Wildlife kit on a budget

PeteMo

PeteMo

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Hi folks.

My Aunt has asked me hunt out a body and lens kit for basic wildlife shots in her garden.

She has a budget of around £300, possibly £350 at a push.

I'd shortlisted either a s/h Canon 400d or Nikon D40 but I'm struggling to pick out a lens in the 70-300 bracket, that'll give her decent results. I have the 55-250IS which I assume will work on the 400d, not sure off the top of my head tho.

She suffers from arthritis in her hands so wants a smaller body like above.

This isn't really my thing so any suggestions from any wildlife buffs out there, more so for the lens choice really ?

Cheers
 
Thanks mate, never even crossed my mind. I'll take a gander :thumbs:
 
For that money, you might pick up the following options:

G1 and old 300mm prime - manual focus, but good IQ... 350D or 400D and a 70-300 cheapie Tamron... not bad [here's an old pic with exactly that combo]...


Old Swan by danbroad1000, on Flickr

but if she's not into the finer points of camera control, then a bridge is the way to go. HS10 or SX30IS get you almost as close as some digiscoping setups, and aren't half bad for the price. In the right hands, I've seen SX30IS shots which look as good as the 600mm/7D shots posted on here. It's all about the light, of course!
 
If you do go the DSLR route, Jessops have the Tamron 70-300 for £120 in various fits. Would have thought a D40 + Tamron would be well within budget especially if you seek out a used lens.
 
You can't go wrong with the 55-250mm, great lens for the price, there's a Canon 1000D going in the sales forum for £210.
 
Thanks chaps.

Might just get her a body for now and see how she gets on with my 55-250.

It might just be bit on the short side tho. Having said that, I would imagine most of the budget 70-300's will be a bit soft at the long end anyway :shrug:
 
Reckon your original idea of 400D and 55-250IS is spot on, the stabilisation might be handy if her grip is a bit shaky because of the arthritis.

Maybe try to find the cash for a tripod and wired remote too, both available fairly cheaply especially the remote from Ebay for less than a fiver

The cheap 70-300mm are definitely less than great at 300mm and lack the IS too, hope she enjoys whatever you get for her
 
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Bridge camera could be much better. Less hassle. If she has arthritis she might not want to be fiddling about lens swapping. Cheaper too. Panasonic FZ45 has the motorized zoom so she wouldn't need to twist the lens at all. That's about £250 ish so there's money left over for a tripod and remote. It just depends on how much use she has with her hands and how hard it is to twist and move things compared to button pushing.

I think it would be good to encourage her to go to a shop and try some of them out as it's the only real way to find out what she finds easy to use.
 
Thanks for the input Rich & Suz.

srichards said:
I think it would be good to encourage her to go to a shop and try some of them out as it's the only real way to find out what she finds easy to use.
Click to expand...

She really can't be bothered to trail round the shops trying them out that's why she just asked me to get her one. She really doesn't mind too much as long as it isn't too heavy.

She won't be swapping lenses that much either so I don't think that will be an issue.

I'm not sure the AF speed on the bridges would be on a par with a dslr either, especially for birds in her garden.
 
As for bridge cameras, I've seen very good results from Panasonic's FZ38, FZ45 & FZ100, shooting birds & wildlife, the focusing is plenty fast enough for shooting birds in the garden.
 
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