What is the best camera??

[birdguy]

Hi sorry i am new here, i have just got into birdwatching and i was just wondering what is the best camera to get? the most i can spend is £300-£400 on one. i have been looking at a sony DSLR 200K. i am just wondering if someone could point me the right way.

Thanks

[Neil Rigby]

Hi Birdguy, I am also looking for something similar and have been doing quite a bit of research. Everything I find out I will post up here.

I am currently looking at Nikon D70, D80 or D90. The latter is the latest one and wouldn't give you much change out of £1,000.

You will need to factor in a decent lens too. Most Digital SLRs come with a standard general purpose lens which is not much use for photographing birds.

The albums are very inspiring and I want to get something soon!

[Dave H]

Hi, good luck with your search to find the right camera. The right one for you may be a quite different one to that chosen by another. A mix of the features that you want, price and expandability.

I've just come to a DSLR after my film cameras. Recently, I sold my excellent D70s and bought a D80, which can now be bought for around £300 used. It is very good indeed, easily an improvement on the D70(s) and based on the D200. My friend has just sprung for a D300. Now that is a very nice piece of kit, but heavy. I understand that the D90 shares the sensor with the D300. If this is the case, the low light (high ISO) performance will be superb, better than most presently on the market.

With long lenses etc, good low noise, high ISO work may be important to you.
It wasn't important enough for me to make me spend another £400 on one.

If future expandability is important for you (and it most likely will be, eventually) it would be useful to have an idea of what lenses you might buy. These can easily cost (much) more than the body. Even purchasing a modest group of lenses for your chosen system can be a waste if you later "upgrade" to another system which will not fit them.

Another useful idea is to look at what older lenses may be available. These can represent good savings and can be of high quality.

For these reasons, the major makes (Nikon, Canon and Pentax, probably others too) may be a good buy.

My system is Nikon (I don't know a great deal about the other major makes). I have lenses which I used on my film bodies, so you could say that I have bought into Nikon.
These lenses are generally not worth a lot, largely because the manual focus versions generally can only be used in full manual mode on a DSLR. Full manual mode having no auto exposure.
My original wanna-buy camera was (could still be) the D200. This is a tough body, quite heavy, but WILL give auto exposure on manual lenses (it has the AI aperture sensing tab on the body). This is incredible! It means that you can buy lenses from a wide range from the last 20-30 years. These will, of course be relatively cheap.

Just my experience, good luck.
Dave

[birdguy]

Thanks for your help guys i have been into town this morn to see what i could find and i found this one in PC world http://www.kays.com/rf/kay/p.do/elec...47&pageSize=96. sorry this is the only place i could find it online. what do you all think?

[bassist]

If it is this camera you mean,argos are doing the best deal at £259.99.Go to currys,comet or pc world.Tell them the deal that argos are doing ,and they will take 10% off the difference in price saving you approx £1:50.Its called price match.Don"t bother haggling or ask for extras though ....they will not budge.The camera has had some great reviews.......go for it.peace

[Dave H]

Looks nice. Only you know if that will suit you.

I would just repeat a little (forgive me):

If you think that you may want to add lenses to your system (the standard lens will be no where near suitable for bird shots, if that's what you plan), before you buy just do a few searches for lenses which will fit your choice.
Think of it as a way of determining its "future proofness". You may find that the range of lenses is very limited and if only of a modern standard, all expensive.

Of course, if the lens fitted as standard will be right for your future use, then there's no problem.

Dave

[birdguy]

Yea i was going to try argos n that, i cant wait to go out with it.

[bassist]

Was tempted to go for the a300 because of live view.But a guy with forty years experience ,talked me out of it.Its my first dslr,going to need a decent lens at some point..what is the best specs for birding any advice most appreciated.Peace

[kennethw]

that main thing you need for bird photographs is decent focal length, I am finding even 400mm too short. At the moment I am looking at the range of superzoom cameras, the issue for many is that, for example, Canon EF 400mm lens is not cheap, you're looking at around £1K upwards

try this site & superzooms on the LH sideReviews of Super Zoom Digital Cameras

[Plainsailing]

For the price range your looking at (£300-£400) have you thought about picking up a used camera, there are some bargins out there.
The link below is for a camera on e-bay, selling with a EF-S 55-250 MM f/4-5.6 IS lens which I would say is the minium you would need for taking pictures of birds.

Canon EOS Kiss 4 / 550D 18.0 MP Digital SLR Camera - Black (Kit w/ 18-55mm... (8714574549965) | eBay

happy shopping...