I Know nothing about cameras

[tonker]

As Above, just got back from 10 days in our static above Lynton. Had some good walks around Simonsbath, Dulverton, and Trentishoe. We only had a point and shoot old digital and the cameras on our phones, niether of which have very good zooms.

On the walk around Simonsbath we saw a herd of about 40 red deer which I got to within about 300yds from and took about 5 snaps on the phone.

and again around Trentishoe overlooking Hunters inn, took some snaps of 7 red in a field. When looking at them and zooming as much as I could you could only just make them out from the Gorse and Heather (disappointed)

 

Now to the point of this post.

We decided to get a decent ish digital camera (for us), with a decent ish lens. now I don;t want to break the bank because I would rather spend it on a rifle. But I will have to keep the peace and get one, but haven't a clue what to look for.

 

I know there will be a lot of cameras out there, and a lot of different views, I should say I only want to spend 4 or £500 tops, can I get one for this, I know good ones are dearer, but any more would be wasted on us for the amount of use it would get. So I'm asking for views please.

 

I don't know if we have any members around there, but to me it's a shooters heaven, backdrops everywhere you look, I shoot on the levels in somerset

and a snooker table has more lumps and bumps than where I shoot.

Thanks for reading.

[Glenlivet]

Have a look here.

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/327885-camera-recommendations/page-1

[McSpredder]

If the light is good and the subject is not moving, you don't need a very expensive camera.

 

This snap was taken near Exford using a Fuji X-S1 bridge camera, hand held, at full zoom (equivalent to 624mm on a 35mm camera), from about 300 yards away. Settings were fully automatic (it was my very first outing with this camera), but the EXIF data shows that shutter speed was 1/250s, aperture f5.66, ISO 100.

 

A bridge camera is fine for this sort of shot, and can give a big zoom range for not much money. But you can see from the shadows that it was a bright day. If you want to take photos in a poor light, or for fast-moving subjects, you cannot beat a DSLR.

[bruno22rf]

By the time you walk out of a shop with your new Camera it's out of date so decent used examples are easy to come by. Loads will disagree but I would look for a used Canon/Nikon with no less than 12mp and a 70-210 zoom lens as well as the standard - many dealers sold such a package and some people bought far too much camera for their needs and thus sell them on shortly afterwards when they realise that they don't need a huge lens or backlight facility to snap Penelope in the paddling pool. One word of caution however - Photography can be addictive.

Edited August 21, 2016 by bruno22rf

[Muddy Funker]

https://www.avforums.com/threads/camera-buying-guide.1847379/

 

https://www.avforums.com/threads/new-to-photography-read-this.1390083/

 

These are a couple of useful threads from avforum, I don't think you'll need to be a member to view them.

[steve_b_wales]

There's an excellent set up here:

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/340811-canon-500d-dslr-full-set-up/

[MonkeyKong]

For your budget and application I could consider a mirrorless camera with a fixed lens. The image quality of some of the fixed panasonic lenses, for example, is really quite impressive these days with minimal drop in performance over quite a focal range.

 

For a few hundred more you can get a mirrorless body with interchangeable lenses. For example, the rather superb Fuji XE2 with a 18-55mm kit lens will run you £674 at time of writing this http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Fujifilm/Fujifilm-X-System-Cameras/Fujifilm-X-E2-with-18-55mm-Lens Then if you get bitten by the photography bug you can put the money into new glass and not a new body.

 

If your budget allows, I'd recommend getting some a decent mirrorless platform with interchangeable lenses. I find they are much more compact than a DSLR, less of a pain to carry around and less intrusive if you're trying to subtly shoot something more candid like a street scene or a social gathering without making people uncomfortable. From my experience they can perform just the same, if not better, than a DSLR in most environments an amateur photographer is going to encounter.

[bazzab]

There's an excellent set up here:

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/340811-canon-500d-dslr-full-set-up/

 

Thank you very much for that bud. Really grateful.

[kingo15]

Look at the nikon p900. From the rave I have seen about the camera and the zoom quality it ain't all that bad