New Camera/Lens/Equipment Recommendations
Hi! I'm a new member and want to buy a "Beginner" dSLR camera. My price range for the camera (excluding lenses) is approximately $1000 - $1200. My primary hobby use would be for nature photography.
What would be your recommendations for the camera, lenses, and any other accesories I would need such as a tripod? I currently have a Canon Powershot A640 and I'm ready to graduate to something a little more professional. I also plan to take some photography classes.
What would be your recommendations for the camera, lenses, and any other accesories I would need such as a tripod? I currently have a Canon Powershot A640 and I'm ready to graduate to something a little more professional. I also plan to take some photography classes.
________________________________
Joie
Joie
0
Comments
Joie, welcome to the Digital Grin.
If you could be a bit more specific about your needs and your plans?
Do you need to shoot small animals at a distance, for instance?
What image quality level do you desire?
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
As you can see the camera is relatively cheap when you start talking about quality glass.
Also, if you're budgeting $1000-1200 for the body (which is nice, there are lots of options available to you in that range or lower), what are you budgeting for lenses and other gear? A couple of general items you'll want to budget in: a good tripod and ball head (that will handle the camera/lenses you choose), a good bag (that will hold your gear, is easy for you to shoot out of, and suits your taste -- if you're like most photographers i know, you'll end up with a number (too many) of these while searching for the "right" one)
As for camera choosing, I like Nikon, other people like Canon... they (and other companies) make lots of nice cameras and lenses. I'd suggest handling a few and playing with them to see how they feel/fit in your hands. Even better if you can borrow one from someone to testdrive, see if the controls "work" for you (and a longer testdrive helps to figure out less obvious problems -- ie: if a camera is a bit too heavy/large, if the grip is not comfortable for your hand after an hour or two, or if a function you use a lot is buried in a menu instead of being on a button) The Nikon bodies I'd look at (around your price range) are the D90 (~$1000 new) and the D300 ($1200-1300 used) -- depending on the size/build quality/weight you prefer (You could also take a look at the older D200 $599.99 new@bestbuy). Definitely play before purchasing tho... I love the way my D200/300/700 feel in my hands (which aren't big), but a friend of mine found that the D200 was a bit too heavy for her (after borrowing/shooting with it for several weeks)
Someone else can recommend comparable Canon models to look at.
That setup would do you very well for a reasonable price.
http://www.jonathanswinton.com
http://www.swintoncounseling.com
The answer to your question is "Yes".
I live on a small farm and I really don't have to go much farther than my backyard to take some great landscape photos. I'm a flower gardener, I have several pets including horses, and there's lots of wildlife here to photograph. Also, there's some incredible farm sunsets from time to time.
Maybe it'll help you folks to help me get the equipment I need if I show you a few photos I took in my yard during an ice storm. There's also a photo of a new addition to the farm (at two days old) with momma. I've missed some opportunities for some great photos because I didn't have the equipment nor photography skills to take them. That's why I'm now here asking and learning.
http://joient.smugmug.com/photos/512679314_BNcdV-S.jpg
http://joient.smugmug.com/photos/512679657_aQzfM-S.jpg
http://joient.smugmug.com/photos/512680264_iThtR-S.jpg
http://joient.smugmug.com/photos/512679583_jLvs3-S.jpg
Joie
If you want to an very nice all purpose lens the 18-200mm VR is an excellent choice. It is the jask of all trades master of none type deal. It will get you just about all the different nature shots you want.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
http://www.danielkimphotography.com
I suggest that you narrow your scope of subjects and grow into a system over time. Trying to specify a system to do everything that you might want to do could involve many thousands of dollars of equipment and a dedication to techniques and methods best acquired over time.
You will often read that it is best to put your money into lenses versus camera bodies and for the larger part this is good advice. Camera bodies tend to "obsolete" and depreciate much faster than good lenses and good lenses are extremely important to forming the image in "any" camera, regardless of the other qualities of the camera.
I suggest that you start your search looking for lenses. Look at the different lens types, prime lenses (wide angle, standard and telephoto) and the zooms in somewhat the same categories. Also explore whether you like to shoot early in the morning and late into the evening, when the sun may not be so strong. Review your images looking for trends in focal lengths and try to concentrate your attention to those lenses that satisfy your usage.
Special applications, like birds in flight or small birds/animals at a distance, may require specialized lenses and other equipment. Larger animals, like deer, might not require as much sophistication.
Scenics and vista landscapes tend to use the wider focal lengths, but some scenics can use telephoto lenses as well.
Livestock are generally much easier to approach and may not need much specialization at all (standard lenses may be fine.)
So please do review your images and tell us how you would like to prioritize; what situations would you like to accomodate first?
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
From your pics, it looks like you may be into wideangle shots and maybe some close up stuff of flowers.
First of all, consider which system you want to get into. I would recommend either a Nikon or a Canon as they tend to dominate the market and have probably the widest system with most accessories that are easily available and good supply of third party lenses and such as well.
You may also want to look at some ultrawides zooms as well for the landscapes and a macro lens for flowers and portraits or pics of animals. Something along a 100mm macro lens is a nice idea.
Unless you intend to be very tough on the body, it may serve you better to use a entry level body and spend more on lenses and accessories like a tripod, filters, and such. Of course this depends on your total budget.
Good luck.
Come, join the dark side... we have cookies. The E-620 will be out in May for roughly $700 for the body. It has the same sensor and processor at the E-30 and in-body image stabilization, so all your lenses are stabilized.
Give Olympus a serious look and don't rule them out because it isn't a Canon or Nikon.
http://silversx80.smugmug.com/
Olympus E-M5, 12-50mm, 45mm f/1.8
Some legacy OM lenses and an OM-10
And if you want an amazing and cheap macro the 35mm F3.5 is scary sharp, and under 200. I also highly recomend the 9-18 if you want to go really wide.
The good news with Olympus is even though the kit lens is not fast it is very sharp and of much higher quality than canon or nikon
Plus I personally think the base colors of Olympus (and fuji) are much better than nikon or canon, allowing you to use jpgs alot more, and with raw files there is less time post processing due to a better initial setting