Which set up

[tbcf]

I have a wetland below my house with lots of wildlife ,I’m looking for a camera and tripod that can take good pictures.300 yards would be the closest pic,500 yards would be the farthest.I used to just have binoculars,but want pics.Any setups for less than $750?.

[gary_fritz]

I don't shoot at distances like that but I'm guessing you'll need a pretty long lens.

What do you plan to shoot? Birds? How much of the frame are you looking to fill? Here's why I ask... Lets say you are using a crop sensor (1.5x for Nikon and 1.6x for Canon) and a 400mm lens at your shortest distance of 300 yards, your horizontal field of view would be 53ft with Nikon and 49ft with Canon while your vertical field of view would be 35ft with Nikon and 33ft with Canon, of course this is in landscape orientation. If this isn't close enough you'd have to go up in lens length and that would put you outside your budget. You could add a tele-converter to a shorter lens but that decreases the F stop resulting in slower shutter speeds which I'm thinking isn't ideal when photographing birds at long distances like that, again not something I've done.

You can use this calculator to see what you're depth of field and field of view would be based on certain lens lengths, apertures, etc.
https://www.pointsinfocus.com/tools/...ens-calculator

Regardless of which brand you choose you'll want to put the money into the glass (lens). I shoot with Nikon so that's what I know best, a quick search of 400mm lens looks to be around $450-550 used which eats up 2/3 of your budget.

I know there are people here that shot nature so hopefully they will chime in with some more info for you. But at least the above gets you thinking of what you want to shoot and how much you'll want in the frame to give you a better idea of the gear you'll need.

[tbcf]

Thanks Man! I appreciate the help. I have geese and ducks mostly to take pictures of.

[mikeSF]

As an example, I shot this yesterday with a Nikon D7200 which has a cropped sensor. A 70-200 f/2.8 lens with a 2x teleconverter attached. The distance is about 105 yards. I had my camera on a sturdy tripod. As you can see the photo isn't tack sharp on the eyes. I struggle with sharpness when shooting wildlife at these distances.

Tom400mm by mikesgm, on Flickr

[gary_fritz]

Thanks Man! I appreciate the help. I have geese and ducks mostly to take pictures of.

No problem

If you'd like to browse items, KEH.com sells used equipment and bhphoto.com sells new and used. I suggest used because it'll save you some money and you can get some great equipment and reduced prices, just check the rating system and get something that isn't beat up.

If this is your first DSLR camera I'd suggest going to a store and holding a couple of the lower end models from each brand. When I started out and was buying a lower end camera I preferred the feel of the Nikon over the Canon, in the lower models. From there as I progressed I bought better lenses, but I bought lenses that would work on full frame cameras as well as my crop frame camera, that way when I would eventually upgrade my camera to full frame my lenses would work. I'm currently shooting with a full frame Nikon D750 but still have my crop frame D90 camera. Most cameras will take good pictures, granted the newer/pricey models can handle some situations better, don't think that a lower model can't get you beautiful shots. The glass is more important in my opinion.

[gary_fritz]

As an example, I shot this yesterday with a Nikon D7200 which has a cropped sensor. A 70-200 f/2.8 lens with a 2x teleconverter attached. The distance is about 105 yards. I had my camera on a sturdy tripod. As you can see the photo isn't tack sharp on the eyes. I struggle with sharpness when shooting wildlife at these distances.

In regards to the sharpness... does your 70-200 f/2.8 have VR (vibration reduction)? Reason I ask is my first lens had VR and I was having trouble with sharpness when using a tripod and found out that VR works against you in that situation. Once I turned VR off my shots looked better. The reason this happens is the VR is meant to correct movement in the camera itself so because the camera is mounted sturdy and isn't moving it fights itself to correct something that isn't there. So if you have VR try turning it off and see if it helps. Also, looking at your settings it shows 500mm focal length and 1/400 shutter speed. That turkey appears to be moving and you might need a faster shutter speed to freeze it's motion and produce a sharper image. 1/400 might sound fast enough but at that focal length it's on the slow side IMO for an object that is moving, even a slow moving one. Try bumping that up by increasing your ISO, that'll make your sensor more sensitive to the light and speed up the shutter speed to compensate. As a general rule, when I'm handheld shooting or shooting moving objects my slowest shutter speed is 1/(focal length), so in your situation I'd start at 1/500 and adjust from there as needed. There are obviously situations where you can go below that but that's a good starting point. Also, be sure to use Continuous focus to keep the object in focus.

[mikeSF]

Thanks Gary. The VR is turned off. I'll shoot with a higher shutter speed next time. I was watching a youtube video by Steve Perry last night. He said the shutter speed should be at least 1X the focal length. I had it set way too slow. Thanks again!

[gary_fritz]

Thanks Gary. The VR is turned off. I'll shoot with a higher shutter speed next time. I was watching a youtube video by Steve Perry last night. He said the shutter speed should be at least 1X the focal length. I had it set way too slow. Thanks again!

keep shooting!

[tbcf]

In regards to the sharpness... does your 70-200 f/2.8 have VR (vibration reduction)? Reason I ask is my first lens had VR and I was having trouble with sharpness when using a tripod and found out that VR works against you in that situation. Once I turned VR off my shots looked better. The reason this happens is the VR is meant to correct movement in the camera itself so because the camera is mounted sturdy and isn't moving it fights itself to correct something that isn't there. So if you have VR try turning it off and see if it helps. Also, looking at your settings it shows 500mm focal length and 1/400 shutter speed. That turkey appears to be moving and you might need a faster shutter speed to freeze it's motion and produce a sharper image. 1/400 might sound fast enough but at that focal length it's on the slow side IMO for an object that is moving, even a slow moving one. Try bumping that up by increasing your ISO, that'll make your sensor more sensitive to the light and speed up the shutter speed to compensate. As a general rule, when I'm handheld shooting or shooting moving objects my slowest shutter speed is 1/(focal length), so in your situation I'd start at 1/500 and adjust from there as needed. There are obviously situations where you can go below that but that's a good starting point. Also, be sure to use Continuous focus to keep the object in focus.

Fantastic!! Thanks again for the help