This is your essential equipment guide for intermediate photographers, where we have covered camera bodies, lenses, filters, and additional gear to elevate your photography game this year.
Someone who is looking for an upgrade to become an intermediate photographer is in for quite an exciting journey. After mastering the basics of photography, it’s now time to take things to the next level, and for that, one has to upgrade their skill set, camera gear, and supporting equipment.
You landed on this page because you were looking for an equipment guide for intermediate photographers, and if that's true, we presume that you already went through the pretty common journey of starting from scratch and on a budget. In that case, your next step should be to consider the following things.
1. Upgrade your camera body:
If you were using a DSLR, then moving to APS-C cameras will be a great step up for you. These sensors do crop your field of view, but can be advantageous if you are into telephoto shooting. If you are already working with APS-C cameras, then moving to full-frame cameras will be a good move, as they are now becoming the industry standard.
With full-frame cameras, you will get a much larger sensor without any crop factor, which is suitable for those who also want to capture wide-angle shots along with portraits. This sensor size, being closer in size to traditional 35mm film, gives you much crisper optical quality, especially in low light, but they are often at the higher price spectrum.
Look for features like in-body image stabilization (with as many AF points as possible in your autofocus system) with solid motion tracking, and aim for 24MP or higher to have more pixels to work with. Cameras like the Nikon Z6 II, Sony A7 IV, and Canon EOS R6 Mark II come in this upgrade pool and deliver the best-in-class performance for an intermediate setup.
2. Camera Lens
The lens is the heart of your intermediate photography upgrade, as it will truly unlock the potential of your camera body. Look for lenses that are not too expensive but pack a good punch of performance requirements of 2025, i.e., much better sharpness as compared to previous lenses, better low-light performance, faster autofocus systems, etc. Before picking one, you also need to consider what your photography preferences are.
For example, some are into wildlife and sports or may want to capture far-off portraits with bokeh; then you should opt for a mid-range telephoto lens somewhere between 70 to 200mm focal length for a zoom lens. For everyday shooting with a balance of both worlds, opt for a standard zoom lens of 24 to 70mm. If landscapes are your thing, then consider somewhere between 16 and 35 mm.
If you are not into zoom lenses, then prime lenses are a much better choice for most, as they are lighter and provide better performance. Our equipment guide for intermediate photographers won’t be complete if we don’t recommend one of the best lenses you can get this year, the SIRUI AURORA 85mm F1.4 lens. This full-frame autofocus lens is a fast, quiet, and ultra-high-quality portrait lens that is designed for photographers needing professional-grade portraits without breaking the bank.
The Aurora 85mm lens features an advanced optical design featuring 14 elements in 9 groups combined with a wide f/1.4 aperture. This combo lets you take exceptional low-light portraits from far away and should be on your list for an intermediate to high-end upgrade of camera gear. Its weather-sealed body and high-end materials are used to add durability so that your upgrade can last for years to come.
Unlike other 85mm lenses, the SIRUI Aurora observes minimal distortion and chromatic aberration even at wide open F1.4, which is something only typical of very high-end and costly lenses. Overall, a great lens that one should consider for their intermediate or high-end upgrade at a budget price.
3. Tripod
As you upgrade your photography gear, it will also include your tripod. It will help safeguard your new camera body by giving it more stability and will also help you take better, stable shots. Professional-grade tripods are quite expensive these days. We recommend investing in a brand that offers lightweight carbon fiber or aluminum construction with a smooth, adjustable height mechanism and a quick-release plate for a fast camera mounting base.
If you are into outdoor photography, then weight should be your concern. Moreover, there are many tripods out there, especially designed to give more grip on different terrains. Many people appreciate a tripod ball head, which will give you more flexibility in terms of faster movements.
4. Lighting
Lighting is such a big subject here for an upgrade that it deserves a separate article. For starters, look for much bigger and better diffusing light modifiers like softboxes and diffusers, which will help soften and diffuse harsh light for indoor photography. LED prime lights and small RGB lights for the background can be considered for your upgrade.
For outdoors, cob lights with exchangeable battery packs should be on your list, which now come with almost 100 watts of power and are pretty useful. Just make sure to learn how to use white balance to match skin color.
6. Filters, memory, and battery capacity
Then there are small things to add or upgrade, which will impact your final photos. For example, investing in a much better camera will require faster memory cards, including SDXC or CFexpress, to keep up with the faster processing and writing speeds of the camera body.
Investing in ND and polarizing filters will also dramatically impact your photography results, as both reduce reflections and will enable you to work in bright outdoor lighting conditions. Buying an extra battery for the next shoot is also a move for a gear upgrade.
Wrapping Up:
Before we conclude our equipment guide for intermediate photographers, it is worth stressing that among all the upgrades we mentioned above, selecting a lens is probably the biggest upgrade, as it is the eye of your camera, and if it can’t see properly, then other upgrades won’t make a lot of difference in your photography results. We recommend investing in the SIRUI Aurora lens due to its affordability and high performance-to-cost ratio, making it an excellent intermediate-to-high-end upgrade for camera equipment.
