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We’ve gathered the best beginner kit that’ll still get you bang for your buck
What we love
What we hate about tripods is
that they’re big, clunky and
weigh you down when on the
move. What we love about this
one is that it folds down to just
35cm and is quite lightweight,
yet extends to a decent max
height of 152cm. That’s thanks
to having five-section legs and
a two-section centre-column,
and legs that swing up for
reduced stowage size. This
Benro also has top-quality
construction and comes withan excellent ball head. It’s a
great budget performer.What’s missing?
It’s an aluminium rather than
carbon fibre tripod, but the
carbon edition isn’t much
lighter in weight and much
more expensive.Why upgrade?
Using the latest design tech,
this is a tripod that’s light, yet
sturdy, and folds down small
enough to take anywhere.Benro iFoto 19AIBO
Price £99/$99 Tested 154What we love
Compatible with both full-frame
and APS-C format DSLRs, this
Sigma lens gives greater
telephoto reach than
70-300mm lenses. But it is still
easily manageable, with a
reasonably compact, light build.
Features are excellent, including
dual-mode autofocus, dual-
mode stabilization, an autofocus
range limiter and even dualcustom modes, which you can
set up with Sigma’s optional
USB Dock. Image quality and
all-round performance are
superb, and you even get dual
zoom options, using the regular
zoom ring or applying a
push-pull action.What’s missing?
No tripod mounting ring is
available, even as an optionalextra, but the lens is just about
light enough not to need one.Why upgrade?
This lens costs less thanCanon’s 70-300mm L-series
lens, but has greater telephoto
reach and a whole host of
incredibly useful handling
enhancements.Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3
DG OS HSM | C
Price £679/$799 Tested 152What we love
One of the big attractions of
any ‘system camera’ that has
interchangeable lenses is that
you can fit the best tool for the
task at hand. The flip side is
that nobody likes travelling or
walking around with a heavy
bag of lenses. This Sigma
stretches from seriously
wide-angle coverage to
telephoto reach, with just the
twist of a zoom ring. Better still,
it manages to deliver
impressive image quality at allzoom settings, while keeping
the size and weight to easily
manageable proportions.What’s missing?
The ultrasonic motor-based AF
system lacks finesse. The ring
rotates during AF and manual
override is unavailable.Why upgrade?
If you bought your DSLR as a
kit with Canon’s 18-55mm or
18-135mm zoom lens, this will
give you much greater reach.Sigma 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3
DC Macro OS HSM | C
Price £349/$399 Tested 153OFTHEYEAR
Beginner/budget
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