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DSLR + lense for wildlife photography beginner (1 Viewer)

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Amarillo

Well-known member
Am a complete novice (previously only had automatic cameras) looking to get into wildlife photography as a hobby

What would you advise me to get with a budget of £1000 absolute max, preferably a bit less

am thinking:

Canon EOS 1000D + 18-55mm Kit £400
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM £420

or the Nikon equivalent

Does this sound sensible?

Any tips much appreciated!
Cheers
 
Personally I think you'll find a 300mm lens a bit short for most bird photography, I would recommend looking for a longer lens secondhand. Something like a Canon 400 f5.6 (~£750 s/h), or a 100-400 (also ~£750 s/h) or a cheaper option would be something like a Sigma 50-500 (~£450 s/h). the 1000D body is fine but it is quite limiting, you might do better to try and buy a better body secondhand.
 
Spend your money on a good lens as Pete says. The beginners I know prefer the zoom because they find it easier to find the birds at say 200mm and then zoom out onto them.

You could then try and pick up a second hand 30D for £250-£300 or spend another £100 and see if you can get a 40D.

This set up would see even the most ambitious beginners through for the first 18 months and beyond.
 
Cristian Mihai said:
A second hand 40D body (around £450) and a second hand Sigma 50-500 (around £450) and a tripod.
Click to expand...

I go along with Cristian here, going to be alot of 40d second hand cameras soon with a fair number upgrading to a 7d, before you buy ask how many shutter actuations have been used 100,000 seems to be the maximum before replacement needed, if you buy off someone on here they will tell what the shutter count is, theres a little programme that can be used with your computer to tell this. I just sold a 70-300mm yesterday for £310 on ebay they are selling around the £300 mark but it is a bit short, but you can put a Tele Converter 1.4 on it and manual focus and sometimes AF and get 420mm its all within your budget, the reason for recommending the 40d is the 6 frames per second which is very handy for birds in flight. I also like sigma lenses and the 50-500 is a good lens for the price, I have never used one but many on here have, the 40d and the sigma comes into your budget very nicely and a very good starting point.
 
Last edited:
What postcardcv said plus if you look around a bit I am fairly certain you may get a Canon 400mm f5.6 for a bit cheaper than that ? But they are the lens in demand at the moment.
I also agree that the 1000D body may well not be up to the job and would suggest nothing less than a 30D.
 
I should clarify my opinion of the 1000D as I was a bit dismissive of it earlier. I have not used one in anger so my opinion is based on reading reviews a testing one in a shop. The biggest issues I have with it are the small buffer and the slow frame rate when shooting RAW - just 1.5fps for only 4 frames. Sure with jpgs it will shoot at 3fps for as long as you want but as and when you move to shooting RAW (as most do in time) you'll probably find it frustrating. It also has a 7 point AF system which is fine but the 9 point AF system of cameras like the 400D or the 30D is better. It's clearly a fine camera to start with but there is a danger that you'll out grow it, I'd recommend looking at things like the 400D/450D or the 20D/30D.
 
Thanks for the advice, will probably go down the second hand route then

guess the lense is going to be the most difficult to find - don't seem to be many Canon 400mm and Sigma 500mm on ebay. Is there a better place to look?
 
Try LCE

Amarillo said:
Thanks for the advice, will probably go down the second hand route then

guess the lense is going to be the most difficult to find - don't seem to be many Canon 400mm and Sigma 500mm on ebay. Is there a better place to look?
Click to expand...

Hi Amarillo
just started to take photos myself. I am a bit worried that none of your advisers so far have recommended Canon 500D cos thats what I bought last week with the standard 18-55 lens that comes with it. After reading reviews in Septembers Photoplus I also got the Sigma 150-500 Tele lens. Just messed around with it so far and knowing virtually nothing about photography, it wouldn't carry much weight if I say I think it's great. Anyhow, the main reason I am writing is to say that I got all the equipment new from the London Camera Exchange. However, they had loads of second hand camera's and lens's in there and they are now looking out for a second hand macro lens for me and will phone me when they have one. They were excellent with a rookie like me. Try their web site for a branch near you. Good luck and God bless. Paul.
 
Amarillo said:
guess the lense is going to be the most difficult to find - don't seem to be many Canon 400mm and Sigma 500mm on ebay. Is there a better place to look?
Click to expand...

They do come up on the classifieds on here from time to time, I think there's a 400 f5.6 on there at the moment. It's also worth a look at what dealers have I'd recommend looking at the following@

http://www.mifsuds.com/usedpriceindex.htm
http://www.ffordes.com/
http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/

my local camera shop is also worth looking at, they do mail order and have a website. I was in today and they didn't have any s/h long lenses but they do have a good turn over so are worth trying from time to time - http://norfolkcameracentre.co.uk/?cat=35
 
Preacherman said:
just started to take photos myself. I am a bit worried that none of your advisers so far have recommended Canon 500D cos thats what I bought last week with the standard 18-55 lens that comes with it.
Click to expand...

I tested a 500D recently and was impressed with it, it is a step up from the 450D so I think you've made a good choice. The reason I didn't recommend one to the OP is that with a budget of £1000 for camera and lens spending more than half of it on a camera would not allow enough for a good long lens.

With the £1000 budget you'll need to account for ~£75 for a spare battery, some memory cards and a bag to carry it all in. The bad thing about using a DSLR is that there is always something else to buy!
 
Amarillo said:
Am a complete novice (previously only had automatic cameras) looking to get into wildlife photography as a hobby

What would you advise me to get with a budget of £1000 absolute max, preferably a bit less

am thinking:

Canon EOS 1000D + 18-55mm Kit £400
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM £420

or the Nikon equivalent

Does this sound sensible?

Any tips much appreciated!
Cheers
Click to expand...

If you're interested I've got a 20D going cheap.
 
As an after thought if you were really interested I'll sell you the 20D plus my 100-400mm for £1000 inc. postage costs.

That would be a starter kit most beginners can only dream of.
 
Jaff said:
As an after thought if you were really interested I'll sell you the 20D plus my 100-400mm for £1000 inc. postage costs.

That would be a starter kit most beginners can only dream of.
Click to expand...

Thats not a bad deal for a beginner, battery and memory card charger etc ?
He would not be changing that very quickly, upgrade on the camera later and keep the 20d as a spare still 5 fps
 
Jaff said:
As an after thought if you were really interested I'll sell you the 20D plus my 100-400mm for £1000 inc. postage costs.

That would be a starter kit most beginners can only dream of.
Click to expand...

tempting offer, cheers!

Will have to have a think as I'm still at an early stage of this - haven't even had a proper go with an SLR camera yet, so will try and have a play with a friends first and work out exactly what my aims are before spending a grand on equipment!

but if I do decide thats what I'm after and its still available I'll be in touch

Thanks again!
 
Hi again

Haven't got a lot further with this, but my latest thought is that I may increase my budget in order to get a Canon 100-400mm lense, although I will first get a second hand 40D or similar and learn how to use that first.

One more question:

Am I right in thinking the above would be usable without a tripod, given the IS and the lighter weight of the canon lens compared to the Sigma's?
 
I use a 40D and 100-400 IS lens handheld without a tripod with good results providing I can obtain a fast enough shutter speed (1/500th or shorter). IS can be very useful but I try not to rely on it too much.
 
You can use both lens 100-400mm and the 400mm f5.6 handheld, I would say most use them handheld... Don't think about the IS being the magic thing thats going to get you sharp images, just hold the lens still... wait for s**t to hit fan 3:)
 
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