Seeking recommendations on new SLR for wildlife photography

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Hi. I have very little advanced of cameras and photography but I haven't let
that stop me from taking lots of pictures. Now I'm looking to upgrade to a
SLR so I'm hoping someone here can give me a few recommendations on
camera/lens combos that I should consider.

I find my main two uses for a camera are people/trip photos where I really
like to have a wide-angle and outdoor/wildlife photos where I need as much
zoom as is practical to carry around. I don't have a firm budget but I'm
looking at $1000 or so for the whole package.

I have a friend who loaned me her Digital Rebel which I liked and from
reading this board others do as well. She had a telephoto lens which I don't
recall the particulars of but went to 300mm and had the image stabilization
which I really liked... although I it seemed slow to focus so I had trouble
catching birds on the wing in focus. But I'm willing to accept a few
limitations to keep the costs down.

Suggestions welcome.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

> Hi. I have very little advanced of cameras and photography but I haven't let
> that stop me from taking lots of pictures. Now I'm looking to upgrade to a
> SLR so I'm hoping someone here can give me a few recommendations on
> camera/lens combos that I should consider.
>
> I find my main two uses for a camera are people/trip photos where I really
> like to have a wide-angle and outdoor/wildlife photos where I need as much
> zoom as is practical to carry around. I don't have a firm budget but I'm
> looking at $1000 or so for the whole package.

You probably won't like this answer, but for $1000, I would forget
about a dSLR. You want to spend your money on lenses. Canon's 75-300
IS lens is perfect for shooting wildlife, but you won't be able to
afford it if you also purchase a digital camera. Also, it's harder to
get wide-angle shots with an affordable digital camera, because
digital cameras crop off part of the image (resulting in what is
commonly called image magnification).

I would recommend a film Rebel, the 75-300 IS lens, and either a 3rd
party wide-angle lens (down to 17mm or so), or Canon's 28-135 IS lens.
(I have the 75-300 IS / 28-135 IS combo, along with a Tamron 17-24mm
zoom.)

But if you really want a digital camera (which is, of course, an
enormous amount of fun), start by deciding how large you want your
final enlargements to be. Then assume 200dpi to make a reasonable
print. For example, if you want to make 8x10 prints, you'll need
1600x2000 dots. This is only about 3Mpix. If you get a 6MPix camera,
you can crop your image and still get a good print, which means you
don't need as long a zoom. (BTW, assuming you have a good lens/sensor
combination, 300dpi will look much better, 400dpi better yet. After
that, you don't get much improvement.)

I would try to borrow a non-SLR P&S camera, and see how you like the
enlargements from it, or plan on going up to about $2,000. Don't
forget that in addition to buying the dSLR and the lenses, you'll need
media cards, an extra battery, a carrying case, a nice strap, etc.

-Joel

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Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel@exc.com> wrote in message
news:YAW%d.161$l43.36@fe12.lga...
> > Hi. I have very little advanced of cameras and photography but I haven't
let
> > that stop me from taking lots of pictures. Now I'm looking to upgrade to
a
> > SLR so I'm hoping someone here can give me a few recommendations on
> > camera/lens combos that I should consider.
> >
> > I find my main two uses for a camera are people/trip photos where I
really
> > like to have a wide-angle and outdoor/wildlife photos where I need as
much
> > zoom as is practical to carry around. I don't have a firm budget but I'm
> > looking at $1000 or so for the whole package.
>
> You probably won't like this answer, but for $1000, I would forget
> about a dSLR. You want to spend your money on lenses. Canon's 75-300
> IS lens is perfect for shooting wildlife, but you won't be able to
> afford it if you also purchase a digital camera. Also, it's harder to
> get wide-angle shots with an affordable digital camera, because
> digital cameras crop off part of the image (resulting in what is
> commonly called image magnification).
>
> I would recommend a film Rebel, the 75-300 IS lens, and either a 3rd
> party wide-angle lens (down to 17mm or so), or Canon's 28-135 IS lens.
> (I have the 75-300 IS / 28-135 IS combo, along with a Tamron 17-24mm
> zoom.)
>
> But if you really want a digital camera (which is, of course, an
> enormous amount of fun), start by deciding how large you want your
> final enlargements to be. Then assume 200dpi to make a reasonable
> print. For example, if you want to make 8x10 prints, you'll need
> 1600x2000 dots. This is only about 3Mpix. If you get a 6MPix camera,
> you can crop your image and still get a good print, which means you
> don't need as long a zoom. (BTW, assuming you have a good lens/sensor
> combination, 300dpi will look much better, 400dpi better yet. After
> that, you don't get much improvement.)
>
> I would try to borrow a non-SLR P&S camera, and see how you like the
> enlargements from it, or plan on going up to about $2,000. Don't
> forget that in addition to buying the dSLR and the lenses, you'll need
> media cards, an extra battery, a carrying case, a nice strap, etc.
>

If you want to photograph wildlife, no telephoto lens is long enough and no
digital camera has enough pixels for sufficient digital zoom! You buy what
you can afford and live with what you get. Expecting to buy any DSLR with a
good (not great) telephoto lens for around $1000 is not realistic.

Ron

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Ron Recer wrote:
> If you want to photograph wildlife, no telephoto lens is long enough
> and no digital camera has enough pixels for sufficient digital zoom!
> You buy what you can afford and live with what you get. Expecting to
> buy any DSLR with a good (not great) telephoto lens for around $1000
> is not realistic.

If someone who has not yet gone digital may spread his own dilemma around a
bit: another approach is what is called digiscoping. In other words using a
digital P&S camera on the back of a spotting scope. It won't go in your
pocket (the camera might on its own) but then neither will any 300mm SLR
lens...

Mike.
--
If reply address = connectfee, add an r because it is free not fee.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

"DH" <dana_hartley@(remove)hotmail.com> wrote in
news:Qh10e.10479$lj4.9153@fe07.lga:

> Thanks to all for the recommendations and comments. I researched
> online some of the "super-zoom" digital P&S cameras and saw some I'm
> going to check out. If I can get a good P&S at 10-12x and a wide-angle
> lens for it then I'll probably go that direction and work my way up.


Just remember that the P&S cameras lack the ability to shoot high ISO/Low
noise or fast AF or fast response (low shutter lag).

I suggest going for the Canon 350D + kit lens + cheap 300 zoom, later you
would want to replace the long zoom (when you can afford it). At least you
will have a fast responsive camera that performs well at ISO 1600.


--
Mark Heyes (New Zealand)
See my pics at www.gigatech.co.nz (last updated 20-Jan-05)
"There are 10 types of people, those that
understand binary and those that don't"

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

>> trip photos where I really like to have a wide-angle
>
>20/2.8

With the 1.6 crop factor, you're 20mm lens will only give you the
coverage of a 32mm lens on a 35mm SLR - I don't think that's wide
enough for landscapes and such.

-Joel

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