Gift ideas for the photographer in your life

Have a budding photog in your life and are having a hard time thinking of gifts to give them for Christmas? We got your back. We’ve assembled five pieces of gear that you can gift your snap-happy someone that they can use when they’re practicing their craft. Don’t worry – there’s something for everyone and every budget in the five gear suggestions we’ve listed below:

Lume Cube portable LED light

Getting enough illumination when you’re shooting indoors or in no-light situations is always a problem, and not everyone can afford expensive flash units to attach to their cameras. Even if you do have one, bringing one along isn’t always in the cards, especially when you’re shooting a low-weight setup outdoors and want to stay incognito.

The Lume Cube LED light solves that problem, as its a small, portable little light that you can take anywhere with you. With a 6000K color temperature, up to 1500 lumens of bright light and waterproof operation up to 100 feet, the Lume Cube is a god-send for photogs and videographers alike. It’s priced at Php 3,800 and can be bought through Global Gears distribution, here.

Lowerpro Hatchback BP 250 backpack

A photographer is only as good as his gear, and his gear needs the best protection available when shuffling from one location to the next. That’s why we recommend getting Lowepro’s Hatchback BP 250 bag for your loved one (or for you) to carry their essential gear in. Lowepro’s one of the most well-respected names in the camera bag industry, giving quality, hard-wearing bags for not much money.

The Hatchback BP 250 is big enough to hold a DSLR, two extra lenses plus a 10-inch tablet, and has a built-in, all weather cover to protect the gear inside of it from the elements if the shoot ever gets rained out. It’s Php 4,490 at Henry’s Professional.

Sony Alpha A6500 mirrorless camera

We’re fans of Sony and their mirrorless cameras, enough that most of the photos and videos that we take for Unbox are from a Sony-built model, the A6300. If budget allows, get your photog friend to upgrade to Sony’s Alpha A6500 or really, any member of the A6000 family. The A6500 is the cream of the crop though, and while it’s not a full-frame camera like its more expensive brethren, the A6500 delivers excellent image quality, fast focus performance to match a full-size DSLR as well as amazing video recording via 4K and Super 35mm.

The Sony A6500 has a suggested SRP of Php 81,999.

High-capacity SD card

Photographers always need more storage, no matter how many SD cards they already own, so buying one for your loved one is a no-brainer. But there’s a huge selection of cards in the market today, so choosing one is a little difficult. We suggest getting high-performance cards, like the Sandisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II 64GB 280MB/S 1867X for videographers that shoot a lot of 4K video because of its fast read/write capabilities (Php 8,800). For more casual users, SD Cards like the Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB SDHC UHS-I (Php 3,500) has a good mix of affordability and speed.

Prestigio 18-inch LED Dimmable Ring Light

Want to start taking portraits but don’t want to invest in expensive lighting setups yet? You might want to try out the Prestigio 18-inch LED Dimmable Ring Light, which is being sold by Kimstore for Php 4,480. Ring lights allow you to take beautiful, evenly lit photos of people for portraits or even for simple things like food or macro photography. The best thing about ring lights is that it’s a versatile tool – you can use it with a smartphone, for applying makeup or whatever – it’s all up to your imagination.