Wildlife Digital Photography

1

I am interested in a digital camera for wildlife photography. I have a budget of $ 5,000?

I have some photography knowledge and I plan to use the camera frequently (ie, get thoroughly familiar with it). Also, what lens would be recommended

I'm assuming since you want to get into photography and you're shooting wildlife, that you'll want what's referred to as a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera vs a Point and Shoot (P&S) camera. This means that what you see through the viewfinder is exactly what your camera lens will be seeing. It also gives you a ton of flexibility, not only with the type of lens you attach to the camera but with settings itself. (Apologies if it was obvious that you were interested in an SLR.)

The body of your SLR camera is likely to be less of an issue than the lenses you purchase. The classic names in bodies are Nikon and Canon. Nikon's history is in cameras but Canon burst on to the scene roughly a decade ago with its Rebel line and has quickly gained market share. Olympus, Pentax, and Sony also make digital cameras.

I'm most familiar with the Canon line. The Canon SLR line is roughly divided into three tiers:

1. Entry "prosumer" line. These generally start with X. E.g. XTi, XTl, XS, etc. These generally run from $500 - $1000.

2. The ##D's where ## is some number. These generally run from $1000 - $2500.

3. The Mark series. These run from $2500 and up.

I chose to get the Canon EOS XTi to save on the body and spend the balance of my budget on lenses. I'm happy with my choice but I've also seen some of the pictures coming out of cameras in the next bracket up and they are sharper with more detail and color.

Megapixels aren't as much a concern since all SLR's tend to be around the same megapixels. Also, the number of megapixels can sometimes be deceiving (especially when talking about P&S's) since the quality of the sensor is sometimes more important than the simple number of megapixels. (E.g. the Fujifilm F31fd P&S is a _legendary_ P&S with amazing low-light capabilities; even though it's only 5 megapixels, it regularly outperforms 10 megapixel P&S's and is still in high-demand even though it's out of production.)

I might then recommend, given your larger budget, that you take a look at that middle ##D series. Getting something there still gives you a couple thousand to spend on lenses.

Re: lenses, you'll want something telephoto. Something on the order of 200mm or more (the greater the number before mm, the more you can zoom into your subject). In general, the greater the zoom power, the more expensive it will be. The other critical factor is how "fast" the lens is. In your particular case, unless you're shooting animals on the move or shooting in low light, this may not be as critical a factor.

One thing you may want to try regarding lenses, and even bodies: renting a body and different lenses and trying them out. Take shots, compare the shots since you'll have downloaded them all to the same computer with the same screen. Try printing them out if that's important to you. A good camera shop will rent cameras and the cost isn't prohibitive, especially if you're considering sinking several thousand into this investment. If you're in the SF Bay Area, Keeble and Shucat rents cameras and lenses.

Hope this helps! Keep the questions coming. This is a fascinating hobby -- you're going to love it!

Frank Brabec Canon Wildlife Photographer


wildlife digital photography5
wildlife digital photography5
wildlife digital photography5