What would you do?

Ewan

Ewan

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OK, I'm STILL trying to decide what camera+lens is best for me to buy. I have something in mind but I'm wondering what other people would do in my position:

Budget: £400
What I need: DSLR body and lens
What I wanna shoot with it: Garden birds and insects like ladybirds/hoverflies.

Also I want the possibility to upgrade once I'm a bit richer.

I've currently got a fuji s5600 which has been fantastic but I'm starting to feel very limited sometimes. What do you guys think I should do?

Cheers,

Ewan
 
Sorry - £400 isn't enough for a DSLR that will do both garden birds and bugs any better than your current camera.

I think you should look at a better bridge camera - maybe a better Fuji - S9600? or a Panasonic (FZ30 or FZ50?)
 
I really don't think another bridge camera would improve my shots all that much :shrug: Insects aren't essential really. Thanks for your help.
 
Olympus E-330 & 14-45mm Lens is available at Digitaldepot for £299, then add the kit 40-150mm from ebay (Usually go for around £90-£100)

A very good starting point IMO as it would give you the equivalent of 28 through to 300mm, and the Olympus Kit lenses are very very good.

The when you get a little money you can splash out on the 35mm / 50mm / 105mm / 150mm Macro etc
 
Examples using Kit Lens and a Raynox DCR250 Close-up Lens (on the E-510)

697887049_47ff7a50b5.jpg


698751642_fd4e226069.jpg


697832665_230df77b9b.jpg
 
The olypmus is your best bet, either that or trying to pick up a Canon 350d or a Nikon D40 etc on ebay plus a lens.

The Olympus does get a good rep though, try a local shop that stocks them to get a hold of them, i really liked the olympus range but my hands were too big and i felt they were a little too small for me.
 
Chillimonster said:
Examples using Kit Lens and a Raynox DCR250 Close-up Lens (on the E-510)

697887049_47ff7a50b5.jpg


698751642_fd4e226069.jpg


697832665_230df77b9b.jpg
Click to expand...

Fantastic! I'd love to be able to take shots like that. Do you think I could get results of that standard from the E-330 as well?

@ ifotou

Yeah I've been looking at the D50 + the sigma 70-300 apo thingymabob - but don't think I'd be able to get any decent macros with that.
 
Most certainly, and the live view helps loads when doing this kind of stuff.

Where you located (If local to me in manchester, you're quite welcome to come round and have a look)
 
Not really local, sorry.

I've read somewhere that the olympus E cameras have a 2x CF? That would be quite useful with birding I think.
 
If you can push to £450 you could get a Canon 350D with 18-55m kit lens, 70-300m Macro Sigma lens and a set of macro lenses for £13 off ebay. All of which will do what you want. That's all I have, and that's about what it cost me! ;) I think you might even be able to get the 350D and kit lens cheaper now than a few month ago too... so you *might* be able to squeeze the whole lot for £400 :shrug:
 
Thanks everyone for all the help. That sounds very interesting, Jo.

I'm bookmarking this page and gonna come back to it when I've actually got the money - feel free to continue suggesting ;)
 
If you don't mind going used Ewan, Ffordes have several Nikon D70's, complete with the 18-70mm kikt lens, with warranty, at £349, described as Exc ++. In their lens section, they have a used Sigma 70 - 210mm f 4 - 5.6 at £49.

This means that you could have the extremely capable D70 (or D70S if you download the free firmware from Nikon), and an 18 - 70 and 70 - 210 mm lenses, all for a few pence under £400.

Ffordes are in my opinion, the best camera dealer in the country. Unfailingly polite and helpful, and their warranty is excellent.

Could be worth a try!!

Good hunting.
 
Cheers Doug. I don't mind going used at all as long as everything works and there's no major dents/missing sensors etc :lol:

I guess I don't know whether 210mm is going to be long enough. These darn birds are pretty small, and apparently (although the exif data says otherwise) my s5600's 10x zoom is the same as a 380mm lens? My plan was to get the cheapest (and yet reasonabley capable) body possible to leave more doshers for the glass.

Never heard of that dealer myself, but will google them now. Thanks again :)
 
ewan

im amazed you have the fugi s5600 [ i have s5700 and s5000]

you take some stunning shots with that camera. i thought u had a dslr camera already.

you have really spurred me on to take more flowers and birds if i can get as good quality ones as you.

when you take your birds shots how much cropping do you do?

could you post up an example of the original shot and the cropped one
[that is if they are cropped]
 
Thankyou :D

I'll do that now for you - will edit this post :D

EDIT:

Ok so here is the Straight From The Camera version. This is how big the birds usually are in the frame - sometimes I'm lucky and I get closer, sometimes I'm unlucky and they're further away! No processing, just resized for web:

robin_uncropped.jpg


And now I've cropped it in Photoshop, and used Unsharp Mask with settings of Amount: 66 Radius 1.2 Threshold: 0

Also just increased the contrast slightly.

robin_cropped.jpg


Not the best of examples as it's not a very good shot - not one I'd usually bother processing. But you get the idea anyway :)
 
yes i get the idea

i will be out at the weekend trying to shoot some birds [ thats with a camera and not a gun ha ha ]

lets hope its not raining.

post anything i get sunday night
 
OK good luck! You could try to find out about nature reserves/gardens near you, as that's the sort of place I get most of my shots.
 
the thing is with me and photoshop is when i looked at your pices again i can hardly see any difference??????

do i need glasses or is this just subtle differences?

i have photoshop and hardly ever use it maybe i should have lessons or a good guide
 
Look again :)

I accidently posted the same image twice, but 'tis corrected now.

I'll try and find you a better example...I'll pm you with it so I don't clog up my thread too much though :D
 
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