"Which Camera" question: Amateur Wildlife

[VentureFree]

My mother, who lives in Alaska, has recently expressed a desire to do some wildlife photography. In fact, for the first time in her life she is actually asking for a Christmas present: a new camera. My budget is a maximum of $3000 for the entire package (camera, lenses, accessories), but of course I'd prefer to keep the cost as low as possible. Based on what she has told me I've come up with the following list of requirements and suggestions:

1. It must be able to "auto-click" (her words). I think she means just holding the button to continually take photos.
2. It must be able to take video. The focus is on photography, so if there is a question of quality, it should err on the side of better photo quality.
3. It must be capable of action shots. She mentioned that she's trying to get shots of eagles and swimming animals.
4. It should be able to take good quality night photos.
5. It must be able to take long distance shots. In other words a telephoto lens is a necessary part of the budget.
6. She said that she want's a Nikon, but I suspect that's just because she knows someone who has one. I'm willing to live with the consequences of ignoring this "requirement" if there's a different brand with a better starting camera.
7. (my own requirement) It should be fairly amateur friendly. She's only ever worked with point and click camera's, so she's going to be learning how to use a DSLR from scratch, and I won't be there with her to help out (I'm assuming a DSLR is what she needs, but if you know of a point and click that'll work, by all means tell me about it). A learning curve is inevitable, but if it's too steep she might just give up before she gets started.

Keep in mind that she is an amateur, so I'm not looking for the best possible quality stuff. However, I do want it to be something that she can build on if she finds that she really enjoys it.

 

[iPhoto17]

all i know is that most of that budget will go towards a good telephoto lens, the camera body would go anywhere between 5 and 1500. my D3000 was 600 and its cheaper now and its a great camera.

just be prepared to spend some big bucks

 

[D-B-J]

i'd get her a nikon d300(maybe used)? And a nikkor 80-200 2.8, and a 1.7 teleconverter.

 

[Bram]

Alright try this one on for size. Get her a D90, great beginner camera and alot of room for advancing in knowledge, very user friendly and the package comes with a 18-105 lens, 3.5 so it's not the fastest but thats why you have the $3000.00 budget lol just kidding I would get her the D90 which is now going for $1100.00 new or so depending on where you are. Now for a lens I would get her a 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D since the D90 will AF with it that lens would go for about $900 on amazon. All together you ofcourse maybe want to get her a tripod, some filters maybe and a storage device if she doesnt already have one, editing software, all that jazz. That is what I would recommend. Ofcourse you can go into Canon vs Nikon but let's not open that door that will get ugly. This package above will suit all the requirments.

Hope this helps.

 

[TheFantasticG]

D90 Body - $900

Nikon 1.4x TC - $370

Nikon 300mm F4 - $1349

Manfrotto Tripod w/fluid head - $245

And she'll be good to go for wildlife for a while I'd be willing to bet.

Or you can blow the budget and get her the Nikon D300s body only. But, for beginner... depends on how good she is at adapting to new technology.

 

[Overread35]

On the canon front a 100-400mm f4-5.6 IS L would be an ideal easy to pickup wildlife lens for use and considering the overall tone of the post might be easier than some other options such as the prime lenses - which whilst giving overall better image quality don't "zoom".

Add to that a good camera body - a 550D would be entry level (good and does video) but you can also consider a 60D as the next level up whilst still supporting video and not breaking the bank too much.

The 70/80-200mm lenses are ok but they are not wildlife lenses (unless your mother has very good fieldskills for getting close). The top range Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR II or the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS L M2 would be good choices with a 2*teleconverter but both sides of the coin you'll end up with image quality about the same as the canon 100-400mm at around twice the cost.


EDIT - you can also consider the sigma 50-500mm OS as an option if you want to remain on the Nikon front (if she has friends who shoot nikon it might help her learn and adapt to the DSLR if they can directly advise her). It should have image quality similar to the 100-400mm L from canon.

In short the lens is going to be the most important part of the setup rather than the camera body. The entry level bodies will have a few auto modes (sports, macro, landscape, portrait) but won't have massive of auto menus like a point and shoot will. Thereafter the midrange will only have auto - program and then the regular DSLR controls to learn.