Newbie

Waterfowler · May 19, 2010

New guy here from NC. I'm wanting to get into photography and will be taking pictures of waterfowl/birds and wildlife for the most part. I'd like your opinion on the best camera for this and the "best for the money" camera. I'm planning on taking a few online courses also and would like some opinions on those as well. Thanks!

Bitter Jeweler · May 19, 2010

What are you lookin' to spend?

Waterfowler · May 20, 2010

Less than a grand on the camera preferably. Looks like I'm going to spend a month reading up on this stuff before I make a purchase! There's a lot more to it than I thought!

Boomn4x4 · May 20, 2010

Waterfowl photography isn't going to be cheap... I'm a avid duck hunter myself... and I've quickly learned that getting good shots of ducks in a park is pretty easy as long as you've got a bag of Wonder Bread.... But once the hunting season rolls along, and those birds have been getting shot at for the past 45 days.... good shots are impossible. The best photo ops you'll get are on decoying birds, but if you are like me and are trying to photograph the ducks as your hunting buddies are shooting at them... those birds don't decoy for long, and they are gone before you'll know it. You'll need fast long range glass, and those tend to get pricy. Most of the photos I take while hunting are either over exposed or blurry simply because of the limitations on my lenses... I've just come to learn that my pockets aren't deep enough to get the shots I want.

Waterfowler · May 20, 2010

figured I might as well contribute some pictures taken by my old camera. Thanks for the input boomn! I was more or less interested in taking pictures at refuges and in private swamps where there's little to no pressure. I'm too rough on gear to even consider taking an expensive camera on a hunt. Nice to know I'm getting into another expensive hobby! LOL

freeze3kgt · May 20, 2010

I got a cannon t1i / 500d with a couple lenses, bag, 8 and 4 gig memory cards and a couple of filters for just under a grand.

I am really pleased with it and now canon has a newer canon t2i/ 550d that looks pretty good to me for the same price i got my 500d .. Not sure what Nikon has in the sub 1k range thats semi fast, but I know my friends d90 takes some FANTASTIC pictures, and im sure you can find one for around 1k if not cheaper used.

--- the nikon shoots faster which maybe what your looking for, but its also more expensive * but you get what you pay for *

edit nice pictures, really like the 2nd one

cloudy afternoon shot.. not super in focus but they were moving fast :S

Waterfowler · May 21, 2010

nice picture freeze! After looking at best buy I was thinking about the canon t2i 50 SLR (i think that's what it was). Anyone have any positive or negative comments about this camera?

max3k · May 21, 2010

What part of NC?

Jasper · May 21, 2010

Nice pictures. I haven't gotten brave enough to take my camera with me to the duck blind yet but keep thinking I should.

leftypony · May 21, 2010

max3k said:
What part of NC?

I'm gonna guess somewhere on the coast from the look of the pictures ... but if you're in the Raleigh area you should check out Peace Camera. The guys there are really knowledgeable and their prices are competitive.

Waterfowler · May 22, 2010

I live in johnston county so raleigh isn't far at all. I'll be sure to look into Peace camera. These were taken by a fairly cheap digital and I keep it stored in a loc&loc container to keep dry. Here's a picture from a layout in the pamlico sound, pretty calm to say the least.