If you could recommend 5 things

[OU1247]

As a newbie who loves to take pictures

I have a Canon xti w the stock lens. I also have a sigma 100-300mm lens.

If you cold recommend up to 5 things that are the best bang for the buck to help my pictures...What would they be?

I have 2 boys (12 & 8) who are competitive swimmers, I love to take portraits and such. I am also a music teacher so I am always taking pictures of my students.


Would it be a new lens?
Lessons?
Filters?

[waffles]

Indoor sports are a pain, so a 50mm would be a nice pickup. I should be getting mine on Wednesday and jumping straight into basketball with it that night.

A bag would be good. Which one would depend on how much you want to carry with you.

Extra memory is a must. Even if you think you have enough, you probably don't.

A card reader if you don't have one. That way you can turn the camera off.

If you want to do more artistic portraits, then a flash would be a good pickup. I don't use them, but when I shoot I'm mostly not allowed to use a flash anyway.

[Saralonde]

Flash
Canon 50mm 1.8

[OU1247]

On that lens would you use a UV filter?

[Nicole]

1. A good editing program such as The Gimp which is free.
2. A good understanding of your camera and how to use it, which could be accomplished through books or through reading websites. Understanding Exposure is often recommended, but also reading about composition is also an important aspect.
3. Patience and a good attitude towards the fact that not every shot is going to be perfect every time (free, but damn hard to have )
4. Lots of memory cards & a 50mm lens are always really useful to have and both are affordable.
5. A desire to try new things and build gear to try out (DIY is a lot cheaper and lots of fun and can be used for lots of things )

[Pernod]

My 2c worth:

a) Practice! Its free, and will make far more difference to your shots. When I first started someone told me 'your first 10,000 shots will be your worst'. Looking back on my work I can see where they were coming from ;-). I'd consider spending some money on a Flickr account and joining the 'threesixtyfive' project.

b) Bag. Its a must. Protection for your gear from weather, bumps and prying eyes.

c) 50mm lens. It will let you play with a totally different lens (wide 1.8, but no zoom - its a learning curve).

d) Macro 'diopters'. Small magnifying glass type things that screw onto your lens and will let you play with 'close up' shots.

e) Plenty of memory cards, and a card reader.

[prrs4me]

1. Bag for protection
2. Extra memory
3. Card Reader
4. Extra battery
5. 50mm 1.8

Practice, practice, practice and then later on some better lenses.

[OU1247]

Just purchased the 1.8 50mm
I figured EVERYONE was saying that was the way to go?
I have a nice bag.

Now I will see about the reader? Thoughts? Brands?

[prrs4me]

I have the SanDisk for quite a while now and have never had a problem with it. It reads several different kinds of cards.

[netbymatt]

Originally Posted by OU1247

Now I will see about the reader? Thoughts? Brands?

I picked up the Sandisk Extreme USB 2.0 Reader. It's the fastest I've seen. It's about $20 from Amazon.

With everyone suggesting a 50mm 1.8, I'm going to have to take a serious look into getting one as well.