Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire School me on digital SLR's

Well, I recently sold a 22-250 to bu another 22-250. The one I sold was a safe queen and at 13 lbs and pretty bulky, too unwieldy for anything but the bench.

Then this weekend I was deer hunting and while I did not see a single deer, I did see all kinds of cool stuff that made me wish I had a great camera and the skills to use it.

So, for the first time in my life, I am contemplating using gun money for something other than another gun!

I have done some reading and will do much more research before deciding if/when/what DSLR to buy, but I just wanted to tap into the crew here:

what do you have? What do you recommend? What should a guy look for?

My budget ($600-$800) will hopefully fund a decent beginner camera...

thanks ,

--Duck911

You can actually take great snapshots with a small Sony digital camera but it's not a SLR. I had one and got the itch for a SLR and bought a Nikon D300 w/zoom lens but it was considerably higher that your price parameters. I love it but don't have enough smarts to utilize all its features. Check out the small Sony pocket digitals at Wal-Mart. I bought mine from the advertiser here at the campfire and his price was competitive...I guess.

A few generalities only from me. Experts like UtahLefty can give you more details than you can digest.

Don't be mislead by huge numbers of megapixels. More megs does NOT mean better pictures. Eight meg is more than enough for high detail even when blown up to 8x10". Unless you are making huge posters, that's plenty.

Do shop for a camera with "zero delay." Many digitals have a delay of up to a half-second between when you push the shutter and when the photo is actually taken. It is absolutely impossible to catch facial expressions or action shots with those.

"Digital" telephoto gives you lower quality, it's done by forcing less detail. The guideline should be the camera's optical telephoto limit, stated in X's like for a scope.

If you have a film SLR with interchangeable lenses, stick with that brand; the lenses can probably fit your new digital as well. If you don't have lenses, brand doesn't really matter.

Mine is a Canon PowerShot S5-IS which isn't made any more. It's also not a true SLR with interchangeable lenses, but it does offer great quality, a broad range from SuperMacro to decent telephoto, viewfinder PLUS screen, and a built-in hot shoe for remote flash in addition to the built-in flash. It's good enough that I gave one to each of my daughters last year, and they love theirs, too.

I went through this a while back, and wound up getting a Canon EOS from Camera Land. This was purchased as a kit and included two good lenses, but was a bit over your budget. I will never figure out all the features - these new cameras are incredible.

Had EXCELLENT dealer service with Camera Land, too.

Well, I may be able to expend the budget slightly if I tell the wife the camera is hers too....

I already have a point and shoot and it takes OK pics but I really want to upgrade

a budget of $600-800 will get you an entry-level SLR and an entry-level lens. If you're looking to get a foot in the door now and add lenses and/or upgrade bodies later, I'll write more.

However, if you're looking for something to carry along and still get pretty good pix for $600 or less, I would strongly consider a $400 Canon G10 or G11.

review here

Wow, that G11 looks like a great deal. I can vouch that the tilt/swivel screen can be hugely helpful (although Canon had to replace mine under warranty once).

The Pentax Kx is a good value for a starter-intermediate DSLR, would be what I would buy if I could afford it...

The Canon's are nice. I have a G7 that is a few years old and it takes fantastic pics.

While not an SLR, I really like the Canon 120 digital camera that my wife bought me for Christmas last year. My wife has a Canon SLR with multiple lenses and a larger battery pack, and while it takes great pictures it is just not convenient for some activities due to size and weight. In fact, now as often as not, my wife will leave her SLR behind and we'll just take my much smaller Canon 120.

It's been a great little camera and at least one other person who has used it has liked it so much they bought the same model too.

the issue with entry-level DSLRs is that the barrier-to-entry is pretty high ($600-700). See Canon rebel Ti , Nikon D60, Sony A350

The next level up is a significant boost in capability but only adds $200-300 to the cost ($900-1,200). See Canon 50D, Nikon D90, Sony A700.

The Tamron 17-55 f2.8 is $400 and is one of the most under-priced tack-sharp lenses out there.


So:

1) you could buy an entry-level Canon Rebel/Nikon D60/ Sony A350 + Tamron lens for $1,100

or

2) a Canon 50D/Nikon D90/ Sony A700 + Tamron lens for $1400


that extra $300 buys you A LOT

I'm shooting Canon 5D's. A great choice for $749.95 B&H Photo price is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i with kit lens 18-55 IS, 15.1 megapixel and will shoot live 720p HD video! You can add all kinds of great lens to the DSLR cameras. Buy Cannon or Nikon DSLR's......Don't buy Sony becauce of resale and lack of lens....

Something like this?

EOS package deal

Use it until I can upgrade lenses?

I was in the same boat as you are, needing something to take pic's of wildlife. I could not afford to go fully DSLR and after a year of canvassing the internet, I found what I was looking for. It was a Canon SX10-IS. Again, not a true DSLR with changeable lenses, but with a optical zoom of 20X, it's hard to beat. Also has built in image stabilization. It has 10.0 megapixels. Depending on the memory card, can hold thousands of photo's. It also can take several hours worth of movies including sound. Still, the best feature is the zoom. It has the 20X optical, but also has the 4X digital which can make it a total of 80X if you can live with the lower quality at those distances. The numbers comparable to 35mm is 28mm to 560mm.

Nikon just discontinued the D3000 dslr,so you should be able to get some good deals, For about $600, you should be able to get the D3000, 18-55, and 55-200 lenses as a kit.

You might look into the mirror-less or micro 4/3 format (eg. Sony nex5, Panasonic GF, Olympus E-PL) for a camera body smaller than a full-sized dslr, but has interchangeable lenses.

The Canon G11 or 12 is sized nice, takes good images and is well-recommended.

i have a nikon D80 with tele lens i'll let go cheap enough!

ML

Yes

2 great lens for the Canon you can pickup later are 24-70mm 2.8L and the 70-200 2.8L IS....Have fun with your new camera...

A Canon or Nikon body and lens. One can add lenses as funds become available if you get serious. I happen to think that both pixel count and good lenses are the ticket. With higher pixel counts, one can zoom into the center of an image and still have a reasonable photo. Here's an example from my wife's camera. She is running a Canon EOS 50D.

The original image 15 mega pixels. Osprey across the river.


Zoomed into the center of the image. Beginning to see pixels, and not something I would show off, but not too bad either.

The pictures I post here were taken with A Nikon D-80. We love it!