Interests > Gifts for Photographers
November 16th, 2021
Photography is an eye-wateringly expensive hobby, so you’re unlikely to buy your photographer a new camera or lens. Fortunately, there are a handful of affordable options.
Photographers can be an opinionated group; brand preferences are often closer to a tribal identity. I’ll share my suggestions, but double-check their relevance before you buy. Duplicate items aren’t useful to photographers, so also make sure they don’t own a similar thing already.
One near-universal recommendation is this pocket tripod from Manfrotto. You don’t need a tripod most of the time - you can rest your camera on a fencepost, or a bollard, or on a rock. OR SO YOU WOULD THINK. Both natural and built environments rarely have flat surfaces. The camera will slide off, or sit at a weird angle. You try to level it out with a jumper or the camera strap; it never works very well.
Enter this little wonder. It’s small and light enough to keep in your bag permanently. Rough and non-level surfaces are no longer a problem - take a couple’s picture using a rock while out hiking! Make a long exposure using some street furniture! And it’s a good gift: not too expensive, and made by a respected photography brand.
Buy on Amazon UK, Amazon CA, or Amazon US.
If your photographer shoots film, they might enjoy trying some unusual film stock. Ilford’s XP2 is a black and white film that’s developed using colour chemistry - which means you can develop it at any high street lab, rather than sending it to a specialist or doing it yourself. So it’s ideal for someone who wants to try B&W but not faff with home development.
Fuji’s Velvia is another interesting film. It’s renowned for vivid colours, and is a particular favourite of landscape photographers. It’s also a slide film, which means a) it’s unforgiving of exposure errors and b) it can be more expensive to process (and you might need to send it to a specialist lab).
There are other, indie film brands available too. This Lomography sample pack has two film reels designed to shift colours far away from reality. Unless your recipient’s into lomography, they’re unlikely to have tried this before.
Maybe you can give inspiration? Taschen makes good quality photo books, and you’ll find them in most bookstores so you can flick through before buying. Aperture publishes The Photographer’s Playbook, a collection of assignments and ideas. It’s kind of left-field inspiration; have a look at some sample pages and see if it resonates with your recipient. Phaidon books are worth checking out too, as long as your recipient likes coffee table books.
If you live close to an art gallery, check for forthcoming photography exhibitions. Toronto’s AGO has a small permanent photography gallery, and sometimes stages exhibitions like their recent Diane Arbus show. The V&A in London is my favourite London museum, which also has a great photography collection. There’s also The Photographer’s Gallery, which skews towards contemporary work. That can be inscrutable, so make sure they like that kind of stuff.
You might be able to find some photo walks or classes near you, too. A studio session with a model can be a great learning experience, particularly if they’ve never tried that before.
I really enjoy working with off-camera flash, and it’s surprisingly affordable to get started. If their camera has a hot shoe, all you need is a light, a stand, and a trigger to get started. It opens up a world of creative possibilities, and is a lot of fun too.
US folk can buy a complete kit (which includes video tutorials) for US$230, but there are other (even cheaper) options. Yongnuo is a cheap Chinese brand, but I trust my flash and remote triggers. Add a stand, a clamp, and an umbrella ($35), and you’re sorted. At this price it’s not rugged enough for professional work, but it’s fine to get started. The flash is the most expensive part, and they might own one already.
If your recipient has never used off-camera flash, send them to Strobist’s Lighting 101 series. It’ll teach them everything they need to get started.
The standard software for photographers is Adobe Lightroom, which is a subscription offering. Adobe’s plans are frankly inscrutable and I don’t think they offer gift vouchers, but if your recipient uses Lightroom you could give them cash towards their subscription. (They’re probably paying $10 to $15 per month.) Whatever they use, don’t buy them new software unless they’re looking for alternatives - your gift is likely to go unused.
But if they’re open to new software, I’m a huge fan of Affinity Photo. It’s a one-time purchase (which includes upgrades), runs on macOS & Windows, and is tremendously capable. It’s more like Photoshop than Lightroom - it won’t help you organise your photos - but its editing power is immense. Affinity’s YouTube channel publishes good, short tutorial videos.
I also own Exposure, which I use less often. It’s also a one-time purchase, but there are (optional) paid upgrades each year. It’s more like Lightroom - it does have organisational tools, and comes with more preset filters. It’s also a better choice for batch editing, but it feels slow even on my powerful Macbook Pro.
Basically: if your recipient likes Photoshop, they want Affinity Photo. If they prefer Lightroom, they want Exposure.
If your budget does stretch to giving a camera: lucky you! This is definitely a gift that should be discussed with the recipient, to make sure it’s a) what they need and b) compatible with their current lenses and accessories. Changing brands is a big undertaking, and really down to individual taste.
But if they’d enjoy a secondary camera, then the Fujifilm X100 series are fantastic. They are small, unobtrusive cameras: perfect for travel or just walking around town. Nobody is intimidated when you point this camera their way. But the image quality is fantastic. I love having manual controls on the camera, and enjoy Fuji’s film simulations. It has a leaf shutter, which gives more possibilities with flash. It also has a built-in neutral density filter, so you can use wider apertures in daylight or longer exposures at dusk. But it’s not for everybody: there’s no zoom, and you can’t change the lens.
The current model is the X100V, and is expensive. The older models are still viable - you might be able to find a second-hand bargain. The X100F and X100T are great; the X100S is OK. The plain X100 is best avoided.