Top 5 list for things to get next? What do I need and what do I not need?

tkruger

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I just purchased my first DSLR, a Canon T3. It came with a 18mm - 55mm lense with AF and IS. I also bought a 75mm - 300mm lense with AF. A second battery and bag have been ordered. Basically what are the top five items you see as needs? I have a low budget.

I generally enjoy photographing landscapes and outdoors at state / national parks. I had used a bridge camera for some time and used the zoom allot. Also I commonly stitch photos together for panoramic shots. Little indoor shooting is done. In the brief time I have had the camera I have found the 55mm lens and built in flash to be adequate.

I have looked at filters, lenses, wide angle adapters,macro lenses (would like to try but never had any equipment good at it).

One thought I had was to try older used lenses with adapters to fit my camera to see what I liked and get to one lens in the end that had AF etc to match what was my favorite.

Any thoughts? What is a good strategy? I am lost in a sea of options and a low budget.
 
Canon EOS d-slr's can use inexpensive e-Bay lens adapters, the cheap $15 ones sold out of Hong Kong are actually, in my experience, pretty workable. Canon EOS can use like nine different 35mm SLR mount lenses, with FULL infinity focus with plain, glassless adapters. No need for the "fancy" adapters with m42 thread mount lenses, Olympus OM series lenses, Nikon F-mount manual focus lenses, as well as other mounts.

I think the Asahai-Pentax or Honeywell-Pentax line of "Super Takumar" manual focusing lenses are pretty great values, like the 55mm f/1.8, and the 135mm f/3.5 and the 200mm f/4 models for example.

Olympus lenses are nice too. Kind of fun to play around with old, unused 35mm system lenses. Look for them in pawn shops, and do NOT pay too much!
 
Sorry, forgot to mention I had a tripod from my last camera. I agree it is needed, thinking of a monopod though or placing a mount on a hiking stick. The tripod in the past has been an issue hiking. Some parks do not let me take it in if the trails are narrow.
 
Speedlight.
Decent bag
Remote trigger
Pocket wizards
Lightroom or photoshop
Light modifier
 
I like polarizing and graduated neutral density filters for my landscape work...

Are there any better brand filters than others? Are any real stinkers?
Stay away from eBay kits, good brands are Singh-Ray, Lee, B+W, and Heliopan. Decent brands are Tiffen, Hoya and Cokin.
 
Go shoot and learn.. then figure out what you need.
 
Go shoot and learn.. then figure out what you need.

Some sound advice there from Robin immediately above, and also some good advice from the other people as well.

I would tell you to shoot, experiment, learn, and add new stuff on an as-needed basis. Photography gear is dependent largely on "what and how" one shoots; if you do a lot of slow-speed work, a remote shutter release is a valuable accessory; if you shoot exclusively portraits with electronic flash, then a remote release is almost useless and is not needed. Same with graduated neutral density filters--for landscapes, they are really valuable, for portraiture, pretty much useless.

Lightroom is the software app you REALLY DO want to own. It can do 95% of the editing and adjusting that 'most' people need to have done. After a few months of using your current kit, you'll probably start figuring out its capabilities, and also its limitations, and only then will you know what it is you can buy to solve problems. As it stands, there's a lot you can LEARN to solve problems with what you have.
 
Seriously... I was just like you. I bought bunch of crap. Now I have stupid filters that cant even fit my lens (because I upgraded to larger lenses).

Go shoot and learn.. then figure out what you need.

Some sound advice there from Robin immediately above, and also some good advice from the other people as well.

I would tell you to shoot, experiment, learn, and add new stuff on an as-needed basis. Photography gear is dependent largely on "what and how" one shoots; if you do a lot of slow-speed work, a remote shutter release is a valuable accessory; if you shoot exclusively portraits with electronic flash, then a remote release is almost useless and is not needed. Same with graduated neutral density filters--for landscapes, they are really valuable, for portraiture, pretty much useless.

Lightroom is the software app you REALLY DO want to own. It can do 95% of the editing and adjusting that 'most' people need to have done. After a few months of using your current kit, you'll probably start figuring out its capabilities, and also its limitations, and only then will you know what it is you can buy to solve problems. As it stands, there's a lot you can LEARN to solve problems with what you have.
 
Seriously... I was just like you. I bought bunch of crap. Now I have stupid filters that cant even fit my lens (because I upgraded to larger lenses).

Like many others before..."Been there, done that!".

But I managed to sell about 65% of the useless junk on ebay! P.T. Barnum WAS right! 'There's a sucker born every minute!".
 
Probably the same sort of things I need next.

Macro lens, telephoto zoom lens, lighting equipment, better bag, and another camera of course.
 

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