Photographers aren’t easy people to shop for… and it doesn’t help that most “gift guides” online are generic, copy-paste articles written by non-photographers. Today, I want to fix that problem with a list of genuinely useful photography gifts for the photographer in your life. You won’t find any lens mugs or t-shirts here! (Not that I’m complaining about mine :)
Simply put, as the editor in chief of Photography Life, a massive amount of camera gear has passed through my hands. Only a few of the best pieces of equipment have stood out. The 35 gift ideas below are what made the cut after extensive testing, and I personally recommend every single piece of equipment in this article as a professional photographer.
To make things easier, I’ve arranged the gifts below by budget: under $20, under $50, under $100, and over $100. As a disclaimer, I bought all of this photography equipment with my own money. I don’t have a relationship with any of these companies, and the links below are just generic affiliate links to Amazon and B&H. I hope you find this list useful, and please let me know at the end of the article if you have any questions!
$20 or Less
1. Vello Mini Softbox
For any portrait photographer or macro photographer, a diffuser is a must-have piece of equipment. Big diffusers have their place (mostly in the studio), but for less than $10, a smaller flash diffuser makes a fantastic gift! The Vello Mini Softbox is just $7.50. It fits most flash heads, but note that it doesn’t work with a camera’s built-in pop-up flash. An even more portable option is the Angler flash diffuser for $8.99, which is compatible with pop-up flashes as well as flash heads. I use both of these all the time for my macro photography.
2. 8×10 Photography Portfolio for 48 prints
This one is more than just a great gift for a photographer… it’s actually one of my favorite purchases that I’ve ever made, period. It’s a humble 8×10″-sized portfolio that holds up to 48 prints and costs a mere $14. What makes it so great? Simply put, it lets photographers display their work the way God intended – as a print rather than on a tiny smartphone screen. Also, remember that you can get 8×10 prints made for less than a dollar apiece. For an amazing gift to the photographer in your life, get this portfolio and then pay to fill it up with their work.
3. Raya 5-in-1 Reflector Disc
A reflector is one of the easiest ways to add great light to portrait or studio photos. This 32″ version from Raya is $19.95, and it has five different panels that you can use for different levels of reflection or other effects. There are a number of similar products on the market, and they pretty much all work great, so be on the lookout for a good deal. Anyone who shoots portraits should have a pop-up reflector in their bag, and it never hurts to have more than one.
4. Heated Anti-Fog Belt for Lenses
Photographers who live in humid areas, especially if they do nighttime photography, are no stranger to their lenses fogging up. Wiping away the condensation with a lens cloth only works for a few seconds at a time. The best solution I’ve found is to use a heated belt that wraps around the front of a lens, warming it up enough to evaporate the fog. This one from Haida is $20 exactly and works extremely well – it’s a great gift for Milky Way photographers.
5. Ruggard Rain Cover
When it’s raining, it can be hard to keep your camera dry, particularly when you’re standing in front of a tripod for long periods of time. One gift I highly recommend for this purpose is the Ruggard Rain Cover. It comes in two varieties for different lens sizes – 8 inch and 18 inch. (For most lenses, the 8 inch is best; only get the 18 inch for supertelephoto lenses.) There are also specialized versions for covering an on-camera flash.
6. Injinji Liner Crew Toesocks
If the photographer in your life does a lot of hiking in search of the perfect landscape, point them to the off-beat Injinji toe sock liners. I’ll be the first to admit that they look creepy, but I’ll also be the first to say that I have never once gotten a blister while wearing these sock liners (in tandem with a pair of Darn Tough wool hiking socks). This held true even during a nine-day trek that I took in Iceland with two 17+ mile days (27 km).
7. Mountain Light by Galen Rowell
I just read Mountain Light for the first time recently, and I don’t know why I waited so long – I absolutely loved it. For landscape photographers, Galen Rowell’s photos will be a big inspiration, and his behind-the-scenes philosophy is some of the best explanation of landscape photography that I’ve ever seen. This book is out of print, but last I saw, some paperback copies were selling for about $10. This could change day-by-day. Here’s the book’s page on Amazon.
8. Photography Multi-Tool
When I needed a backup tripod, I decided on a Leofoto tripod that included a great multi-tool. Then I realized the tool was also available on its own! It combines three hex key sizes, a flat coin-style driver, a bottle opener, and a carabiner clip into a slim package and only costs $13. You don’t need a Leofoto tripod to find it useful – it works for practically any tripod.
9. Delta 1 Microfiber Cloth
I’ve used a ton of microfiber cloths over the years, and chances are that you have, too (or the photographer you’re shopping for has). The Delta 1 stands out because it’s way more absorbent than any other. It’s essentially a mix between a towel and a regular lens cloth – and for photography in rainy areas, it’s a lifesaver. I’ve used mine in Olympic National Park, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and many other places where rain and waterfalls make traditional lens cloths useless.
10. Watson 4-Hour Charger and Rechargeable AA Batteries
Studio photographers and videographers chew up AA batteries rapidly, so a fast charger and set of rechargeables is essential. The Watson 4-Hour Charger comes with four rechargeable AAs. Also consider getting a separate AA pack caddy to transport them more easily. This has been a huge help while I film Photography Life’s YouTube videos or just take product photos of the gear I’m reviewing.
11. Smallrig Flexible Mini Tripod
The Smallrig BT-15 BeautyPod has twistable legs that let it attach to railings, trees, light stands, and similar. While it won’t support heavy camera rigs, I’ve made extensive use of these mini tripods for iPhone videography – and simply to hold lights – while I’m filming our YouTube videos outdoors. They’re extremely useful and very well-priced.
12. Steel Spork with Bottle Opener
Are you shopping for a serious outdoor photographer and hiker? If they’re already used to eating boil-in-the-bag meals on long backpacking trips, get them a spork with a built-in bottle opener. It’s not to open bottles (well, it does that too) – it’s to hook the spork on the boil-in-the-bag so it doesn’t fall in. It sounds like a small thing, but when you’re miles away from civilization, the small things matter. For extra points, get a couple of freeze-dried meals as a related gift :)
$50 or Less
13. The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum
Just over a third of The Art of Photography is about film photography and printing techniques – and despite that, it’s still my top book recommendation for digital photographers. This is the best book on photography I have ever read, and only a few others are even close.
It’s all down to the way Bruce Barnbaum explains composition. Composition is a tricky, often vague topic, but Barnbaum manages to pin it down to more concrete detail than you’ll usually see, and not with simple generalizations like the rule of thirds. If you want to give a gift that really helps a photographer improve their creative skills, this is the way to go.
If you’re giving it as a gift, you may want to keep the receipt, only because it’s a popular book that your gift recipient may already have. (I assure you they won’t return it for any other reason; it’s just too good.)
14. A Long Power Strip
An extended length power strip can be a surprisingly useful piece of equipment. Most photographers have a lot of different devices to charge at any given time – phones, laptops, lights, cameras, drones, rechargeable AAs, lights, and so on. A lot of power strips don’t space the outlets far apart, which limits how useful they actually are. This one, at six feet long, doesn’t have that problem! It has surge protection and plenty of space, so multiple devices can easily be charged at once. Best of all, due to the strange shape, it will be impossible for your gift recipient to guess what’s under the wrapping paper :)
15. Fenix LD12 LED Flashlight
An under-appreciated part of a photographer’s kit, especially for landscape photography, is a good flashlight. The $45 water-resistant Coast G55 is my choice today. You can twist the head to go from a narrow spotlight to an ultra-wide beam, and there are three different brightness levels to choose from – all of which are essential features to me, both for Milky Way photography and for getting to and from my location for sunrise and sunset photos.
16. Outdoor Research Rocky Mountain High Gaiters
For hiking, a good pair of gaiters is essential if you want to keep your feet dry. I made a big mistake on my first trip to Iceland by leaving these at home for a snowy hike, and my boots emerged at the end sopping wet. The next time I went on a hike through the snow, I brought this pair along and found them to perform admirably. Men’s and women’s both sell for $49.
17. Visual Echoes Flash Extender
One of the challenges of wildlife photography is that you can’t control the light. But with a flash extender like the Visual Echoes FX3, you can add subtle fill-light to brighten the shadows on distant birds and other animals. It’s a good way to make your wildlife photos pop a bit more, without overwhelming the photo. Just make sure not to use flash extenders at night, especially with birds like owls that are sensitive to light.
18. Ruggard Filter Pouch
One of my favorite accessories as a landscape photographer is the well-designed Mindshift Filter Hive Mini pouch. It holds up to five filters (either rectangular or circular) in a sturdy pouch, which keeps the filters clean and safe. It has a semi-rigid skeleton to protect fragile glass filters during travel. With something like this, there’s no longer any need to carry each filter in a separate container.
19. Rogue Gels Universal Lighting Kit
In flash photography, the color of your flash generally should complement the color of ambient light, or your results will look really jarring. This often requires you to use color gels in front of your flash, and the ones from Rogue Gels are great options for the price. I’ve used this set for ages – both the color correction filters (perfect for normal flash photography) and the more unusual color filters for interesting effects, like the icicle photo below.
$100 or Less
20. Anker 347 Portable Charger 40K
There are hundreds of battery bank products out there, but I’ve been very impressed by the consistent quality of Anker’s lineup. Anker’s 347 Power Bank is hefty, but with a capacity of 40,000 mAh, it can charge an iPhone about eight times, or a MacBook Air twice. 30W USB-C output and a total of 4 USB ports makes this a really versatile option.
21. Noise cancelling headphones or earbuds
For travel photographers – especially those who tend to take a lot of flights – one of the best gifts you can give is a good pair of noise cancelling headphones or earbuds. I put this gift idea in the sub-$100 category, but the reality is that you can buy noise cancelling headphones at any price from about $30 to hundreds of dollars. The full page at B&H (which I sorted from low to high prices) will give you a sense of the popular options and where to start. I use Apple AirPod Pros, but those cost more than $100, and there are plenty of cheaper options that still make a massive difference!
22. Manfrotto Element Monopod
For sports photography, wildlife photography, and videography, a monopod is an absolute must-have. It takes the full weight of a camera without slowing you down in the field like a tripod does. Even a relatively cheap option – something in the $50-100 range – will do a great job. There are a ton of good monopods out there, but my favorite for the price is easily the video version of the Manfrotto Element MII. (The non-video version is a less expensive and just as good, but it doesn’t have the tripod-style feet at the bottom – a nice but not necessary feature.)
23. Aputure RGBWW LED Light
Continuous lights are getting better and better these days – they’re not just viable for videography, but also studio work and even portraiture. However, traditional RGB LED lights tend to have iffy lighting quality. This has improved dramatically with RGBWW technology (adding a cool white and warm white LED). However, as good as RGBWW lights are, they to be expensive. At $90, the Aputure RGBWW bucks the trend with unusually good quality light at an impressive price.
24. Rode VideoMicro Shotgun Mic
Even stills-based photographers are shooting a lot of video these days. One of the problems, however, is that the built-in microphone on almost every camera is awful. An inexpensive alternative with much better sound quality is Rode’s VideoMicro II shotgun mic. This microphone is as simple as it gets; it attaches to your camera’s hotshoe, has zero external controls, and runs with the camera’s on-board power. For $75, it’s an excellent gift and something I highly recommend. (Higher quality shotgun mics exist at a variety of prices, depending on your budget, but this one is plenty for most uses.)
25. Angler Port-a-Cube Light Tent
Anyone who wants to do quick product photos, even for taking pictures of gear they’re selling on eBay, would be thrilled to get a portable studio. The Angler Port-a-Cube has a built-in LED light at the top, and it’s 17″ across (43 cm), so it still works with relatively large objects. There are other models on the market with more features for more money, but this is a great price for a high-quality portable studio.
Over $100
26. X-Rite ColorChecker Passport
This is a bit of a special case item, but for portrait and advertising photographers who want consistent color, the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport checker at $119 is a very useful tool for dealing with tricky lighting conditions. I use mine for video work in the studio, and for testing cameras for our reviews at Photography Life! Beyond that, you can use the ColorChecker to create a custom color profile for your camera, which is an advanced but worthwhile process for photographers who want the most accurate color.
27. 1TB External Hard Drive Backup
Every photographer should have a good backup system. To me, it’s rule one of photography. While traveling, I highly recommend Exascend’s Explorer 1TB Portable SSD, which is more protected against bumps and falls than almost anything else. This model is waterproof for up to 30 minutes at 1 meter depth, has a shock-proof aluminum alloy design, and has excellent speed and performance because of the SSD design. Although the 1TB option is $160, it’s also offered up to 4TB at higher prices, with the 2TB model being the best value per gig of storage.
28. Nikon PROSTAFF P7 Binoculars
I wanted to recommend a good pair of binoculars in this gift guide, but as a landscape photographer, I haven’t used enough pairs to know if my recommendations would be the best. So, I asked a wildlife photographer friend of mine who’s tried dozens of binoculars. He recommended the Nikon PROSTAFF P7. It comes in a few variants with similar prices (all about $185). The 10×30 variant is ideal for most photographers because it weighs less, but the 10×42 variant lets in more light – good for watching birds after sunset. For less magnification, but an easier time finding your subject, either of the 8x variations will work great, too.
29. Gregory Baltoro 65 Liter Backpack
I’ve tried a lot of backpacks over the years. Too many backpacks… my closet is full of them. But the best if you need plenty of storage space is the Gregory Baltoro 65. This pack is legendary in hiking circles, and it’s my favorite backpack of all time. For photography, you’ll want to combine it with an insert like the Wandrd Camera Cube for easy storage of cameras and lenses. If the photographer in your life does any amount of hiking and is still using a generic camera backpack, get this – or another dedicated hiking pack – yesterday! It’ll beat any “photography backpack” for comfort and storage capacity by a country mile.
30. Godox Flash and Trigger
Every flash photographer, sooner or later, needs a way to trigger a flash off-camera. It’s simply the best way to get good light. My recommendation is to get the Godox TT685N flash and trigger, which works flawlessly on practically any camera out there. (Make sure you pick the right camera brand for compatibility if you’re buying as a gift for someone else.) It’s $129 for the flash, while the XPro trigger is available separately for $69, although I’ve seen holiday sales as low as $49.
31. DJI Osmo Mobile 6
The first time I saw footage from an iPhone and the $139 DJI Osmo 6 stabilized gimbal, I was amazed at the cinematic appearance – it was much better than I ever expected you could get from a phone. In short, our concept of “high quality video” is about camera stability more than almost anything else! The Osmo is great for that. I’ve even used it on a bumpy road in the back of a pickup truck (driving through the stunning Wadi Rum on our yearly workshop to Jordan), and the results were remarkably smooth. Highly recommended. If you’re looking for a cheaper option, previous generations are still available, like the Osmo 4 SE at $89.
32. Sky-Watcher Motorized Star Tracker
One of the coolest photography gadgets I’ve ever used is the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer tracker. At $350 (although often on sale for less), it’s a bit more expensive than some items on this list, but it really opens up new possibilities for astrophotography. Put it on your existing tripod and ballhead exactly as-is, point it at the North Star – or equivalent area in the Southern Hemisphere – attach your camera and sit back. You’ll end up with tack-sharp photos at night, even with a telephoto lens.
Milky Way: Sky-Watcher Star Tracker, NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S @ 24mm, ISO 64, 860 seconds, f/4.0
33. DJI Mini
Drones are an extremely useful addition to any photographer’s kit, and they’ve come a long way since the early models. DJI’s Mini 4K, at $299 is a great entry into the world of drones. It weighs less than 250 grams, which helps a lot when it comes to registration and rule-compliance. Unlike cheap, toy drones, the Mini is perfectly stable, and the camera is great for filming in daylight conditions. Pricier models have bigger camera sensors, but the Mini is enough for most situations. I tend to recommend it for videography more than photography, but it takes solid photos, too (similar in quality to a phone).
34. Datacolor SpyderX Pro
Photographers need to know that they’re editing colors accurately in post-production. The best way to do that is to use a device like the Datacolor SpyderX Pro to calibrate and profile a monitor for accurate color. This particular device is well-priced at $149 – and sometimes goes on sale for less – and I’ve found it to be truly indispensable. Photographers who don’t have a color calibration device are basically flying blind when editing their photos.
35. Leofoto Carbon Fiber Tripod and Ballhead
If the photographer in your life is still using an aluminum tripod, or doesn’t have a tripod at all, consider splurging on a set of carbon fiber legs. One of the best travel tripods on the market, especially for the price, is the Leofoto LX-224CT and ballhead, at $247 (sometimes on sale for less – I’ve seen as low as $198). The build quality is excellent, and the value compared to other high-end travel tripods is almost unreal.
Conclusion
You can probably see that there’s no shortage of useful gifts in the photography world! The ideas above are some of the best combinations of value, uniqueness, and usefulness that you’ll find today. Hopefully this provided you with some good inspiration for your gift lists.
Feel free to ask me in the comments section below if you have any questions about this gear! I’ll do my best to answer every comment below.
Spencer
Lead me to water. I bought the 8 X 10 Photography Portfolio. Most Prints I’ve found are over $2.00. Who sells them for less than a dollar.
Thanks
Sure thing! It used to be that any Target or CVS would print at those prices, but not any more. I still see a few sites, though – doing some quick research, sharpprints.com, qprints.com, and canvaschamp.com all appear to have 8×10 prints at a dollar or less.
I can’t vouch for any of those sites specifically, but they all seem to use industry standard printers and papers. For the purpose of a portable portfolio, where you hardly need archival museum quality, I’d be willing to buy from any of them.
Spencer, I am an avid reader of Photography Life and have made many purchases based on your reviews, which are always informative, factual, and on point. But the single best piece of advice I have taken away from your site is about the Injinji Liner Crew Toesocks. You wrote about them a few years ago, and I tried them. Weird, but miraculously effective. I literally no longer hike a step without them–and I’ve never had even a hint of a blister from the first time until now.
Thanks for all of your advice, but especially for bringing things like this forward that may seem to be unrelated but can be so helpful!
Awesome! Same here, they are very weird but very effective. I just got back from a difficult winter hike over the weekend without any blisters because of them.
I’ll try to write more posts about hiking + photography next year!
Based on recommendations last year I bought the Ruggard Rain Cover (#5). It works.
Glad you like it, there’s a reason I include that one each year! It’s a great piece of equipment.
Cool Xmas list :D I’d add binoculars in the “Over 100$” list. It is an excellent addition to the panoply of a birder and a good way to observe, especially when you don’t want to carry heavy gears sometimes…
That’s a great suggestion! I’ll talk to Libor to see what binoculars he uses for bird photography. I already have a basic pair that I like, but I’m sure there are better ones out there.
Just added it based on your suggestion! Libor had a lot of good things to say about the pair I added here.
This is a question. I don’t use flash much, but I always read that off camera flash is best. So is there a flash stand of any sort to put the off camera flash on when shooting, or does the flash have to be hand held? That would seem very inconvenient to me. I would imagine that there must be something, but my own researches have led me nowhere on this. What do flash users do?
Absolutely, it very much depends on the type of photography being done!
For on-the-go portraiture or macro photography, if the camera is light enough, it’s not uncommon to hold the camera in one hand and the flash in another. If the camera is too heavy for that, a flash bracket like this one can be used instead: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pro…20/SID/DFF
For studio photography or on-location photoshoots, you’re absolutely right, photographers will use traditional light stands for this purpose. The downside is that they take some time to set up and move around. Flashes are mounted on the stands with a cold shoe adapter. Here’s an example of the stand: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pro…63/SID/DFF And an example of the adapters: www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pro…46/SID/DFF
Wedding, event, and portrait photographers will sometimes just give the flash to an assistant to hold and position.
Hmm. My D850 + flash + lens are very heavy for me. I was hoping for some kind of stand that you could just park it, mount your flash on it, and shoot. Ah, well. Maybe I’ll just go on not using flash. :)
It sounds to me like the second option is what you’re describing — a traditional light stand that you can set up and carefully position the off-camera flash how you want. They’re portable and pretty lightweight, just somewhat slow to set up. Maybe get a tiny ballhead to attach to the top so you can angle the flash however you want.
You can use your tripod for that. And it doesn’t even need to be sturdy.
A great point!
Do you need some kind adapter to mount it on? My tripod has an arca mount. My flash obviously has a hot shoe mount. Clearly there is much more to this than I know anything about.
Try this: www.amazon.com/Leofo…olife0c-20
Thanks, Spencer. That looks like just what I need. Now all I need is a tutorial on how to use my SB-910 flash’s more complex settings. HA! (I am exposing my ignorance here). :)
Spencer, Am I correct that for off camera flash you need a trigger and a receiver, both?
Yes, you’d need one of each, unless you’re using a camera with a pop-up flash that can be used as an optical commander (not true of the D850 or most modern Nikon cameras, unfortunately).
Here’s a trigger and receiver that would work with the Nikon D850 and SB-910:
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pro…/KBID/6400
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/pro…50/SID/DFF
I bought a copy of Mountain Light used on Amazon a couple of years ago. After a few weeks I realized it’s a signed copy. I noticed the signature when I first received it but thought it was printed. It wasn’t until I noticed there was a slight transfer of the signature on the opposite page that I realized it was genuine. That’s the second time I’ve received a used book with a signature that wasn’t advertised as such.
Galens photos are really great, but I feel like his style isn’t appreciated these days. They’re not flashy enough for the Instagram world, but I return to mountain light and a few of his other books for inspiration from time to time. It just seems like a purer version of landscape photography. It’s a shame his gallery shutdown a few years back.
That’s a great story and feels a bit like deja vu! My aunt found a copy of Mountain Light at a garage sale and got it for me as a gift. She hadn’t realized that it was a signed copy! It’s an excellent book, and I agree with you completely – very different from the prevailing style of Instagram landscapes today.
Thanks a lot for this list, Spencer! It actually contains a number of items I already own.
One of them is Bruce Barnbaum’s The Art of Photography. This is really a wonderful book. I read the 1st edition some years ago and I have gained a lot of insights from it. Although the 1st edition is almost completely about film photography and printing techniques – digital photography is just mentioned – a lot of things can be transfered to digital if you know the basics.
So, my question is: does any know the differences between the 1st and the 2nd edition? Is the 2nd edition worth reading if you know the 1st?
Sure thing, Carsten! To quote from the Barnes and Noble website:
“In this newest edition of the book, Barnbaum has included many new images and has completely revised the text, with particular focus on two crucial chapters covering digital photography: he revised a chapter covering the digital zone system, and includes a brand-new chapter on image adjustments using digital tools. There is also a new chapter discussing the concepts of “art versus technique” and “traditional versus digital” approaches to photography.”
I don’t think it matters much what edition you get. The best part of this book is composition and creativity, and most of the changes aren’t in that area. So you can safely keep your edition.
For 30 plus dollars Bruce’s book is the top pick hands down. So glad you mentioned Bruce Barnbaum in there. He is a wonderful person. I attended one of his workshops in Olympic Peninsula in 2017 with Jack Dykinga (his book Capture the Magic is amazing) and Bill Ellzey. What a crew those guys are! The workshop was truly transformative artistically and technically.
Whenever I feel I want to recall some of the “lessons” I learned, these books always come in quite handy taking me back to the artistic medium of photography’s essentials which are so easy to get distracted from and ruin an
otherwise wonderful photograph.
Thanks for mentioning this and bringing back great memories.
Cheers
I’m glad you agree with that recommendation, Mazen. It really is the most important thing in this article, in my opinion! I’ve learned a lot from that book. And it sounds like you had a wonderful workshop with the three of them.
I can attest to the fun that can be had with Rogue gels. I bought mine several years ago and they are useful for all sorts of flash situations. I highly recommend them!
Glad to hear you like them too! I think it’s a pretty fun piece of kit. And the regular color correction gels are just useful in general.
It’s going to take awhile to digest everything in this list but that multi-tool immediately caught my attention! Thanks for taking the time to make such a comprehensive and useful list Spencer!
Of course! Glad you found it so useful.