Recommended Materials for Photography Class

Photography Class recommended course materials:

Although students are not required to purchase a camera for this course, they may discover a great passion for photography and want to invest in some camera equipment. We recommend some sort of DSLR camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex). In class, we demo using our Nikon DSLR cameras, however Canon makes a comparable DSLR.

Following is a list of equipment that we have used ourselves and can recommend:

In addition to the basics of camera, camera case and memory card, students may be interested in obtaining a few other items. Most cameras come with what is called a "kit lens" This would be your basic starter lens. The 18-55mm kit lens has a range from wide angle to short telephoto and is light in weight. While this lens is quite versatile and meets the needs of the course, students may be interested in testing out some more advanced lenses in the future or for and advanced photography class.

Following are some of our recommended lenses:

50mm fixed (we have this as the set up for our class cameras) Although the focal length is fixed, we believe that this is a great lens to learn on.

Many students are familiar with taking photos with a cell phone. Cell phone cameras are okay to use for some assignments, especially when our cameras have been checked out by other students. When at all possible, plan to have your own DSLR camera ready to use or check-out one of ours. We recommend that students shoot with a DSLR camera for most of the course assignments as a way to push themselves outside of their comfort zone and to really begin to understand camera controls such as exposure, aperture, shutter speed and ISO. For the times when a cell phone is in use, we recommend shooting with a phone clip-on lens.

Following are some of our recommended lenses:

Olloclip

Finally, students are not required to purchase any of these items, aside from a memory card for class. We have a set of 7 DSLR cameras on hand that can be checked out to students during class and overnight throughout the semester.