Advice on buying a camera

[C C]

I have been itching to get into wildlife photography for an age, not sure what to start with. Looking for something easy to use and does not cost the earth. Any suggestions would be greatfull. Also, can you rig any cammera up to a trail monitor,this looks great fun.

[leon-b]

i have recently got a fujifilm s5600 these can be had for about £200 and i love mine
leon

[Blackdog]

Hi CC and welcome to WAB.
I think if ten people answered this question, you would probably get ten completely different views. It really depends on how much you want to spend and how close you want your pictures to be.

There are any number of compact cameras on the market with varying quality. If you go down this route, you would want a reasonable zoom facility. I am not aware of any that have interchangeable lenses so you would need to be fairly close to your subject.

There are another range, known as pro-sumer or bridge cameras. The Fuji S9600 is a good example. Fuji FinePix S9600 - warehouseexpress.com
On the earlier models you could get 'add on' lenses which screwed over the lens body which added to the zoom or wide angle range. I still have my Fuji 6900 it has taken some fantastic pictures for me

Here are just two - apologies that they are not from Great Britain, but they are on British Territory )





You could then consider a Digital SLR which will allow you to fit different lenses to suit differing conditions. You have a wide choice of telephoto, zoom, wide angle and macro to choose from. The most popular makes are probably Canon and Nikon. You can spend LOTS of money on this kit. To see some excellent examples of pictures taken with this sort of equipment, browse the galleries and look at work by the likes of GLSAMMY, Kev Lewis, Boddie and Eeyore. They are just a few of the talented photographers who frequent this website.

Happy snapping

[eeyore]

Thanks for the compliment Blackdog

If you only want to spend a few hundred quid then a high end brdge camera is the way to go - I have an Panasonic FZ7 which lives in the car and i'm well happy with it - these go for arround 180 notes

mind you my main kit is a canon 20D SLr and about 3Ks worth of lenses - so be warned this hobby can be expensive and addictive once you get into it (although that said I am now making a second income from it so it more than pays for itself )

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by eeyore

Thanks for the compliment Blackdog

If you only want to spend a few hundred quid then a high end brdge camera is the way to go - I have an Panasonic FZ7 which lives in the car and i'm well happy with it - these go for arround 180 notes

mind you my main kit is a canon 20D SLr and about 3Ks worth of lenses - so be warned this hobby can be expensive and addictive once you get into it (although that said I am now making a second income from it so it more than pays for itself )

Credit where it's due Pete

[Blackdog]

I'm scared to add up what my lot cost

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

I'm scared to add up what my lot cost

tell me about it - I added my lot up for the insurance and worked out that not counting bodys I have just over 3k in lenses - with bodies it appoaches 4.5k and if you factor in downloaders , batteries , cards , tripods , bags etc the total cost is nearer six.

If I hadnt spent that lot piece meal I could have had a 1Dmk2 and 500mm f2.8 IS there is a lesson in there somewhere

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by eeyore

tell me about it - I added my lot up for the insurance and worked out that not counting bodys I have just over 3k in lenses - with bodies it appoaches 4.5k and if you factor in downloaders , batteries , cards , tripods , bags etc the total cost is nearer six.

If I hadnt spent that lot piece meal I could have had a 1Dmk2 and 500mm f2.8 IS there is a lesson in there somewhere

I was chatting to Boddie about this the other day.
My current kit kist goes a bit like this -

Canon EOS5 body
100-400 pump
500L IS (only had it a week -still getting used to it)
75-300 IS -
Canon 1.4 teleconv
Siggy 12-24 wide angle
Tamron 90mm macro
Speedlite 580ex
Manfrotto 55pro tripod with 501 fluid head
Slik ProPod 600 monopod

I'm just waiting for the insurance bill to arrive

[eeyore]

yeah mine is

Canon 20D
Canon 300D
Canon eos 30E
Canon eos 3
Canon eos 5
canon eos 50


2 kit lenses
Little bigma
Canon 70-300 f5.6USM IS
Canon 90-300 f5.6 USM
Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
Canon 70-200 IS f2.8 (on order)
Canon 28-135 f5.6 IS
Sigma 28-200 f5.6
Sigma 10-20 f5.6
kenko 1.4 and 2x TCs
Kenko ext tubes

Pentax MZ6 and MZ 30
pentax 100-300
pentax 28-80
sigma (pentax fit) 400mm

Fuji F10
Fuji S7000
Panasonic FZ7

Mamiya 645 with 45mm, 85mm, and 150mm lenses

Pentax 67 with 45mm and 90mm lenses

sectronic light meter

Tons of lowe pro bags etc
innoplus 40GB downloader
10 Gb in 1GB cards
5 Gb in 512mb cards

420 EX flash
2x Sunpack flash with slave units
home made macro flash head

10 batteries to fit 20D/300D + 4 batteries for the downloader

Manfrotto 190 DB tripod and 222 head
Manfrotto monopod
4 bean bags

[Blackdog]

And you get all that in a Ka?????

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

And you get all that in a Ka?????

not all at the same time - my practice is to go equiped for one purpose - e.g if its landscapes for postcards / calendars etc only one of the medium format kits comes

the canon film bodies are for dusty or hazardous environments where i dont want to use the dslrs - plus the eos 5 has a very quiet shutter and thus is good for remote photography of shy wildlife

the pentax slr gear is redundant - largely used by my mum and sis now

the fz lives in the car and the fuji f10 is my walking arround camera which stays on my belt 24/7

my default general purpose kit is the 20D with the little bigma , the 28-135 IS and the 10-20

[Blackdog]

Impressive kit list all the same. I guess that's a few years worth of collecting too.

BTW, are you thinking of the Devon trip with Boddie?

[eeyore]

yep - i'm definitely in for that - it means we will have to put yorkshire on hold , but we can always do that in march sometime.

[Blackdog]

Sounds good to me
I'm off to my pit now - work in the morning

[eeyore]

yeah me too

Laters

[FungiJohn]

Looking at the original thread by C C

Originally Posted by C C

I have been itching to get into wildlife photography for an age, not sure what to start with. Looking for something easy to use and does not cost the earth. Any suggestions would be greatfull. Also, can you rig any cammera up to a trail monitor,this looks great fun.

The thread seems to have moved off course. C C is looking for something easy to use and does not cost the earth ....

What do some of these replies tell someone with very little money but a passion for Wildlife!

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Looking at the original thread by C C

The thread seems to have moved off course. C C is looking for something easy to use and does not cost the earth ....

What do some of these replies tell someone with very little money but a passion for Wildlife!

to be fair FJ we have already answered the question - to whit :

Originally Posted by eeyore

If you only want to spend a few hundred quid then a high end brdge camera is the way to go - I have an Panasonic FZ7 which lives in the car and i'm well happy with it - these go for arround 180 notes

Originally Posted by blackdog

think if ten people answered this question, you would probably get ten completely different views. It really depends on how much you want to spend and how close you want your pictures to be.

There are any number of compact cameras on the market with varying quality. If you go down this route, you would want a reasonable zoom facility. I am not aware of any that have interchangeable lenses so you would need to be fairly close to your subject.

There are another range, known as pro-sumer or bridge cameras. The Fuji S9600 is a good example. Fuji FinePix S9600 - warehouseexpress.com
On the earlier models you could get 'add on' lenses which screwed over the lens body which added to the zoom or wide angle range. I still have my Fuji 6900 it has taken some fantastic pictures for me

these forum posts always meander all over the place , so i cant really see any problem with the way this one has gone, but as you know I am always happy to help out newbies with photographic advice so if CC has other questions they only need ask them

[Blackdog]

Sorry, it was meant to be harmless banter. But, as eeyore pointed out, we did answer the question first
If CC needs more info then please ask away, I'm sure between us all we will be able to help out

[C C]

Thanks for replies Scary buisness buying a camera, so much on the market, a total amature can get lost. I dont want to buy a camera and find that its usless for my needs.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by C C

Thanks for replies Scary buisness buying a camera, so much on the market, a total amature can get lost. I dont want to buy a camera and find that its usless for my needs.

best thing is to work out exactly what you want to do with it - and how much you can afford to spend - then work back from there to what gear is the best for you.

if you put your requirements and budget up on here I am sure we can help you out (or pm me if you prefer)

[steveo]

there are plenty of good 'Bridge' cameras out there. i got a Panasonic FZ50 as my first ever proper camera, which i was well pleased with. others i considered were the Samsung Pro185 and the Fuji S9600. i opted for the FZ50 as it had that little bit extra zoom and was dead easy to use. i've since bought a Nikon D80 and the FZ50 is a LOT simpler to set and use.

buy the way i'm selling the FZ50 if your interested
For Sale Fz50 Digital Camera. - Plymouth

[cherrybee]

Originally Posted by leon-b

i have recently got a fujifilm s5600 these can be had for about £200 and i love mine
leon

I have just ordered that one on Amazon for £124 .Hope its as good as it seems I personally like fuji.