Welcome back to our photography gear series. Grab your snacks, a pen & some paper for ALL the in-depth details and our take on photography gear. Let’s chat about why we chose Canon, the value of sigma lenses & smaller investments you might not think about.

Do You Need a Full-Frame Camera to be Professional?

No! You definitely don’t need to have a full-frame camera!! We started out with a cropped sensor and still felt successful. Just keep in mind that a cropped sensor will perform differently in low light and the lenses won’t be totally accurate. A 35mm might act more like a 50mm for example.

Why We Chose Canon

We think that every brand is great and there are pros and cons to all of them. However, we chose Canon for a specific reason. Canon glass in the lenses is incredible and amazing quality. Lenses are a huge investment and they hold their value. We are also SO pumped for the mirrorless cameras that Canon is rolling out.

Difference in Lenses/Brands

Now let’s go more in-depth with lenses in particular & if the brand you buy from matters. To be honest, choosing which brand will definitely depend on budget, type of lens & the use of said lense. Overall if you’re looking at the quality, the brand of your body will likely be better than a Sigma lens. BUT the price will be higher. For instance, a Canon L series lens will be higher than Sigma, but the gap in quality won’t be too big. In our case, we have some Sigma lenses because it made more sense to pay less for comparable results.

Smaller Investments to Consider

UV filters are a great investment because it’s a smaller investment but will protect your gear. If your lense falls the UV filter could shatter instead of your actual lense. Get tons of batteries for backups and peace of mind. The safety of knowing you have them and actually having them if your battery dies. Battery grips can also be a great investment so your camera lasts a lot longer and to have a cool option for extra buttons – we don’t personally use these but it’s a nice option to have. Lastly, memory cards are SO important. Invest in good cards, but choosing which kind will depend on your camera body and what you’re shooting!

Budget For Your Gear

Make a wishlist and know exactly what you’re saving up for. Put aside money for what you want. Sometimes it might be easier to purchase something cheaper to start and sometimes it might be better to make the jump to something that’s better quality. Figure out what’s better for your business! Make it future driven.

What We Regret

Our first 50mm Sigma lens, the quality wasn’t what we expected. It’s now a backup but we wish we had just invested early on. The second was a new flash, but we had to learn a whole new system to shoot that didn’t work out. More backups, but not the ideal piece of gear.

Check out Part 1 of our photography gear series to get all caught up.

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