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So. The holidays are coming up, and if your family is anything like mine, they want a list from you of things that you want.

When it comes to a photography habit, it’s really easy to think “geez, everything I want is totally out of my family’s price range.” But that’s not always the case. Sure, chances a family member isn’t going to buy you that new lens you’re drooling over (unless your whole family chips in together and buys you sweet wide angle lens like my family did last year), but there’s still other things that might be in their price range that you can ask for. Hopefully the following list will help you create a wish list that has some affordable things on it (price ranges aren’t exact, and are in US dollars):

Extra battery/charger

If you don’t already have an extra battery, I consider this a must for your Wish List. When I only had one battery, I can’t tell you how many times I got SO MAD when my battery ran out of juice. And then I’d have to sit and wait, staring at the charger until the orange light turned green. Save yourself a headache and get a second battery. More than likely, you’ll always have at least one fully charged battery at all times that way.

I also recommend a second charger if you’re a bit absent minded like me. I left my original charger that came with my dslr in a hotel room once and haven’t seen it since. The next day, when I realized it, I NEEDED a charged battery and had to drive 45 minutes to the closest camera store that had a charger for my battery, and it’s big and clunky and ugly (which, of course, makes a difference when it comes to charging batteries). So I bought a second one like the original online. Now I keep the nice one at home all the time, and bring the cheaper charger

Price Range for batteries: Obviously depends on your camera, but will be between $10-$100

Price Range for charger: $20-$60

Card Reader

I know some people think it’s a hassle to take their memory cards out of the camera and into a card reader, but, personally, I can’t imagine not having a card reader. Here’s mine for my compact flash cards:

.125 sec – f/5 – 38mm – ISO 400

The biggest benefit of using the card reader to transfer your photos from your memory card to your computer is that it goes SO much faster than going directly from the camera. I also find it easier because I have more than one memory card, and it’s easier to switch them out from the reader than from the camera. Plus, if you have both a point & shoot camera and a dslr, and they have different memory cards, you can get an all-in-one reader and use one reader for both types of memory cards. And to top it off, they’re so cheap, why not at least ask for one?

Price Range: $3-$50

Remote Trigger

There’s two reasons you might find this useful (probably more, but two I can think of). The first is to take self-portraits. I did an entire year of daily self-portraits having to put my camera on a timer and then running into a place. Pain. Big pain.

The second reason is for long-exposure photography. Even if your camera is on a tripod or some other solid surface, when you press the shutter release with your finger, you’re going to jar the camera some. I still don’t have a remote trigger (but have one on my wish list!), so I have to use the timer to avoid that little bit of camera shake, so I have press the shutter 10 seconds before actually taking the photo, which results in lousy timing sometimes.

Price Range: $25+

Filters

Filters are those things you can screw onto your lenses. Usually they’re there to alter/improve the photo somehow, but they can also be thought of as protection – if you run into something it hits the filter and not the glass of your lens. Personally, I don’t think you should cheap out on filters (in which case, they might be out of the price range your family/friends are willing to spend) – but I’ll let you do your own research on this one and determine which ones you want.

Price Ranger: $10+

Camera Bag

I don’t know how much your family spends on you for the holidays, so a camera bag might be out of range for them. The type of bag you want is a really personal decision. What you look for a bag is going to be different than what I look for in a bag, so I can’t really recommend anything. That being said, I do love my Lowepro Slingshot 200, in case you wondered what I used.

Price Range: $25 (for a simple shoulder-bag) – $500+

Books

I haven’t read a lot of photography books, but I still have a number on my wish list, and I’m sure you do, too!

Price Range: $25+

Tripod

I got a tripod earlier this year and LOVE it. I can take so many more photos now than I was able to before. This is another thing I really don’t think you should cheap out on. You’re getting that tripod to get sharp, clear images. The sturdiness of that tripod is vital. This means you’re going to spend at least $100 on the legs, and then you need a head after that. If you’re interested in what I got, I went with the Manfrotto 190XPROB legs and 322RC2 Ball Head, which you can get together from B&H for $290 here (note: don’t get that head if you want to take a lot panoramic photos, as you can’t easily move it ONLY horizontally, it’s a very fluid movement, which I like, but it would make it really hard to keep it level across a bunch of photos – B&H sells a lot of sets of tripods and legs, though, so you can find what you’re looking for, I’m sure).

Price Range: $100+

Picture Frames

I don’t know about you, but even though I like a lot of my photos, I have a hard time convincing myself to get any of them printed… but if someone were to give me a bunch of nice frames, well now, I’d just have to print some up to point in there, wouldn’t I?

Price Range: large price range.

Gift Card

This is probably an obvious one, but oh, I love gift cards. I like giving them, too. Giving a gift card is just more personal than cash, so you’re not saying “I couldn’t think of what to get you, so here’s some cash”, you’re saying “I know you like photography, so I want to give you the gift of whatever you want – here’s a gift card for B&H”.

Price Range: Whatever you want it to be!

As a final helpful tip, I suggest, if you are going to make a list to give to your family/friends, I highly recommend you get as specific as possible. If you ask just for “a polarizing filter”, they won’t know what size or kind to get!

Did I leave anything out? What’s on your wish list this year?

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