help needed which camera please

[shei111]

Good afternoon to you all, its a cloudy dull day on the east coast, Please could someone out there give me some advice on what would be the best camera to buy for deer shots? Price region about £300 , would I need a zoom lens? went out this morning must have seen in the region of 130 red deer in different groups but they seem so far away on our SONY 5.1 mega pixels cyber shot. We are novices to the photography world so be gentle with us ! many thanks sheila

[GerryNick2]

A tricky one to answer given the vast array of choices now available. If deer are your main quarry then unless you are able to get very close I would suggest you will need a zoom or telephoto lense.

A budget of £300 would tend to rule out a DSLR and zoom lense combination.Sticking with Canon equipment of which I am more familiar I would have recommended as a stating point looking at one of the 400D package deals as a starting point with a view to adding other lenses at a later date. The package with the 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses would probably meet your initial needs but unfortunately would mean an outlay of £579.

An alternative would be to look at the compact range. The new Canon Powershot S5 IS is a 8mega pixel camera with a 36-432mm lense. This should give you sufficient reach to get some very nice shots. Very reasonably priced at £269.

I am sure you will get many other recommendations on other makes.

Good luck.

Gerry

[shei111]

Hello Gerry many thanks for your help on cameras we can get within a half a field away from the deer, so the canon may be ok. We will wait for a few more replys before deciding which to go for ,we have always made do with the small amount of gear what we have , but since being a member on WAB we would like to share our photos with other members. Thanks agian we do appreciate it . sheila

[mh68]

Hi Sheila. The Panasonic fz18 and fz50 are both considered leaders of the current range of superzoom compacts, if you decided to take that route, and both are within your budget.You may find the link below useful, as it has reviews and descriptions of all the popular models, including the 2 mentioned above.

Digital Camera Database: Digital Photography Review

Mark H

[Geoff F]

Personally, I would be looking at spending around £1000 just for a lens for this sort of work. But, a friend has recently bought a Panasonic point and shoot, I think it is the TZ3, anyway it's the one with 10x zoom, approx 7 MGP with a Leica lens. He has been getting some very sharp long range shots. The fiddliness and lack of 'real' camera controls, just modes to select, would drive me crazy, but he seems to be coping OK; he is in his 70's and this is his first digital camera.

[mh68]

I forgot to add, theres also the option of buying secondhand. If youre careful what you buy, you could get a decent DSLR body and zoom lens within your budget.I recently took the secondhand route when upgrading to DSLR, and got a body and 70-300mm zoom lens for under £250.People are upgrading so often these days as new models are released, you can find some real bargains if you search around the likes of Ebay etc.

Mark H

[nightshade]

How about a body only,Nikon D40X or Canon 400d teamed up with a Sigma
70-300,prices vary so shop around

[trampas45]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

Personally, I would be looking at spending around £1000 just for a lens for this sort of work. But, a friend has recently bought a Panasonic point and shoot, I think it is the TZ3, anyway it's the one with 10x zoom, approx 7 MGP with a Leica lens. He has been getting some very sharp long range shots. The fiddliness and lack of 'real' camera controls, just modes to select, would drive me crazy, but he seems to be coping OK; he is in his 70's and this is his first digital camera.

this may come as a surprise but not everyone, me included, can spend
£1000 on a lens.reality is a hard mistress.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Geoff F

Personally, I would be looking at spending around £1000 just for a lens for this sort of work. But, a friend has recently bought a Panasonic point and shoot, I think it is the TZ3, anyway it's the one with 10x zoom, approx 7 MGP with a Leica lens. He has been getting some very sharp long range shots. The fiddliness and lack of 'real' camera controls, just modes to select, would drive me crazy, but he seems to be coping OK; he is in his 70's and this is his first digital camera.

one has to be careful with zoom multiplication claims - the TZ3 does have a 10xs true but its 35mm equivalent is 28-280mm whereas the 10x on the fz50 is equivalent 40-400mm

the tz is a nice little camera but not the best for long range work

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by trampas45

this may come as a surprise but not everyone, me included, can spend
£1000 on a lens.reality is a hard mistress.

i'm sure geoof realises that , but the point is that you cant get champagne at beer prices and £300 notes wont get you much in the DSLR field even second hand.

you could get a second hand 20D or similar and a 500mm mirror lens in that budget but frankly i wouldnt go that route for the simple reason that mirror lenses are cumbersome and IMO total bobbins

like mark said you might be better off with a high end compact like the FZ50 which you can get for under 300 notes plus possible a tcon to screw onto the front to increase your range.

another option would be to work on your field craft to get closer to the deer so that you can photograph them at shorter range. - It may also nbe possible to fit a tcon to your sony if it has filter threads (total price maybe 80 notes depending where you buy) , I cant say for sure cos i'm not conversant with the sony range.

if you have a telescope or binoculars a third option would be to use a digiscoping adaptor (circa 50 squid) to put your sony on the back of these - image quality wont be brilliant and focusing may be difficult but this is probably the cheapest way forward..