buy a camera with a lens next time, for some reason people who buy off eBay, assuming you sell yours on eBay, want a lens. This is also why you want to save the box and contents, premium price on eBay when you sell.

 

[blastingcap]

While I agree that you would need a second battery under those circumstances, those are very very special circumstances. I've NEVER been on a vacation where I didn't have access to power at night. It's just the way the world works now. Smartphones don't last as long as cameras do on a single charge. And for very cold conditions, I've only experienced that once in Finland (-22 degrees), and I was able to take as many pictures as I could before I felt like my fingers were going to freeze off. So I still don't believe 99% of people need more than one battery.

However, I just looked at pricing and they don't seem that expensive anyways. I just remember looking at battery prices last year when the D600 first came out, and Nikon was still having Thailand factory flooding issues. The batteries were over 120 dollars at that point.



Please explain where we can go buy that! I seriously can't remember the last time I saw you post anything useful to this forum...

I used to do that, too, but then I got a portable charger as well as a car charger that converts to both USB and regular 120v socket for my laptop/cell and thus can also charge my camera with it. I also have an entire backup camera if my DSLR goes down for ANY reason, whether it's battery or something else, and that backup camera is a lot smaller (RX100) and uses much smaller batteries so I don't mind carrying a backup battery for it as much.

So definitely spare batteries can be a good thing, but there are multiple ways to skin a cat.

To be extra clear: I'm not saying spares are a bad idea for more extreme scenarios where you will be away from power, or for people who are afraid of forgetting, but with solar/car/portable chargers, you can power not only your camera but your cell and laptop and tablet and whatever else that can get powered by USB or 120v socket, too. Naturally, I also have universal AC chargers to convert international sockets to North American 120v.

 

[cantholdanymore]

While I agree that you would need a second battery under those circumstances, those are very very special circumstances. I've NEVER been on a vacation where I didn't have access to power at night. It's just the way the world works now. Smartphones don't last as long as cameras do on a single charge. And for very cold conditions, I've only experienced that once in Finland (-22 degrees), and I was able to take as many pictures as I could before I felt like my fingers were going to freeze off. So I still don't believe 99% of people need more than one battery.

However, I just looked at pricing and they don't seem that expensive anyways. I just remember looking at battery prices last year when the D600 first came out, and Nikon was still having Thailand factory flooding issues. The batteries were over 120 dollars at that point.



Please explain where we can go buy that! I seriously can't remember the last time I saw you post anything useful to this forum...

What about this: You're out of juice by the time the belly dancers end at your relative 30/40/50 anniversary (or bachelor party) just to find out that the strip dancers are just coming out

 

[Syborg1211]

What about this: You're out of juice by the time the belly dancers end at your relative 30/40/50 anniversary (or bachelor party) just to find out that the strip dancers are just coming out

If you arrived at the club/party with a fully charged battery, then I think you should be more worried about a full memory card than an empty battery at the end of the night. Also, some events shouldn't be captured with cameras to avoid any issues with the wife later


Edit: I think basically what I've been saying is that you should just practice charging the battery after every shooting session. This way you always walk out the door with a fully charged battery that has an incredibly low probability of being empty when you return.

Edit 2: It's like recommending to someone who just bought their first car that the first thing they need to do is buy one of those emergency gas containers and always carry that in their trunk. Ignoring the obvious safety disparity, the amount of times you need that extra gallon of gas are far and few if you're just smart about filling up your tank.

I have never seen what my cameras do when the battery completely runs out of charge. I have, on the other hand, once run out of gas in my car, and I didn't immediately think darn I wish I had a second tank of gas. I just thought darn that was stupid of me to ignore the low gas light for so long.

 

[gevorg]

If you're new to photography and/or still learning a lot, battery life should be the least of your concerns since you should think more about how to take a shot, rather than click away and see what sticks. Even 300 shots should be plenty in this case.

 

[MrSquished]

Edit 2: It's like recommending to someone who just bought their first car that the first thing they need to do is buy one of those emergency gas containers and always carry that in their trunk. Ignoring the obvious safety disparity, the amount of times you need that extra gallon of gas are far and few if you're just smart about filling up your tank.

not a good analogy at all. we don't suggest buying emergency gas containers right after buying a car since the vast majority of us live in areas with easy access to gas stations.

a camera battery is a far different thing. there are not camera battery refill stations anywhere. camera batteries don't just refill with a minute of charging anyways. etc. etc..

 

[Syborg1211]

not a good analogy at all. we don't suggest buying emergency gas containers right after buying a car since the vast majority of us live in areas with easy access to gas stations.

a camera battery is a far different thing. there are not camera battery refill stations anywhere. camera batteries don't just refill with a minute of charging anyways. etc. etc..

I respectfully disagree. You seldomly ever go through an entire tank of gas in one day just like you would never go through an entire battery in one day. You just have to plan ahead in either case. Refill your tank before taking a road trip or recharge your battery before going out shooting.

If you recharge your battery every night of a trip, you will never run out of juice.

 

[MrSquished]

I respectfully disagree. You seldomly ever go through an entire tank of gas in one day just like you would never go through an entire battery in one day. You just have to plan ahead in either case. Refill your tank before taking a road trip or recharge your battery before going out shooting.

If you recharge your battery every night of a trip, you will never run out of juice.

ia lso respectfully disagree, and stand by saying that claiming that telling someone to get a spare camera battery is akin to saying buy a spare gas can for a car is simply not a good comparison.

again, if you go about your day and start with a 1/4 tank of gas, you will be able to quickly and efficiently refill it at a gas station. we don't think every night we need to fill up our gas tank because we have these amenities available, because simply, this is our transportation system. it's not comparable much at all with a camera battery, and that is why people don't suggest to buy a gas can right after buying a car.

and especially advice to this person who is requesting advice for stuff to have before shooting things in a church, which means most likely they are doing this in some capacity either as a volunteer for the church or paid or for people holding events there. in that case, it would be bad advice to NOT suggest having a spare battery.



it is a very good habit to charge your battery regularly, and odds are you will not need to use a spare battery if indeed you remember. things happen, especially on trips, vacations, etc... you stay out later, get back tired, forget to charge. or whatever, we are human. the cost of having a spare battery in your kit vs not getting some priceless shots is simply a no brainer IMO.

 

[cantholdanymore]

So much debate for batteries

 

[glen]

I actually appreciate the pedants here because my mind thinks that way. I absolutely love OVER analysing this stuff.

 

[shortylickens]

So much debate for batteries

They arent cheap. You should decide if you really need an extra.

 

[randomrogue]

I'm not analyzing. I'm giving my personal experience.

If you have any interest in outdoors photography then get the second battery. I travel a lot and my opinion will lean heavily in that direction but even something as simple as a day trip will quite possibly require more juice. If you chimp a lot, take video, are bracketing, etc it's going to require the second battery on a long day. I don't run out of power often but when I do it's nice to know I'm not stuck. Someone make a Dos Equis meme out of that one.

They cost $35

 

[Gintaras]

Please explain where we can go buy that! I seriously can't remember the last time I saw you post anything useful to this forum...

 

[iGas]

They arent cheap. You should decide if you really need an extra.

I do not know battery price for the Rebel, but for my 5D mkii it was quite inexpensive. I purchased and extra Canon batter for $60, and I also purchase an a third party battery grip that came with 2 batteries for just over $100.

 

[iGas]

ia lso respectfully disagree, and stand by saying that claiming that telling someone to get a spare camera battery is akin to saying buy a spare gas can for a car is simply not a good comparison.

again, if you go about your day and start with a 1/4 tank of gas, you will be able to quickly and efficiently refill it at a gas station. we don't think every night we need to fill up our gas tank because we have these amenities available, because simply, this is our transportation system. it's not comparable much at all with a camera battery, and that is why people don't suggest to buy a gas can right after buying a car.

and especially advice to this person who is requesting advice for stuff to have before shooting things in a church, which means most likely they are doing this in some capacity either as a volunteer for the church or paid or for people holding events there. in that case, it would be bad advice to NOT suggest having a spare battery.



it is a very good habit to charge your battery regularly, and odds are you will not need to use a spare battery if indeed you remember. things happen, especially on trips, vacations, etc... you stay out later, get back tired, forget to charge. or whatever, we are human. the cost of having a spare battery in your kit vs not getting some priceless shots is simply a no brainer IMO.

It would be almost amount to driving with out a spare tire, if you have don't have an extra battery.

It is not a life and death must have, but it is nice to have like jumper cables and spare tire for your car.

 

[MrSquished]

I do not know battery price for the Rebel, but for my 5D mkii it was quite inexpensive. I purchased and extra Canon batter for $60, and I also purchase an a third party battery grip that came with 2 batteries for just over $100.

for my canon 40D i looked around, did some reading, and found reputable 3rd party batteries. much cheaper and reliable also. should be the same for most canikon bodies.

 

[Throckmorton]

There are no good aftermarket batteries available for Sony, something to do with their "Infolithium" tech built in, so I bought a used one for $30. Otherwise you're spending $80 for a new one