Beginner Seeking Help

[Pituophis]

I have been an avid wildlife lover and hiker for quiete a while and have been looking to start nature photograpy but am pretty unsure what camera to get. I can spend up to $1,500 on a camera body but have been told this is unnecessary and to just invest in a good lense(s). IS THIS TRUE? I've been considering the Pentax K-r and other pentax cameras and also the Gx-10 and Gx-20 and the Pentax K10D. I have old pentax lenses like a "SMC Pentax-F Zoom 1:4-5.6 70-210mm". All the of the above cameras I believe can use this lense. Does anyone have advice as to what camera body and lenses to purchase? I would preferably go with Pentax but if there is good reason will switch brands. I would like to photographs mainly large mammals and birds but also wildlife in general. Being just a teenager I have a hard time finding a suitable body due to lack of experience.
Thank you for any advice

[Sushigaijin]

"buy a cheap body and get a couple of nice lenses" is good advice. Some of Pentax's new bodies are splash-proof which is nice for wildlife photographers. That may be a big consideration depending on your hiking time. I've had my sealed camera in downpours, heavy mist and snow and it keeps ticking.

My general advice for wildlife photographers is a fast, sharp standard zoom in the equivalent range of 24-80mm, a short macro lens in the 100mm range, and a long prime or zoom above 300mm. Get a set of extension tubes and you're ready to go.

Normally I don't post a lot of "get this camera" advice but I liked your handle hahahahha

[Pituophis]

Would these be good choices?...

http://www.pentaximaging.com/camera-...100mm_F2.8_WR/

http://www.pentaximaging.com/camera-...F4_ED(IF)_SDM/

http://www.pentaximaging.com/camera-...Macro_Limited/


I looked through the Pentax lenses and thought these would work... but I'm not entirely sure. And thanks for the advice.

[Pituophis]

What pentax body would you reccomend?

[Singletracklovr]

I mostly kayak, mtn bike, and hike with my camera. Love shooting wildlife, trail life and the piney woods.

I went the cheap body route Nikon D80 and was never satisfied with the picture quality.
Since I upgraded to a Nikon D300s Ive never looked back.
I'm using the same lenses and post processing software so there must be something to a better body.

Good luck with whatever path you take.

[Sushigaijin]

The lenses look good. The 100mm macro is going to be similar to the 100mms from the other major players. Being weather-sealed is a bonus which not many manufacturers offer.

the 35mm is going to act like a "standard" lens on the pentax APS sensors, so right around 50mm. Although that would be a useful lens in my stable I think you'd be better served by whatever their mid-grade "standard" zoom is - again, with a range of 24-80= which is something like 18-50 in actual mm. That way you can shoot landscapes and short telephoto on the same lens; for snake hunting I can shoot pretty much leave my (24-120mm) standard zoom on all day, only changing lenses for macro or distance. The flexibility of the zoom will let you change your composition without moving around too much, which could spook your subject.

And to be honest I might wait on a long lens, although if you shoot a lot of birds you might want JUST the long lens. 300mm is good, but if they have a longer lens available it would be a better choice. When shooting birds, there is no such thing as too long...just too big or heavy. If they have a high-quality long zoom it might be a good choice.

I still can't recommend a body because I don't know the pentax line-up. Theoretically you should be able to pick up a used high-end model for about the same as you would pay for a new entry-level model, because they will pack the entry level stuff with cheap lenses that you probably won't be happy with anyway. I'd look at the K20d if it's in your price range, I remember thinking it was a great outdoors camera: it's weather sealed, fast, has a lot of room to crop, and supposedly very well built. It looks good on paper, at least. I also think they just replaced it so you might be able to grab one cheap from an early-adopter. But again, take this as theory rather than a solid suggestion because I don't know the pentax line at all.

And to echo singletrack, I have both a consumer body and a pro body - both take nice pictures and will do 90% of the same job, but it is nice to have the pro body when it's raining, nasty, muddy, foggy, etc (weathersealed), and also when it might just tumble down a nasty talus slide that I've been scrambling up (magnesium body) or when the light isn't perfect (better high ISO performance). I sure don't miss the very small and light consumer body when I've been carrying around the pro body for a few hours though, the flip side is that the durable pro models are large and heavy!

Does the pro body take nicer pictures? sometimes, yes. it's the camera I use 100% of the time. But if something went wrong with it, I wouldn't feel undergunned to pull the other one out of the bag and keep going.

[paulnj]

Well, canon makes some fairly good entry level DSLR's too, but I haven't kept up with gear to be honest. Wildlife in general will require a 300-400mm lens to start to be honest and nature images depending on style you'd need a F2.8 or F4 zoom in the 24/28-80/105 range.

I would read the feedback or reviews on this site on lenses you are considering to get a much brouder spectrum of views.