Under $700 DSLR for Wildlife?
Ok so my last question wasn't too detailed so I will try this again. I'm moving to montana near Yellow Stone and want to get into wild life photography. So I was thinking between the Nikon d3100 or the sony a35? What do y'all think? Any suggestions for other cameras?
Spec:
In camera image stabilization
multi point focus
large buffer
extended dynamic range?
Canon eos t3. $499 tons of features.
Canon EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR - was called "best for price" by Popular Photography magazine. Adorama price $600, B&H - $580
Whatever you buy, you then will have to spend some $ for a good telescopic lens (and mostly lenses are the most expensive part of this hobby)
Go with the Sony. You will love that translucent mirror for shooting wildlife. It's much quieter so you are less likely to scare away the animals. You will get more photos per second in burst mode, the eye level electronic viewfinder is great and you don't have the viewfinder going black in between photos. Plus you can get some great lenses cheap for the Sony alphas. If you look a little bit you can find a used Minolta a-mount for a fraction of the price of the brand new equivalent.
I would suggest though that you look for the older and recently discontinued a33 instead of the a35. Not only will you save about $150, you will get the articulation LCD that is absent on the a35. Bedford camera still has the a33 in stock in limited quantities right now. They sell online and ship to you and they're a great company. I shop in their physical store in Fayetteville all the time.
http://www.bedfords.com/slt-a33l
Canon and Nikon don't offer in-camera VR/IS. All DSLRs have multiple auto focus points… All DSLRs offer good dynamic range… You should be asking about lenses, not camera bodies. An entry-level DSLR will be fine. For example - Rebel T3 w/ 18-55 ($480-ish), 55-250 IS ($225-ish), spare battery ($30), 3X 8GB class 10 SD cards ($45), case ($20), tripod ($30). D3100 w/ 18-55 ($550-sh), 55-200 VR ($200-ish), spare battery ($30), 3X 8GB Class 10 SD cards ($45-ish), tripod ($30). As a beginner, you don't need to be worrying about dynamic range… Learn about the rule of thirds, how to use your camera in full-manual, etc etc.
Any dSLR will do just make sure you have at least a 300mm lens.