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The Phoblographer’s 2014 Essential Roundup of the Best Photo Gear for You

Chris Gampat
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11/29/2014
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Last Updated on 11/29/2014 by Julius Motal

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm 56mm f1.2 first impressions product photos (6 of 7)ISO 8001-60 sec at f - 2.8

We’ve spent long, countless hours reviewing lots of photo gear this year. And we’ve spent time compiling lists of the best gear. Yes, we know that it’s the photographer who ultimately creates the images, and we’ve had that in mind the entire time that we wrote this list. There’s something for everyone here: the pro, the enthusiast, the semi-pro and the beginner in our roundup of the best photo gear.

Lenses

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Panasonic 20mm f1.7 II review lead image (1 of 1)ISO 4001-30 sec at f - 2.8

– The Best Budget Lenses: Our comprehensive list that is updated every quarter at least to ensure that it has the very best. This is the one more than any other list in this post that you’ll want to look at.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Zeiss Rokinon Sigma 85mm f1.4 three way comparison (2 of 3)ISO 4001-125 sec at f - 3.5

– The Best Lenses Under $500: This list is a general round up of some of the greatest lenses that we’ve tested under the $500 point.

– Seven Lenses for the Portrait Shooter on a Budget: We totally understand that not everyone has a whole load of money to spend. And that’s what we’ve put together a list of the best lenses for a portrait shooter with a tight budget to look at.

– Five Lenses for the Discerning Landscape Photographer: In this article, we take a totally different approach of compiling focal lengths and recommending which ones from each manufacturer would be best for you.

– Our Favorite Lenses for DSLR Street Photography: If you’re a DSLR owner, we’ve got a list for you to take a gander at if you’re looking to shoot street photos.

– The Lenses with the Best Bokeh: We all aspire to get our hands on fast aperture lenses. And we’ve carefully gone through our image samples to find the lenses with the best bokeh. These are a couple to look forward to getting one day.

– The Best Wide Angle Lenses Under $500: Getting affordable wide angle lenses isn’t simple to do. But in the recent years, a bunch have become available. And these are our favorites. You can’t go wrong with them.

Lighting

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Elinchrom Pro HD 1000 Watt second light product images (3 of 11)ISO 4001-40 sec at f - 4.0

 

– The Best Flash Modifiers For Your Speedlight: We live for lighting. That’s why when we went out to compile a list of our favorite light modifiers, we chose very carefully. While we usually prefer to shoot with the flash off camera, this list has modifiers for both on-camera and off-camera use.

– The Best Camera Flashes Under $500: You don’t need to spend a whole wad of money to get an exceptional flash for your camera. There are so many that are affordable and in some ways better than their more expensive counterparts.

Cameras

Chris Gampat the Phoblographer Sony A7s product images (5 of 8)ISO 4001-100 sec at f - 5.6

– The Phoblographer’s Guide to Affordable Film Rangefinders: While in a personal search for a good film rangefinder, I went about exploring almost everything I could about the cameras. And if you’re looking for one to call your own, I’ve compiled a list that you’ll want to look at.

– The Best Point and Shoots for the Travelling Photographer: When you’re travelling, it’s sometimes a great idea to not be burdened down by a bunch of lenses. Instead, a lens that it permanently fixed onto the camera could be a better option considering just how large the sensors are becoming and how amazing the image quality is.

Trust us, you’ll leave your phone in your pocket.

– The Best Point and Shoots for Street Photography: We’re a big believer that point and shoot cameras are the way to go when it comes to street photography. And these cameras stand out the most amongst the sea of them out there.

budget Cameras flashes lenses lighting photo gear point and shoot
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.