Animal Photography

[duende]

Hi, I am looking to buy a camera to photograph wildlife. It must be under $1,000, and I'm looking for the best possible quality of picture. Do you guys know of any particular model/brands that I should look at? =\

[forno]

Hi, I am looking to buy a camera to photograph wildlife. It must be under $1,000, and I'm looking for the best possible quality of picture. Do you guys know of any particular model/brands that I should look at? =\

animals in the wild or domestic/zoo animals?

[Colin T]

Hi Duende

get yourself a digital SLR because they don't have a time delay between pressing the button and the camera actually taking the pic. Get a 100-300mm zoom lens and a 2 x teleconverter, and a tripod. The lens will allow you to photograph most dog to deer sized animals from 30 or 40 metres away and if you fit the 2 x teleconverter you can be twice as far away. When fitted with a teleconverter you will also be able to photograph squirrels and birds in the trees. Most camera shops will say a 300mm lens is heaps for birds, they are wrong. You can buy a 600mm lens or a 200-500mm zoom but they are very expensive hence the 100-300mm with a 2 x teleconverter. It is much cheaper.

When using a teleconverter you will be increasing the physical lens length which means you will have to slow the shutter speed down or open the aperture up to allow more light into the lens. Also the longer the lens the more likelyhood of camera shake hence try to use a tripod whenever possible. Pentax and one other company have image stabilizers built into their latest model digital SLRs which does help. Other companies will soon be adding it to their models.

Regarding price is the $1000 US or Aust or British Pounds because most digital SLRs start at around $1000 Aust with a small lens. The Pentax 1stDl is about $750Aust and a 100-300mm Sigma lens is about $250. Look around to find the cheapest prices.

[duende]

animals in the wild or domestic/zoo animals?

Both. I figure the zoo is an ideal place to practice and get used to the equipment before I start treking off into the middle of nowhere.


Colin- Thanks for the info, I'll check out that setup you described.

[ReF]

keep in mind that you loose 1 f-stop with a 1.4x extender and 2 stops with a 2x extender. most camera bodies will not autofocus with an aperture smaller than f5.6 (i think the f6.3 lenses "trick" the cameras into thinking it's at f5.6). so you'll need a lens that's got an aperture of f4 or better to use a 1.4x TC/extender, and an f2.8 lens to use with a 2x TC. you can push those limits a little if the camera does not know the usuable aperture is smaller than f5.6 by using certain 3rd party TC's or taping pins, but the AF is likely going to be hit or miss and really slow to boot.

generally, a 1.4x TC does not degrade the image visibly but a 2x TC usually eats away the details.

$1000 is a pretty small budget when considering a dslr and telephoto lenses. i don't know crap about the other brands but i do know about canon stuff and third party lenses for it. for a canon setup i'd recommend a 70-300 IS and an XT new or used (they should be pretty cheap by now. xti would blow your budget). the 70-300 on a xt, considering 1.6x crop factor, will give you an effective focal length range of 112-480mm.

good luck with whatever you choose

[duende]

Thanks for the suggestion ReF, right now I'm looking at getting the Pentax K100D or the Canon rebel XT. Do you know anything about how these two cameras compare?