Camera, Lens & Equipment for Surf Photography?

Keith88

Keith88

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Keith
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Hey everyone :)

Basically Im looking to invest in an entry level DSLR so I can get the hang of things before I commit to a bigger investment. Two options so far:

1). Canon 1000d

2). Pentax K-x

Whichever route I go, it will predominantly used for surf photography and so this will have a major influence on my choice. Eventually I would like to go down the line of underwater housing and invest in some better lens'. Can anyone give me any recommendations?! :shrug:

I know people usually say that choosing a camera is a personal thing but Ive held both cameras and seemed equally comfortable. Its seems to me that Im getting more bang for buck with the Pentax but most camera shops have recommended the Canon for reason.

Then, there's always the option of going second hand :thinking:

Please :help:

Keith
 
Out of those two I would say the pentax is better value. Weather sealing and high build quality, as well as in body stabilisation are good advantages. Pentax's kit lens is also supposed to be great value.
To be honest, I would look at a second hand 450D or 500D instead of the 1000D, if you go canon.

Canon gives you more lens choice. But I image pentax has a fine range for most photographers (and you still have a lot of third party lenses available), and also has more backwards compatibility. You can pick up old pentax lenses right back to the original K mount and they will still work to their full capacity (i.e, if it can AF, it will), and you get stabilisation on all of them. With canon, some lenses won't be stabilised.

In your situation, I would go pentax. For the weather sealing, if nothing else.
 
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Mike.P said:
So now we have the Canon user saying Pentax and the Pentax user saying Canon. :lol:
Click to expand...

Hehe, interesting isn't it.

As a pentax user, can you comment on pentax range of medium to long zooms?
I'm a fan of pentax, but not too knowledgeable on their lens line up.

I'm a proud owner of the 100-400 but with it not being weather sealed, I would hesitate to take it out for surf photography! I suppose a rain cover would sort out those fears though.

If you go second hand, you can also consider some nikon bodies, so it opens up other options.
 
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squishy said:
As a pentax user, can you comment on pentax range of medium to long zooms?
I'm a fan of pentax, but not too knowledgeable on their lens line up.
Click to expand...

Pentax is mainly geared up to very small high quality prime lens (called the LTD range) and they really are superb .. put one on a K-5 and you have the ultimate street camera. The medium to long range zoom (and prime) lineup is pretty terrible if I'm honest, I use the DA* 60-250mm f4 which is very high quality but just not long enough most of the time so I also use a Sigma 100-300mm f4 and 50-500mm.

We really do need something like a weather sealed version of the 100-400mm

Saying all that, Sigma have just bought out the OS version of the Bigma .. I have had one for years. :)
 
Thanks for all the replies :)

My initial budget isnt huge ...... Im a student so sub €500 really :(

The fact that the Pentax has the weather sealing is very appealing but then the lack of medium to long range zooms is quite worrying. Surely that would just defeat the purpose for me?

Im quite apprehensive on second hand as Im really not too sure what to be looking out for fault wise and dont want to get stung :suspect:
 
It really depends on if you can see yourself paying £1000+ for something like the Canon 100-400mm. If not then Pentax will be fine as you have the budget Sigma/Tamron 70-300mm lenses, the (better but a little more expensive) Pentax 55-300mm and Sigmas higher priced 100-300mm/120-400mm/150-500mm/50-500mm range.

The Pentax K-x/K-r aren't weather sealed so you would be looking at a used K10D/K200D/K20D or new/used K-7.
 
Mike.P said:
It really depends on if you can see yourself paying £1000+ for something like the Canon 100-400mm. If not then Pentax will be fine as you have the budget Sigma/Tamron 70-300mm lenses, the (better but a little more expensive) Pentax 55-300mm and Sigmas higher priced 100-300mm/120-400mm/150-500mm/50-500mm range.

The Pentax K-x/K-r aren't weather sealed so you would be looking at a used K10D/K200D/K20D or new/used K-7.
Click to expand...

Hmm didnt realise the K-x isnt weather sealed. The K-7 seems to be quite a bit out of my price range too :(

Thanks for your help anyway mate :thumbs:

Anyone have any input re: underwater housing? I know Seatool used to make one for the K-x but it seems to be discontinued? In all honesty, this isnt that important to me as I still have my Go Pro HD cam too.
 
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