Best Gift Ideas for Mirrorless Photographers and Videographers (Part III)

We've been busy recommending various gifts for photographers, and as the Christmas season approaches, we've got more suggestions that are great value and will definitely be appreciated by photographers. Previously, we recommended LCD protectors and thumb grips, as well as different filters and compact tripods. This time, we're looking at external flashes, hot shoe covers, cleaning kits, and external harddrives. (Cover Photo by Surface on Unsplash).

External Speedlite Flash

Most professional mirrorless cameras do not have a built in camera flash. Even those with an internal flash will usual have one that isn't very powerful. For 85% of situations, you won't need a flash, but for those occasions where you need more light, an external flash can help create better captured memories.

The best value is the Godox TT350 series. This flash is able to provide TTL auto flash, meaning you don't need to manually set the flash value as t the speedlite unit will communicate with your camera. This was a feature previously available for OEM flashes only, but this third-party option provides the same functionality at a lower cost.

Aside from the TTL feature, the Godox TT350 also offers a built-in 2.4G wireless radio system for off-camera flash. You can use an external trigger like the Godox Xpro and you'll be able to create studio portraits with a very capable studio strobe kit..

For this speedlite (and many similar units), you will need to buy the flash specifically for your camera system, this is is typically denoted by the letter right after the 350. For example, "TT350N" is for Nikon, "TT350F" is for Fujifilm, etc.

On top of all these features, the flash comes in at a very attractive pricepoint, especially compared to the OEM version which can easily be twice as much.

• Get the Godox TT350C for Canon here
• Get the Godox TT350F for Fujifilm here
• Get the Godox TT350N for Nikon here
• Get the Godox TT350O for Olympus and Panasonic here
• Get the Godox TT350S for Sony here

Hot Shoe Mount Cover

The hot shoe of a camera is intended for the external flash and audio, and contains electronic contacts for the external device to communicate with the camera. This is usually placed at the top of the camera, and is exposed by default. This can attract dust and dirt, and may be prone to exposure from rain or even physical bumps.

A hotshoe cover mitigates this risk by covering the exposed hotshoe area. Many hotshoe covers exist, and come cheap. The most common ones are just black plastic covers, but you can also find some in interesting designs made in brass or other materials.

While these hotshoe covers are universal, Sony users will need to shop for these covers specifically made for Sony. Still, there are plenty of options out there, and most of them fall under $10, making them the perfect stocking filler.

• Get the Neewer 4 Pieces Camera Hot Shoe Cover here
• Get 4pcs Camera Hot Shoe Cover Protector Cap for Sony here
• Get the Cartoon Bear, Bee, Panda hot shoe cover here

Camera Cleaning Kit

A cleaning kit is another inexpensive gift options for photographers and videographers. Cleaning tools such air blowers and lens pens can be purchased separately, but it also makes sense to procure this as one set to eliminate any missed items.

The Altura cleaning kit coms with a small bottle of lens cleaning fluid, a lens pun, lens brush and an air blower. It also comes with sheets of lens tissue paper as well as microfiber cloth.

Another option is the Altura Photo Professional Cleaning Kit. This bundle includes similar items as the Altura kit, but also includes cleaning swabs for the sensor and a handy storage box to keep all of your cleaning utensils.

For a more premium option, there's the K&F Concept 23-in-1 Professional Camera Cleaning Kit is available, albeit a more premium price. This bundle includes all of the above items, but also has different sizes of sensor cleaners for APS-C or for full-frame cameras. It has multiple cleaning cloths, plus a premium set of gloves. 

• Get the Altura Photo Professional Cleaning Kit for DSLR Cameras here
• Get the ParaPace Professional Camera Cleaning Kit here
• Get the K&F Concept 23-in-1 Professional Camera Cleaning Kit here

External Hard Drive

Professional photographers and serious enthusiasts will know that their JPEGs and RAW files can consume a lot of space in a very short span of time. Here's where an external hard drive can come in very handy.

These portable hard drives come in a variety of sizes, with basic ones coming in at 100GB, and premium ones holding more than 4TB of data! However, just as with SD cards, it's best to stick with moderately sized hard drives.

The Toshiba Canvio Basics is a great value hard drive if you're looking for a more budget friendly option. It comes in capacities of 1TB, 2TB or 4TB with a nice matte black finish. No special software is needed to use the Toshiba Canvio; just simply plug and play to transfer your photos.

The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD is also a good choice and comes in with 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB variants. This external solid state drive can read and write at speeds of around 1000MB/s and 1050MB/s respectively, and is resistant to drops, water and dust (IP5 resistance rating). It also has a handy loop for easier handling.

The Seagate Portable External Hard Drive comes in several variants, from 1TB all the way up to 20TB, although the larger capacity variants are harder to find these days. Just as well as you're better off choosing the lower capacity variants in case any of your external drives fail, you'll only be losing a portion of your total files. The Seagate comes with its own USB 3.0 cable, and has a 1-Year Rescue Service as well.

• Get the Toshiba Canvio Basics here
• Get the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD here
• Get the Seagate Portable External Hard Drive here

While you're here, check out the previous articles on this gift recommendation series:

• The Best Christmas Gifts for Photographers
• Best Christmas Gifts for Photographers and Videographers (Part II)

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