Wildlife and landscape kit for amateur photographer?

[willow-weaver]

Hi everyone.

I finally decided to splurge and get myself a good camera! I used to borrow a Nikon D3500 from a family member while hiking, which is sadly no longer an option, so I've been limited to my smartphone for the last little while. I do a lot of hikes in the Rocky Mountains (usually near Banff, Canada) and shoot landscape/wildlife photos. Purchasing advice would be most welcomed!

Skill-wise for photography, I'm probably solidly in the 'intermediate' grouping — I know my way around a camera, and grok the physics aspects of lenses pretty well, but I'm certainly no expert. My priorities are, roughly in order:

1. Lightweight. The lighter the better, obviously, but I'm willing to carry some extra weight in order to gain some flexibility. For context, the rest of my hiking gear weighs between 2-4kg depending on how much water I'm bringing for the day, so 0.5-1.0kg extra for a camera feels within the weight budget, with less = better.
2. Image stabilization. My hands are quite shaky (chronic immune system condition, sadly, not much I can do about this) and so good image stabilization is a must.
3. Weather sealing. I'm not one to hike in terrible conditions or go underwater, but I do like going out and about in cold weather, up into clouds, and during light rainfall. The dustproofing is also a wonderful peace-of-mind feature.
4. Good viewfinder. I can't get used to previewing a shot on a LCD, and I frequently have trouble seeing even glare-protected LCDs in bright light.

I don't have a precise budget in mind, but I'm willing to go up to, say, $2k CAD for a quality setup that will last a while. So far, this has tentatively lead me to the following gear:

1. OM System OM-5 camera body
2. M.Zuiko 14-150mm f4-5.6 II lens

The total weight is roughly 700g (415g body + 285g lens), and runs about $2000 CAD new right now. I would also probably pick up a dedicated prime lens for lower-light shooting eventually as the maximum f4 aperture on the 14-150mm lens is a little small — currently eyeing the Sigma 56mm f1.4 DC DN as a possibility for that.

Any suggestions for improving this plan?

Many thanks!

 

[zombiesniper]

This is a pretty good setup. It is really on the small end for wildlife, however you could offset that with a small teleconverter to extend the reach of the 14-150 lens with minimal weight gains. Olympus makes some great teleconverters.

 

[willow-weaver]

Ooh, you make a good point about the teleconverters. The maximum aperture reduction had me initially wary, but it's a cheapish/lightweight way to get a much narrower FoV. Thank you for pointing that out!

 

[Bill in Texas]

Good luck. I'm not familiar with Olympus equipment anymore though I started in 2005 with their DSLRs and shot them until 2014. Sony shooter here now. You might take a look at the Sony A6400 with the E70-300 lens. With the body's crop ratio that lens is = to 535mm in 35mm terms. Tamron and Sigma also make some good lenses for these cameras.

 

[DigiFilm]

I don't think that the 14-150/3.5=5.6 lens is compatible with a TC, so check into that before you buy. With the M-4/3 sensor you're looking at 300mm FOV, so not awful, but I agree it's on the short side for wildlife. Unfortunately getting a good long wildlife lens that is also lightweight is a tall order.

One option may be the 75-300 which gets you up to 600mm, but I'm not sure if it has IS that will work with the body. A lightweight monopod would go a long way to assist in stability.

A question: Do you know what lens you used on the borrowed Nikon? That might give us a better idea of the FOV you're used to seeing and help make lens suggestions.

 

[Don Fischer]

Well If I were to go out like that I'd take my D7000 Nikon and my 18-200 Tamron walking around and to stop and hide, my 170-500 Tamron that would cover everything from 18mm to 500mm with the over lap between 170mm and 200mm. If you really needed 200mm and had the long lens on then you probably have time to carefully change lens's. Same way if you have on the short lens and need to change, you probably have time to do it. One draw back of my long lens is I shoot it best off a tripod. I'm a bit shaky also not for medical reasons but age!

Lot of guy's seem to nix the zoom lens but maybe, and only a maybe the zoom lets you take the best you can do and add a tripod and it get's better. I have an old Bogan tripod, aluminum but still pretty heavy. It was a gift. Quick detachable camera mount on it but still pretty heavy. Leggs open enough you can set it up about any where, really like that! If it doesn't seem to be steady enough I can pick up weight to hang under it and that helps a lot. Truth be known though, I seldom get it out unless I'm gonna sit in a blind somewhere.

I was out sometime back with a guy also shooting a Nikon that was using a Nikon 18-400mm lens, I envy him as that would probably be all I'd need normally. Just looked it up and see Tamron also makes an 18-400mm lens. I've liked what Tamron lens do so I'd probably go that way for the difference in cost! If I was to wonder about anything it would be the need for anything below say 150mm.

 

[greybeard]

My recommendation would be to look for a good used Nikon D7500 and a good used nikon AF-S or AF-P 70-300mm. Not super small but not a boat ancho either. I've been using a AF-S 70-300 that I got refurb from Nikon for years and they punch way above their weight. The D7500 is a crop frame (APS-C) gives you the reach of a 450mm (full frame) when used on a crop frame body. (jmho)

https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-d7500/sku-2989986

https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/nikon-af-p-dx-nikkor-70-300mm-f-4-5-6-3g-ed/sku-3066643