Sub £500 camera setup

[timboellis]

My son is looking for a camera mainly for taking pictures of our dog but looking for a setup under £500 2nd hand so he can get more for his money.

I previously had a Nikon D300 with a sigma 70-200 f2.8 and found that to be a great combination for the photos i took however a tad on the heavy side.

So any suggestions compact/Bridge/Mirrorless/SLR?

Tim

 

[Nostromo]

I would say something like the canon 1300d would be a good choice. Brand new it's inexpensive (about £270 body only). Or any of the entry level dslr's would suit, they're smallish, light weight and user friendly.

 

[BubbaUK]

It depends whether the dog will be moving or not - if it's not moving much, have you considered something like the Panasonic GX80, or if it's a speedier dog the Sony A6000, which has pretty good auto-focus for a non-DSLR (though the kit lens isn't great & the premium zooms are pricey & aimed at FF)?

 

[damianmkv]

i bought my ( then ) 12 year old a d3100 and 18-105 VR for £180 last year - works fine and leaves plenty from your budget for a fast prime and more

 

[timboellis]

Well my son is 18 , and the dogs are very fast , but the lens / camera needs to be fast as he also wants to freeze the shots with them shaking water off of them

 

[gad-westy]

To be honest, that nikon d300 and sigma 70-200 2.8 combo actually sounds ideal. Go for the sigma 70-200 hsm ii if you can. It's the last one before the os version came out. The os is slightly better but out of budget. The lens should be about £300 and a d300 should be doable for £200. It should give you very good af performance and perfect for fast action at that budget.

 

[timboellis]

Well after many many hours looking over various configurations and as my son did not want an "OLD" camera went for the Nikon D5300 with a Sigma 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 C DC Macro OS HSM.

So hoping this is going to come up to our expectations.