Need help please

[chelle]

I am looking to buy a new digital camera. I need a good camera to take pics of sports, wildlife and just general photography. I have looked at the Canon 50D, T1i and some Nikon's..I am looking to spend around $1,000.00..I am so confused now so if anyone can make it a little cleared for me that would be much appricated. Thank you so very much for your time...

[spiraleyes]

Do a quick search - there are dozens of threads with great suggestions.

[OldClicker]

All the modern DSLR bodies will take great images. Get your hands on them and feel which works for you. Also think about the features that would work for you. This is tough because until you start shooting, you don't know what you need (at least I didn’t). For wildlife and sports (two of the most expensive things to photograph), the lens is what is going to make the difference and these cost big $.

Since I'm answering, I’ll give you what my solution would be for ~$1000 - YMMV. I would look at the Sony (Sony bought Minolta) A500 or A550 with the new 18-55mm kit lens. This model has in-body stabilization so all your lenses are stabilized, fast-focus Live View (a Sony exclusive feature I use a lot), a zoom/fine focus Live View and 5 frames per second (7 fps without focusing between each). The LCD flips up/down for ground level and overhead shooting. When you start looking for something more than the kit lens, the Sony bodies can also use the older, used Minolta lenses. The 50mm f/1.7 (~$50), the 35-70mm f/4 (~$50) and the 70-210mm f/4 (~$200) will give you some really nice low light glass – all image stabilized and all auto focus.

TF

[Franglais]

..I need a good camera to take pics of sports, wildlife and just general photography...

What sports, what wildlife are you thinking of, and how seriously do you want to do it? You can go way beyond $1000..

Sports and wildlife have several things in common:

1. You are a fair distance from the subject but you need to have a close-up view therefore you need a telephoto lens, preferably a zoom so that you can zoom in and out depending on how close the subject is. In your price range this means a basic 55-200mm or a 70-300mm (the figures refer to the range of focal lengths of the lens, which determines the view. On the cameras you mention a "normal" view is given by a 28mm lens and a 300mm is getting close to what you see through a small pair of binoculars)

2. Your subject is often in movement and yet you need to freeze it at the right moment to give a sharp picture. You need a "fast" shutter speed (1/250 of a second or less - all the cameras you mention can do this). However if you are doing photos indoors then there isn't always a lot of light. You need a camera which is really sensitive to light - one that can do at least 3200 ISO without the image being degraded too much by noise (looks like film grain).

3. People will say that for sports you need a camera that shoots like a machine gun i.e. does at least 3 frames per second (I've tried that approach and personally I prefer doing just one shot at the right moment but that's just me).

For general photography you need a small, handy lens that can zoom from moderate wideangle through normal view to moderate telephoto. The basic lens is the 18-55 but there are lenses that go more telephoto like the 18-105 or even the 18-200 which would allow you to do sports and perhaps wildlife with just one lens.

I haven't checked the prices but from Nikon I would look at the following combinations:

Nikon 3000D kit with 18-55VR and 55-200VR
Nikon 3000D with 18-55VR and 70-300VR
Nikon 5000D kit with 18-55VR and 55-200VR
Nikon D90 with 18-200VR (may be over your budget but it's nice)

BTW the "VR" tag is the same thing as the stabilisation that Oldclicker mentioned.

[reklov]

Hi Chelle
Definitly pick up a Nikon D5000 and see how it feels in your hands...it's a good camera and within your budget.
Just bought one a little while back.