Noob - Starter camera for wildlife photography

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Yaayuh!

Soldato
Joined
5 Nov 2010
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Location
Hertfordshire
Hi camera nerds!

I'm looking to get into wildlife photography and I am a complete noob with photography.

I can get started with the basics using Youtube and playing around. But where would I start in terms of camera? Half decent zoom lens required and not much in the way of fast motion capture required I don't think.

Budget circa £600.

TIA
 
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£600 for body and lens you’re definitely going to be buying used.

At this budget you want to focus more on getting a good lens and worry less about the camera body.

Something from Nikon (D7200, D7500, D7100) for around the £300 mark and then the rest on a 70-200 (Sigma most likely in budget).

Other option is picking up a Sony A7 mirrorless body and then a 24-240.
 
I'm a Nikon shooter, hence the Nikon suggestion.

You have to be buying second hand at this budget.

I went with the Nikon 7200 as it's a great body with a pretty high spec for the price.

The lens is the most reach out could get for the remaining budget.



To stay in budget the 5200 is also a decent choice for body
 
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Micro Four Thirds is great for wildlife photography, look at the Olympus cameras as they'll have the better autofocus, the reason I've suggested M34 is due to the crop on the sensor which will give you longer reach and a smaller lens compared with full frame or apsc cameras.

You should be able to get the Olympus em1 mark ii used at a decent price.
 
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When you say you want to get started with Wildlife photography, my first question is what do you want to photograph and where do you plan on going to photograph the wildlife?

When I started, 3 or 4 years ago, I wanted to photograph wildlife birds mainly but anything I really see when out and about walking with my daughter or at nature reserves with her so I wanted something smallish and light to carry around with good reach, I started with an Olympus EM1 mk2 (approx 350 -450 secondhand) with the 40-150 cheap lens (pick this lens up for around £100 secondhand). This I thought was a good compromise to get me some reach 300mm FF equivalence but I soon found my technique and approach to photography was poor and I felt I needed more reach so quickly upgraded to the Panasonic 100-400 (approx £800 secondhand).

This setup lasted me up until last year producing some excellent images (well I liked them), I then went all in on a M43 setup with the OM1 and a better lens, slightly more reach (you can never have enough reach with wildlife).

i can't really advise about other manufacturers as I have no experience of them but I do have friends who use Nikon, Canon and Sony DSLR and Bridge cameras the only thing I would add is if going DSLR stick to native lenses where possible.
 
Matt_Hirst said:
When you say you want to get started with Wildlife photography, my first question is what do you want to photograph and where do you plan on going to photograph the wildlife?
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Birds mainly, though not limited. General landscape photography now and then. I live right by RSPB HQ and several reserves and lakes on my doorstep. For instance, I took my 1 year old out for a walk on Sunday afternoon around 4pm and we watched barn owl getting it's hunting on early. We get a lot of wildlife by our house, mostly nocturnal though, but that's another matter entirely.

I was thinking second hand to start for sure, just something with at least some reach (doesn't have to be a massive lens) to begin with to get me going.
 
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Yaayuh! said:
Birds mainly, though not limited. General landscape photography now and then. I live right by RSPB HQ and several reserves and lakes on my doorstep. For instance, I took my 1 year old out for a walk on Sunday afternoon around 4pm and we watched barn owl getting it's hunting on early. We get a lot of wildlife by our house, mostly nocturnal though, but that's another matter entirely.

I was thinking second hand to start for sure, just something with at least some reach (doesn't have to be a massive lens) to begin with to get me going.
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Only downside is that you are going for the two extremes of photography, wildlife and landscapes...As said I like Olympus cameras so I'd be inclined to see if you can stretch to something like a second hand EM1 mk2 and either a Panasonic or Olympus 100-400 lens secondhand to cover the bird side of thngs, you could go for a bridge camera but generally they have smaller sensors so will struggle more than the M43 sensor cameras (Olympus/Panasonic) in changable light. To give you some ideas of capabilities of the em1 mk2 I think there are a few of my shots on the thread Wildlife, Animals, Birds, Zoo (barn owl page 75, Osprey as well) - though later shots are with the newer OM1, links through to my flickr account as well.

To give an example for an owl in flight I'd be trying to get the camera to achieve around 1/800 or 1/1000 second minimum shutter speed, easy in summer and good light not so easy at current time of year at 4pm onwards (well not where I live anyway). To get suitable detail of the owl you are needing to get reasonably close to the subject - it's not often you can do this at an RSPB sight as they tend to want to keep you at arms legth also not sure a bridge camera would be capable to do this either, well not easily.

Landscape photography, I don't do much of this other than occasional snap on holiday and I use a Olympus 7-14 lens or 12-40 lens.

It's hard to give a complete answer as for me what I want from an image or deem acceptable from an image might be not good enough for you or way overkill for you.

Only thing I will add my 11 year old daughter got a camera last year, a compact she got some ok pictures with it but was frustrated that when the light was less than ideal she struggled to get any decent shots, she now has an Olympus EM1 and uses my old panasonic 100-400 lens and is more than happy with the vast majority of her shots - I think that camera was around £200 secondhand from Wex.

Hope that helps a bit and doesn't confuse too much, anymore questions just ask.
 
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