Can I claim camera equipment?

For UK sole traders. Checked against gov.uk on 8 July 2026.

Yes, if it's for the business.

A working photographer's camera, lenses and lighting are trade equipment, claimable like any tradesperson's tools.

If photography is your trade, the kit is your toolbox: bodies, lenses, lighting, memory cards, tripods, and their repairs. All of it is allowable business expenditure, and under cash basis it's an expense in the year you pay, second-hand kit included. Keep proof of what you paid.

Mixed use follows the same rule as the laptop: claim the business share, with a basis you can show. A body bought for client work that also shoots the family holiday is claimed in its business proportion. Kit bought for a hobby that occasionally earns is claimed by its business use, not the wish.

Quick answers

Second-hand gear?
Yes. The cost is claimable when you pay it. Keep the receipt, or proof of the transfer if it was a private sale.

Repairs and servicing?
Claimable. Repairs and maintenance of business equipment has its own box on the return.

I shoot personal photos on the same body.
Claim the business share, with a sensible basis, same principle as the phone bill.

Compliance first.Every figure checked verbatim against gov.uk, with the date on the page

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Sources: HMRC's SA103F Notes 2026 (Boxes 22 and 23) and the Business Income Manual (BIM35000; BIM37007). Checked on 8 July 2026.