Which camera for low light photography?

[Kerbouchard]

Budget...$4000-5000 is the absolute maximum I can afford.

Well, that's not a P&S budget. Is that the max you can afford, or is that the amount you feel comfortable spending?

You should go with the max you feel comfortable spending, not necessarily the most you can afford.

In any case, with that budget, I would recommend a D700 used(around $2000), a Sigma 150 2.8 macro or Nikon 105 2.8 macro(around $700), an SB800(around $300), and then throw in a 24-120($1300) or 24-70 2.8($1900) for general use.

That would be your budget and would get you a kit that would have you the envy of any of your other gecko photographer friends. It would put you well set up to do just about anything except sports.

Now, on the other hand, a D90, 18-105, a macro lens, and an SB800 would put you in the $2000 range and you should still be able to get incredible results. You could step it up a bit and go with the D7000 instead, but honestly, any mid-range DSLR, an external flash, a kit lens, and a macro lens should get you where you need to be, and you can easily do that under $2500.

 

[gothra]

Okay, the comfortable range is around $2000; but if spending $4000 will give me MUCH better results that I will never regret, then I can spend the $4000...I'll eventually get over the feeling of missing a large chunk from my bank account. This camera and lens (or lenses) that I will be getting will probably be with me for many many years, I won't change it or make upgrades unless its broken. Therefore, I would rather pay more (eventhough I might feel bad at first for spending so much) than to come back after several months and start thinking perhaps I should've gotten this model or that lens...etc.

I'm reading up the beginners forum at the moment, I have trouble understanding all those numbers. I know the f-number is the aperture and the other number is the focal length, but I have no idea what they mean together and how the picture will come out with different lenses.

 

[jaomul]

I think you may be going a bit overkill for your needs with budget. First while flash used right is great it will bounce off your glass tank so isn't really an option. Even if your pet was out it would probably frighten it to death. A well performing dslr with a good lens and tripod is imho still your best bet. There are many to name but if your happy to spend on a full frame like the nikon mentioned you won't go wrong. A fast lens is needed but likely you will have the lens up against your tank to stop reflections. If you could possibly rent something to try out as you can spend infinite money but could easily have a great set up for well under 2000

 

[Judobreaker]

Focus and zoom are something entirely different.
Zooming will bring objects that are further away closer.
Focus will not change the object size, it will only change the focus point of the camera (the point that is sharp).

The most important thing you should take a look at is the distance you're going to shoot at.
You're placing your camera close to the glass tank where your gecko can get really close. This basically means you're going to need a macro lens.
Macro lenses are able to focus on objects that are really close to the lens.
Most real macro lenses are fixed and can not zoom in so you'll have to zoom by moving your camera forwards. Don't worry, you get used to that really quickly.

I'm afraid a 50mm f/1.8 lens will not be what you're looking for as the closest focus distance on those lenses is about .5m if I remember correctly.
Your gecko is going to get much closer than that! While the 50mm is a great lens you'll really want a macro lens for this.

I myself have the 105mm f/2.8 nikkor which is a great lens. It'll do exactly what you want (and probably more if you get used to working with it).
The 60mm f/2.8 nikkor will probably work just as good, the working distance is just a bit smaller.
I imagine that this difference in working distance isn't a problem with your gecko, it might be a good thing to consider if you think you'd also like to try shooting insects.
You'll really want a longer working distance with insects because they get spooked.

Don't worry about the aperture being 'only' f/2.8 as with macro photography f/2.8 has a crazy small DOF, you'll be shooting at higher apertures like f/8 a lot more because if you don't you simply won't get enough sharpness.

As for the camera: Larger sensor is usually less noise.
This means a DSLR is better than a compact and a FX camera is better than a DX camera.
You will not regret getting a DSLR instead of a compact camera. The quality of your photos will improve loads and it's not too hard getting used to a DSLR, especially with such a fun practice subject.
FX cameras tend to be rather a lot more expensive than DX cameras though and might be slightly overkill anyways.
I myself own the D7000 and am really pleased with the performance. It's ISO performance is simply one of the best when it comes to DX cameras, I can quite easily shoot at 1200 ISO and the images will not be extremely noisy.
I actually shot some images at 2400 ISO by accident yesterday and didn't even notice until I saw the EXIF data.

You can get a D7000 with a 105mm f/2.8 nikkor new for a little less 2000 dollars I guess (not sure off the prices there).

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Contrary to popular belief, a larger sensor won't mean better low light performance. It's the lens.

 

[Judobreaker]

A larger sensor means better ISO performance.
Sure the lens is important but it's a simple fact that larger sensors generally have lower noise than smaller sensors.
The reason for this is because larger sensors gather more light per pixel because there simply is more sensor area per pixel.
A larger pixel built also results in a better electrical performance.

If you'd want an FX camera equivalent to the D7000 that would mean you'd need a 38 Mp FX sensor (that would give each pixel roughly the same area as the 16 Mp sensor on the D7000).
Even the D800 doesn't have a 38 Mp sensor!

And now we're just purely looking at the sensor area to pixel ratio. ^^

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Nikon D700 on the budget side, D4 on the high side

5D mark III canon may will light leak you?

 

[EchoingWhisper]

A larger sensor means better ISO performance.
Sure the lens is important but it's a simple fact that larger sensors generally have lower noise than smaller sensors.
The reason for this is because larger sensors gather more light per pixel because there simply is more sensor area per pixel.
A larger pixel built also results in a better electrical performance.

If you'd want an FX camera equivalent to the D7000 that would mean you'd need a 38 Mp FX sensor (that would give each pixel roughly the same area as the 16 Mp sensor on the D7000).
Even the D800 doesn't have a 38 Mp sensor!

And now we're just purely looking at the sensor area to pixel ratio. ^^

Nope. '10) Larger sensor systems gather more light and have less noise than smaller sensor systems

For the same AOV, lenses for larger sensor systems often have larger aperture diameters which gather more light than smaller sensor systems, and thus deliver less noisy images even if the sensor for the larger sensor system is less efficient (to a degree). However, choosing a larger aperture diameter also results in a more shallow DOF, more vignetting, and softer corners. For fully equivalent images, however, all systems gather the same total amount of light. Thus, any differences in the apparent noise and dynamic range will be due to differences in the sensor efficiencies, and, contrary to popular belief, larger sensors are not necessarily more efficient than smaller sensors. On the other hand, in situations where motion blur is not an issue, or even desirable, systems that have in-camera IS or IS lenses can gather more light by using a slower shutter speed and achieve an advantage in apparent noise over other systems lacking IS when a tripod is not used.'

Read this article and you'll understand that smaller sensor don't necessarily have more DOF and larger sensor don't necessarily have better noise performance.
http://www.josephjamesphotography.com/equivalence/#10

 

[jaomul]

A larger sensor means better ISO performance.Sure the lens is important but it's a simple fact that larger sensors generally have lower noise than smaller sensors.The reason for this is because larger sensors gather more light per pixel because there simply is more sensor area per pixel.A larger pixel built also results in a better electrical performance.If you'd want an FX camera equivalent to the D7000 that would mean you'd need a 38 Mp FX sensor (that would give each pixel roughly the same area as the 16 Mp sensor on the D7000).Even the D800 doesn't have a 38 Mp sensor!And now we're just purely looking at the sensor area to pixel ratio. ^^

Nope. '10) Larger sensor systems gather more light and have less noise than smaller sensor systemsFor the same AOV, lenses for larger sensor systems often have larger aperture diameters which gather more light than smaller sensor systems, and thus deliver less noisy images even if the sensor for the larger sensor system is less efficient (to a degree). However, choosing a larger aperture diameter also results in a more shallow DOF, more vignetting, and softer corners. For fully equivalent images, however, all systems gather the same total amount of light. Thus, any differences in the apparent noise and dynamic range will be due to differences in the sensor efficiencies, and, contrary to popular belief, larger sensors are not necessarily more efficient than smaller sensors. On the other hand, in situations where motion blur is not an issue, or even desirable, systems that have in-camera IS or IS lenses can gather more light by using a slower shutter speed and achieve an advantage in apparent noise over other systems lacking IS when a tripod is not used.'Read this article and you'll understand that smaller sensor don't necessarily have more DOF and larger sensor don't necessarily have better noise performance.Equivalence

your numbers are starting to get boring

 

[DorkSterr]

D800 or 5DMIII.

 

[LungFish]

Read this article and you'll understand that smaller sensor don't necessarily have more DOF and larger sensor don't necessarily have better noise performance.
Equivalence

It doesn't really say that at all, just that there are certain combinations of settings for which the noise performance will be the same. However, the larger sensor allows you to obtain better noise performance than you an get with the smaller sensor, should you choose to do so.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Read this article and you'll understand that smaller sensor don't necessarily have more DOF and larger sensor don't necessarily have better noise performance.
Equivalence

It doesn't really say that at all, just that there are certain combinations of settings for which the noise performance will be the same. However, the larger sensor allows you to obtain better noise performance than you an get with the smaller sensor, should you choose to do so.

*Necessarily* It's not the format you should be choosing, but the system.

 

[Judobreaker]

If you read my post correctly you'll see I'm not contradicting you.

I said larger formats perform better because of the lower pixel density.
You're comparing complete equals where-as the sensors simply are not equal.
Comparing equals is a complete theoretical comparison which is kind of useless in a practical situation like this (we're trying to decide which camera will perform better).

 

[LungFish]

Read this article and you'll understand that smaller sensor don't necessarily have more DOF and larger sensor don't necessarily have better noise performance.

*Necessarily* It's not the format you should be choosing, but the system.

That might make sense if all cameras could only mount the lenses made for that format, and if all formats had an equally good range of lenses, but it won't as long as the APS-C system relies on FF lenses, (and smaller formats have poorer lenses). The same lens will do the exact same thing with the light, the only difference is at the sensor end. Therefore, the format matters. Also, among cameras which exist larger sensors have better noise performance.

 

[ClickClickClick]

On another note, that is an adorable picture... TOTALLY smiling!