Gift guides

The situations people are really in when they buy a camera as a present. Each one is a finished answer. If none of them is your person, answer the questions and the site will work it out for yours.

• A first camera for someone who photographs their children

  They have a thousand pictures on a phone and none they would print.

• A camera that fits in a coat pocket

  For someone who travels, and who leaves a big camera in the hotel room.

• A first camera for a teenager

  Simple enough for the first afternoon, good enough for the second year.

• For someone who photographed years ago and stopped

  They are not a beginner. They have simply not held a camera in a decade.

• A camera for parties and gatherings

  Low light, nobody standing still, and the moment does not come round again.

• A camera for someone who walks, and photographs what they find

  Light enough to carry all day, and honest in a wide view.

• A Sony for someone who photographs often

  They have already decided on the maker. Honour it, and spend the thought on the lenses.

• A Fujifilm for someone who likes photographs and hates editing

  The picture comes out of the camera already looking the way they wanted.

• The lens to buy for someone who owns a Sony A7 IV

  They have the camera and the zoom it came with. This is the next lens.

• A lens for someone who can never get close enough

  The bird flew off. The child was at the far end of the pitch.

• One lens for everything, for a Fujifilm owner

  For the person who wants to stop carrying a bag of lenses.

• A present for someone who already has the camera and the lenses

  The hardest person to buy for, and the easiest to please.

• A present when you do not know what they own

  You know they photograph. You cannot ask without giving the present away.