2015 Holiday Gift Guide For People Who Love Photography

Whether you're buying for a pro or a smartphone shooter, we've got your gifts covered

Giving a gift to a photographer can be a tricky thing. We’re picky about our gear, and those T-shirts with cheesy photography jokes aren’t quite as clever as they might seem. But have no fear! We have carefully curated a list of thoughtful, photo-specific gifts that will put a smile on the face of anyone from the casual shooter to the diehard camera nerd.

$25-$75: Olloclip Macro Pro Lens for iPhone $69

Macro photography is incredibly fun. Things look completely different when you get insanely close and magnify them. The problem, however, is that a high-end macro lens costs hundreds of dollars and might not get enough use to warrant the price. This compact little package, however, fits easily into a pocket and adds very high-quality close-up optics to the iPhone’s built-in camera. There are three different arrangements, including a 7x, a 14x, and a rather insane 21x mode that can get you up-close and personal with such legitimately tiny objects as grains of salt. The translucent Instafocus hood makes it easy to figure out the focus distance without blocking out crucial light.

$25-$75: Lastolite 30-inch TriGrip Difflector $64

Like the Rodney Dangerfield of the photo gear world, reflectors just don’t get the respect they deserve. This 30-inch Difflector actually pulls double duty. Put it between your subject and the sun and it acts like a 1-stop diffuser that can seriously cut down on hot spots from bright light sources and even out the lighting ratio between your subject and the background. However, the shiny silver surface also makes it a very capable reflector, so you can put it below or to the side of your subject’s face to fill in tricky shadows. It’s built on a sturdy frame and has a beefy handle, so during a hot shoot, your assistants can fan you like you’re a member of ancient royalty.

$75-$150: Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Portable Drive $129

Photographers have a nasty habit of keeping files spread across a small army of portable hard drives, but this clever little storage devices aims to keep everything—including photos and videos from your phone—in a more central location. The drive itself has a built-in USB 3.0 connection, which funnels data into a 4TB drive inside. It’s compatible with PCs and Macs, and can share between the two, but it can also use the Seagate Mobile App to backup files directly from a smartphone. So, you never have to worry about losing all those pictures you took with your phone of pretty sunsets or weird signs you saw when you were traveling.

$150-$400: Lowepro Protactic SH 200 AW Camera Bag $169

Choosing a camera bag can be a very personal experience, but this messenger-style bag is customizable enough that it can fit into just about any photographer’s arsenal. The exterior of the bag is wrapped in tough nylon straps that reinforce the construction, but also allow for extra storage modules to be attached on the front and sides. The deep gear compartment his highly customizable so it can fit a full-sized DSLR with lenses and accessories, or a smaller system camera with even more extra stuff. It also holds a laptop and has smaller pockets for crucial things like memory cards, extra batteries, and delicious granola bars that can be a real lifesaver during a long shoot.

$150-$400: Ricoh Theta S $349

Virtual reality is a thing that we’re going to be seeing a lot of in the near future, and Ricoh has tried to get out in front of VR image capture with its updated 360-degree camera, the Theta S. The slim camera itself is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket, sporting a lens and sensor on each side. These two imaging devices capture still images or video footage in sync that’s then stitched together to create a truly immersive representation of its surroundings. The Theta S is not meant to replace a traditional camera, but you don’t need a set of VR goggles to view it—the interactive 360-degree spherical footage is now supported by services like Facebook, Google, and YouTube, which is a big deal. So, you can have the most accurate possible document of your family arguing around the table at a holiday dinner.

$400 and Over: Phottix Indra500 TTL Battery Powered Studio Light $1,199

Off-camera lighting is a way for a photographer to seriously take their skills to a different level. This moonlight-style strobe is fully battery-powered, so it’s meant to venture out of the studio and into the field. It has the power of a whole gang of speedlights, so it can do things those little strobes can’t, like overpower the sun or throw light over long distances. Plus, it has built-in TTL capabilities, so you can set it in auto mode if you’re trying to capture shots in rapidly changing lighting situations. Even if you prefer to shoot in all-manual, you’ll appreciate the ability to change the flash power from the transmitter rather than walking over to the light every time you want to add or subtract a fraction of a stop.