Advice: equipment for school photography

I now run a K-8 school and no longer have the joy of being the primary photographer for the school. I'm hiring a digital media specialist who will capture our experience, and that person will most likely have a photography degree. The school needs to provide the equipment. So my question is this: what should I buy?
Budget is tight, so the dream of a 5dII and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II isn't going to happen. It'll need to be a good APS-C body with lenses that can handle low light.
T3i and 85 f1.8?
The school already owns a Tamron 17-50 f/2.8, which I've been happily using as my own and will have to give back. Other ideas?
Thanks!

Can you give a figure for the budget. Also, what do you require from your equipment, you mentioned low light, what other limitations or expectations do you have? What style of photography will you specialize in or is it a bit of everything. Do you need any accessories that need to be factored into the budget such as a tripod, software, memory cards?


Is K-8 kindergarten to 8yr old?

How

William, K-8 is Kindergarten to grade 8 (12-13 year olds).


An 85mm f/1.8 would do nice portraits, and some sports. Depending on your light levels indoors (such as away from windows, during winter), the Tamron

You might want to wait until you find someone and see what they use. Since he/she is a pro, they will prolly be using Canon;). If they are using a better body than what you provide, they might end up using the stuff they are more comfortable with and the money was wasted.

That

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Originally Posted by andnowimbroke

You might want to wait until you find someone and see what they use. Since he/she is a pro, they will prolly be using Canon;). If they are using a better body than what you provide, they might end up using the stuff they are more comfortable with and the money was wasted.

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This is good advice.


If someone with a degree in photography is going to be hired, try to find someone who already has there own equipment. Save the money, use it for the school. If I had went to school to get a degree in photography you would think I would have some gear already.

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Originally Posted by HDNitehawk

If I had went to school to get a degree in photography you would think I would have some gear already.

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In a thread I'm following on CR, someone planning to attend a photography school in Seattle mentions that they require that students purchase full-frame dSLR. Ouch!

You can certainly give them the option of using their gear if they prefer, but offer to provide some basic kit, like you were planning. I have computers at home, but typically one is provided for me at work. I imagine a camera can be looked at the same way.


Neuro, A fullframe DSLR may cost less than some students spend on near useless textbooks over their 3-4 year degrees. Also several hundred dollars a year from my tuition went towards supporting the school

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Originally Posted by DavidEccleston

Neuro, A fullframe DSLR may cost less than some students spend on near useless textbooks over their 3-4 year degrees. Also several hundred dollars a year from my tuition went towards supporting the school's sports teams. At least they're getting something useful that they plan to use for years to come. I bet the resale value is better on the camera than used text books too.

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Too true...but the outlay for the FF dSLR is up front and all at once, not amortized over several years. I can absolutely confirm that I get more use from my 5DII than from the thousands of dollars worth of textbooks sitting in my office and on a bookshelf in the basement at home. At least I didn't pay for all of them - between my time spent teaching and my wife being a professor, we get a lot of instructor copies for free (but even then, the digital files that come with the books are often more useful than the printed volumes).