What camera/lense options for wildlife/bird photos

[ryder]

I have an opportunity to go to Florida to shoot birds on Merritt Island (a national seashore reserve) in Feb. I am currently using a Nikon L100 point and shoot. I am afraid that the 15x wide angle zoom is not going to be enough, so I was looking at the Nikon P90 as a possible answer. I can get one for about $350.

However, spending that much on a point and shoot gets me thinking that I should go ahead and move to a DSLR. I started looking into the Nikon d3000, but I don't understand enough about the lenses to know what I need for far away shots. We won't be able to get very close without scaring off the birds I suspect.

If I am limited to about $800 total, can I get into a camera and lens for wildlife photography? I am starting new, but am leaning toward Nikon for quality and cost. Am I off base???

I also tend toward landscape photos and have done some macros (flowers and bugs) with point and shoot. I probably am unusual in that I don't take many photos with people in them. This adds to my confusion since most reviews I see and post on here have a lot to do with street/portrait shooting.

Any advice will help. Thanks.

[inkista]

Depending on how close you can get to the birds, and how much light you have to work with, you might be able to do it with a dSLR and a 70-300 consumer lens, but birding, optimally, is done with supertelephotos of 400mm or more, and the lowest prices for those lenses are typically over $1000. Also, the technique for using longer lenses is a bit more demanding than even regular dSLR photography.

You may be better off using a superzoom bridge camera, digiscoping, or renting a dSLR and lens combination and practicing beforehand. But I wouldn't expect to be getting National Geographic shots if I were digiscoping or using a P&S.

[OsmosisStudios]

Youre not going to get much for $800.

FOr birds you need a minimum of 300mm. In photo terms, that's not cheap. Usually you also want lenses with large apertures (f/# is a SMALL number), and thats definetly not cheap.

Absolute worst-case scenario: D3000 and a 70-300 zoom. Assuming you get body only and the old version of the 70-300, you'd be able to fit it under your budget.

That, however, would be no better than a P90 in terms of image quality and probably shorter in terms of focal length.

Have you considered RENTING gear? Going out and getting, say, a D300 and a 300mm f/2.8 VR? It certainly wont break the bank and it gives you what you need.

[ryder]

I don't think light will be a problem too much. We will probably go out about sunrise and shoot till about 10 or11 am. Just after sunrise might be limited, but National Seashore should be fairly open and many will be wading in water, so lots of reflections.

I found a Nikon D3000 10MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens & 55-200mm DX Zoom Lens for about $680 but I don't know how far the 55-200mm lens will reach. And is this a wide angle lens or a telephoto zoom lens? I have noticed on my Nikon L100 with 15x wide angle zoom that things in the distance come out fairly small compared to the foreground sometimes.

[ryder]

Thanks for the idea of renting. I did not even know what I would need renting, so your post helps alot. My concern with renting is that I am doing more and more wildlife photos and really want to get into this, but I am disabled on social security and my budget is really tight. I have gotten some fun photos of a blue heron and a couple of whitetail does with my L100 that I am happy with but I was at max zoom reaching out about 100 yards and the L100 images are not really sharp at that zoom.

[ryder]

My real fear is that if I buy the P90, I will be ready to upgrade in a month or two. This happened with the L100 since I just got it a month ago!!! Did not do my homework and too quick with the card!!!

[SusanH1970]

If you end up going with the D3000, a decent (not fantastic by any means, but certainly not horrifying) zoom telephoto lens is this one. For the price, it's really not bad. I have the one for Canon mount, and I'm happy with it until I can afford something better. It's a bit soft at 200-300, but a heck of a lot better than you'd get with a P&S. It doesn't have VR, so unless you have extraordinarily steady hands, you'll need a tripod at full zoom (though I'm guilty of going handheld 90% of the time that I use mine, as I tend to use it in places I can't bring a tripod, LOL).

It also has macro capabilities, but it's not a true 1:1 macro lens (it's magnification is 1:2 at 300mm). I've used mine for some macro work but have been less than thrilled with the results.

If you want to see examples of what one can do with this lens, just let me know and I'll direct you to some that I've taken.

[ryder]

Thanks Susan. That is more like it. With that lens and the basic d3000with a kit lens I am at my full budget. I already have a tripod and a monopod that I use often. Being disabled, some of my meds make me shake too much for handheld at any zoom! So I monopod where most handheld and tripod really fast for landscape and reasonably stable scenes. I expect to be able to tripod most of this shoot on Merritt Island.

[SusanH1970]

Glad to help.

[ryder]

Thanks to all, but the more I think about renting - it really won't work. I am going to Florida for one to six weeks and we will probably make several trips to the island since it is close to where I am staying. So I cannot rent locally and try it out first and if I rent it down there I won't have a chance to get use to the camera at all. If I do the d3000 and I am unhappy with the lens that I get, maybe I can rent a better lens locally. If anyone knows where to rent stuff in Daytona Beach, Florida --- that would help.

I also expect to visit Blue Springs while there and hope for some good shots of the manatees since they should be up in the spring run!

Thanks again for the help.