Q. I am planing a couple trips in the next year. First trip is to go up to Alaska or Canada and I want to try and get some nice Polar Bear and Musk Oxen shots. Then I am going to be going out to Yellowstone to try and photograph wolves and finally I will be taking a trip to Australia and New Zealand and am hoping to get some great landscape and animal shots. But now I have to figure out what is going to be the best camera for me to get. I have a budget of around $3500.
Right now I am looking at the Nikon D 7100, Nikon D 7000, Cannon EOS 7 D, and Sony Alpha SLT-A77.
I am also then figureing on getting either a 300mm or 400mm lens then buying a 2X teleconverter. I'm trying to do all this for $3500 or less I know its going to be tough. Obviously I can not afford the real nice lenses in the 300mm zoom so how much is this going to affect my quality if I get a little bit cheaper lens? My goal is I want to have nice enough pictures to where I could blow them up and hang them up around my house with out the image getting grainy or fuzzy. I'm looking at blowing them up to 24 x 36 and maybe bigger for landscape shots.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your time.
Right now I am looking at the Nikon D 7100, Nikon D 7000, Cannon EOS 7 D, and Sony Alpha SLT-A77.
I am also then figureing on getting either a 300mm or 400mm lens then buying a 2X teleconverter. I'm trying to do all this for $3500 or less I know its going to be tough. Obviously I can not afford the real nice lenses in the 300mm zoom so how much is this going to affect my quality if I get a little bit cheaper lens? My goal is I want to have nice enough pictures to where I could blow them up and hang them up around my house with out the image getting grainy or fuzzy. I'm looking at blowing them up to 24 x 36 and maybe bigger for landscape shots.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your time.
A. You might get to see these animals, but don't get your hopes up too high. The Nikon D7100 with 18-105mm could be a good choice of camera for most of your shots. A super duper great telephoto to get the kind of shots you are dreaming of will blow your budget. For less ambitious but pretty good shots you could get the Nikon 70-300mm AF-S VR (the good 70-300, not the cheapo). Forget about a 2X teleconverter. The 70-300mm lacks a tripod collar, and it will be front heavy. You will want to bring a tripod. You need to think about what day pack you will carry it in, as the tripod must fit. There are some decent travel tripods. However, the light duty ballhead on some of these may be barely adequate with the 70-300mm. You need to assemble something with a good medium duty 3 way pan head, like maybe the Manfrotto 804RC2 or the Induro PHT2. BTW, if you want to point a panhead higher than about 30 degrees, the trick is to put the quick release plate on backwards.
Which brings us to, when do you expect to do this?
Winter, aurora watching?
You will need serious clothes.
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife01-30-2013-02-2000.jpg
Carry your camera in a padded case with several handwarmer packs. Have an extra charged battery in your pocket. Two layers of glove liners with handwarmer packs inside can probably give you adequate dexterity without freezing your fingers.
Also have a clean, dry cotton handkerchief in the bag to wipe off condensation.
Getting focused in the dark could be a problem. You might be able to lock on autofocus on a distant street light, and switch to manual. Or you could spend more money on an older style AF-D prime lens like a 20mm or 24mm, and be able to dial to infinity in the dark.
For aurora shots set white balance to daylight. Practice with your equipment at home before you go on your trip. Maybe ISO is 800. More gets noisy. Exposure time maybe 20 seconds. More shows star trails. Also the aurora is dynamic, and more exposure makes it look blob like.
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife02-05-2013-01-2000.jpg
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife02-05-2013-02-2000.jpg
About midnight to 2am is often best activity, although not always.
Which brings us to, when do you expect to do this?
Winter, aurora watching?
You will need serious clothes.
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife01-30-2013-02-2000.jpg
Carry your camera in a padded case with several handwarmer packs. Have an extra charged battery in your pocket. Two layers of glove liners with handwarmer packs inside can probably give you adequate dexterity without freezing your fingers.
Also have a clean, dry cotton handkerchief in the bag to wipe off condensation.
Getting focused in the dark could be a problem. You might be able to lock on autofocus on a distant street light, and switch to manual. Or you could spend more money on an older style AF-D prime lens like a 20mm or 24mm, and be able to dial to infinity in the dark.
For aurora shots set white balance to daylight. Practice with your equipment at home before you go on your trip. Maybe ISO is 800. More gets noisy. Exposure time maybe 20 seconds. More shows star trails. Also the aurora is dynamic, and more exposure makes it look blob like.
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife02-05-2013-01-2000.jpg
http://www.martingrumet.com/yellowknife02-05-2013-02-2000.jpg
About midnight to 2am is often best activity, although not always.
Which camera should I buy?
Q. I need a really good camera in april (2013), I'm thinking of buying a nikon 1 J1 but I'm not sure, the nikon 1 J2 is too expensive if you look at the differences with the J1 . Shoul I buy a nikon 1 J1? Or is there a better camera in the market which is cheaper or around the same price? It must be digital and have a (not too) big lens. thanks!
A. Look at the Nikon V1. They are ridiculously low priced right now ($299) while stock is left or until Dec 30. If you wait until April 2013, this deal (and all remaining V1s) will likely be gone.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/823590-REG/Nikon_27504_Nikon_1_V1_Mirrorless.html
The original MSRP of $899 for the V1 was way too overpriced, but at $299, it is very attractive.
The V1 is an upscale version of the J1, and may or may not be to your liking, but at the price they are selling for, it is an easy decision. The main differences are that the V1 has an electronic viewfinder, and lacks an internal flash, when compared to the J1. It is also slightly larger and heavier, as it has a larger battery, giving about 25% more capacity. The V1 also has both electronic and manual shutters, whereas the J1 only has an electronic shutter.
Oddly enough, the V1 is priced about $100 less than the least expensive J1 that I can find, but if you buy the optional flash for the V1, it will be about $30 more than the J1.
Some reviews have the J1 with a slightly better image than the V1. I am highly skeptical about that as they are essentially the same camera; same sensor, and same digital processor, same lenses.
The only thing I can fathom is that the J1 has a different set of presets than the V1 (which is the old Canon trick), and/or not every reviewer necessarily knows what they are doing anyway.
There is one under Awboater's Christmas tree.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/823590-REG/Nikon_27504_Nikon_1_V1_Mirrorless.html
The original MSRP of $899 for the V1 was way too overpriced, but at $299, it is very attractive.
The V1 is an upscale version of the J1, and may or may not be to your liking, but at the price they are selling for, it is an easy decision. The main differences are that the V1 has an electronic viewfinder, and lacks an internal flash, when compared to the J1. It is also slightly larger and heavier, as it has a larger battery, giving about 25% more capacity. The V1 also has both electronic and manual shutters, whereas the J1 only has an electronic shutter.
Oddly enough, the V1 is priced about $100 less than the least expensive J1 that I can find, but if you buy the optional flash for the V1, it will be about $30 more than the J1.
Some reviews have the J1 with a slightly better image than the V1. I am highly skeptical about that as they are essentially the same camera; same sensor, and same digital processor, same lenses.
The only thing I can fathom is that the J1 has a different set of presets than the V1 (which is the old Canon trick), and/or not every reviewer necessarily knows what they are doing anyway.
There is one under Awboater's Christmas tree.
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