Buying gifts for photographers and photo enthusiasts can be a real challenge, especially if you’re not familiar with the world of photography. Many shoppers will start looking at camera bodies and lenses, but almost every photographer will already have these items in their kit. For this guide, I’m going to provide a list of accessories and add-ons that every photographer is sure to find useful.
1. ZOMEi Z669C Portable Carbon Tripod
A sturdy and durable tripod is an essential part of the landscape photographer’s gear bag. Many of us carry older tripods that are heavy and hard to travel with. A lightweight carbon travel tripod is the perfect replacement for the older and heavier models.
2. SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB SDXC
My Sony a7rii shoots 42MP RAW stills and 4k30p video…this means I fill up memory cards fast. New cameras from Sony, Canon, Fuji, and Nikon continue to increase the amount of detail captured with photo and video, making quality memory cards more important. Storage space is key, but so is write/read speed. This is a gift that every photographer is sure to appreciate.
3. Altura Photo Professional Cleaning Kit
Most photographers have a solid cleaning kit at home for times when we need to dust off and polish our gear. Many of those items are large and cumbersome for lightweight travel. It’s nice to have a packaged travel cleaning kit ready to go for those dusty off trail adventures. This Altura kit is my favorite.
4. Toshiba 1TB Portable External Hard Drive
As I mentioned above, photo and video file sizes continue to grow with the capability of our cameras. Many of us have limited hard drive availability on our desktop and laptop computers, making external storage a necessity. This external drive from Toshiba is an affordable and dependable option.
5. Zeiss Lens Cleaning Wipes
These Zeiss lens wipes are the most used part of my gear kit. I use these wipes to clean my camera, lenses, sunglasses, and phone while traveling and hiking. They come individually wrapped in small lightweight packages.
6. Pedco UltraPod II Lightweight Camera Tripod
When my lightweight travel tripod is too large and heavy for a hike, I bring along my Pedco mini tripod. I’ve used this tripod on countless hiking and backpacking trips and it has performed admirably each time its called upon to do so.
7. Peak Design Slide Lite Camera Strap
Peak Design makes high quality interchangeable camera accessories. The system is built around attachment point pucks that can be quickly and easily removed for different gear. This neck piece is a great Peak Design piece of gear to start with. I use this quite a bit and swap out the neck strap for the wrist strap on hikes.
8. Peak Design Capture Camera Clip V3
Peak Design also makes a really nice camera clip that can support DSLRs. I use a lighter mirrorless camera which makes this perform even better. This capture clip attaches to backpack chest straps and allows you to clip your camera to it for quick and easy access.
9. Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan with 20GB Cloud Storage (12-Month)
Photoshop and Lightroom are the two most popular editing tools for post processing photography. Adobe now provides access to both apps via a Creative Cloud subscription. If you know someone without these tools looking to take their photography to the next level, this is the perfect gift.
10. Camera Rainsleeve
These rain sleeves are super light and packable for times when weather may be variable. I’ve used these sleeves in a pinch on trips to Iceland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Peru, Spain, and Portugal, and they have allowed me to quickly protect my camera while shooting in the rain.
Lots of great ideas here. Thanks for the tips and yes, I think those lens cleaners would be my most used item too.
Thanks Miriam! Those lens cleaners are super useful. I’m going to be giving them to a lot of people this year.
Great idea!
I have the UltraPod and love it – works great for my RX100! I also really like the velco strap that enables you to attach to a tree branch, pole, or other weird place to get a good shot. Highly recommended!
Yes, the velcro strap is really nice. I used this tripod with Sony a6000 on countless hikes and backpacking trips. I’m sure it works even better with the lighter RX100.