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Both companies are OK for you. The type of the camera depends on what you exactly want to take photos of, under what circumstances (for example: you want to take pics of nature, or fast running animals in the dawn/sunset), if you are willing to learn something on taking photos, how much you are willing to invest and what other preferences you havce (say you have big hands, you prefer lighter body or you like flipping-out display, etc)

 

 

ATB,

Anna

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Both companies are OK for you. The type of the camera depends on what you exactly want to take photos of, under what circumstances (for example: you want to take pics of nature, or fast running animals in the dawn/sunset), if you are willing to learn something on taking photos, how much you are willing to invest and what other preferences you havce (say you have big hands, you prefer lighter body or you like flipping-out display, etc)

 

 

ATB,

Anna

We'll I want it for abit of everything really,I'd like a light bodied one an I've got a budget in my head what I want to spend

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Well, I am just a user, but have tried quite many types both Canon and Nikon.

 

Let's start with Nikon

a., if you are ready to buy a second hand camera, I would suggest you to go for a D300 or D300s. They are steady, weatherproof cameras with many services and about 6-8 frames per second (FPS). Their big advantage (comparing to the brand new, but lower category cameras, such as D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200, D5300) is that you can reach many settings wit buttons and don't have to "poke" in the menu for every little thing. Advantage is also the upper display, which is very useful that you can see all the important settings in just a second by having a look at that.

D300 is a bit newer then D300, can shoot video and has SD card place. D300s is a bit more expensive.

Still used (although it can be purchased from the shop too, may you want to consider a D7000. The advantage is the advanced video and the ISO ability. ISO is important if you want to take pics in the down/sunset, when there is not much light. It is not the question which has higher ISO number, but which has higher ISO with which the picture is still usable. Search for the word "noise" concerning to Digital Single Lense Cameras (DSLR), you'll understand. :)

 

b., if from the shop, I would go for a D7000 or would maybe even consider a D5200.

 

Lens: I would buy the Tamron 70-300mm USD, VC f/4.5-5.6 telezoom for outside photos of dogs and nature and maybe a 18-105mm VR f/3.5-5.6. I would not buy the 18-55mm lens, the only advantage of it is being cheap.

Please take into consideration that by Nikon there are cameras with AF motor and without. Mostly the "simple" cameras lack of AF motor. With such cameras (D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200) you will have no AutoFocus with some lenses. I think with Tamron and the Nikkor 18-105 you will have, but please double check about the Tamron! :)

Tamron is a third party company (along with Sigma and Tokina), producing lenses with Canon and Nikon bayonette. This particular Tamron lens is told to be better then the same in Nikon. I never tryed the Nikon version.

 

 

Canon:

c., if you are ready to buy a second hand camera, I would suggest you to go for a 7D, maybe a 50D, 60D or a 600D. 7D is a very good camera mostly for all what you need! 60D is not lot better then 50D, except of the newer sensor (better with noise performance) and the better video. Ah, and it has a fancy tilting screen. It won't brake off, don't worry. :) May help you for macro photos.

d., I would buy a 70D. Expensive, but great camera, also wit tilting screen.

 

Lens: the Tamron 70-300mm USD VC. It shall work on the Canon, but better doublechecking. :) Canon has a good kit lens, the 18-135mm STM USM, maybe that could be good for you to start with.

 

 

Hope it helps you some, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

 

 

Anna

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Well, I am just a user, but have tried quite many types both Canon and Nikon.

 

Let's start with Nikon

a., if you are ready to buy a second hand camera, I would suggest you to go for a D300 or D300s. They are steady, weatherproof cameras with many services and about 6-8 frames per second (FPS). Their big advantage (comparing to the brand new, but lower category cameras, such as D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200, D5300) is that you can reach many settings wit buttons and don't have to "poke" in the menu for every little thing. Advantage is also the upper display, which is very useful that you can see all the important settings in just a second by having a look at that.

D300 is a bit newer then D300, can shoot video and has SD card place. D300s is a bit more expensive.

Still used (although it can be purchased from the shop too, may you want to consider a D7000. The advantage is the advanced video and the ISO ability. ISO is important if you want to take pics in the down/sunset, when there is not much light. It is not the question which has higher ISO number, but which has higher ISO with which the picture is still usable. Search for the word "noise" concerning to Digital Single Lense Cameras (DSLR), you'll understand. :)

 

b., if from the shop, I would go for a D7000 or would maybe even consider a D5200.

 

Lens: I would buy the Tamron 70-300mm USD, VC f/4.5-5.6 telezoom for outside photos of dogs and nature and maybe a 18-105mm VR f/3.5-5.6. I would not buy the 18-55mm lens, the only advantage of it is being cheap.

Please take into consideration that by Nikon there are cameras with AF motor and without. Mostly the "simple" cameras lack of AF motor. With such cameras (D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200) you will have no AutoFocus with some lenses. I think with Tamron and the Nikkor 18-105 you will have, but please double check about the Tamron! :)

Tamron is a third party company (along with Sigma and Tokina), producing lenses with Canon and Nikon bayonette. This particular Tamron lens is told to be better then the same in Nikon. I never tryed the Nikon version.

 

 

Canon:

c., if you are ready to buy a second hand camera, I would suggest you to go for a 7D, maybe a 50D, 60D or a 600D. 7D is a very good camera mostly for all what you need! 60D is not lot better then 50D, except of the newer sensor (better with noise performance) and the better video. Ah, and it has a fancy tilting screen. It won't brake off, don't worry. :) May help you for macro photos.

d., I would buy a 70D. Expensive, but great camera, also wit tilting screen.

 

Lens: the Tamron 70-300mm USD VC. It shall work on the Canon, but better doublechecking. :) Canon has a good kit lens, the 18-135mm STM USM, maybe that could be good for you to start with.

 

 

Hope it helps you some, if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

 

 

Anna

Really interesting Anna and good on you to take the time to give out that advice, just wish I knew what you were saying :icon_redface::icon_redface::icon_redface:

 

Cheers, D.

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Ah, well...so I try to put it this way:

For general cases (standing photos of your dogs in the garten, family pictures, landscape photos, dog shows) ALL digital cameras will do the job. All of them, no exception.

 

For photographing dogs/other animals in the move you need to have certain attributes in your DSLR. (DSLR stands for Digital Single Lense Reflex - this is the general name for cameras with interchangeable lenses with mirror inside. Cameras with no mirror inside, but interchangeable lenses called MILC.)

 

So you have bad light conditions (say you are out in the morning or in the evening, or when it's more foggy, or rainy or dark) and a fast moving animal that you want to take a picture of.

 

What I think you need in order to have a good photo of that action:

- in many cases you want to take as many pictures one after another as possible in order to catch THE moment. This is measured in FPS (Frames Per Second). Beginner cameras can do about 3 FPS, more advanced ones (mostly designed for action and sport photography) can do about 6-8 FPS. BIG difference! (example for beginner cameras: Nikon D3100, Canon 1100D, example for advanced cameras: Nikon D300, Canon 7D)

 

- you will need a fast and accurate Auto Focus (AF) system. This will help you having sharp images and follow the dog with the focus. Focusing abilities may also depend on the lens you use, but more on the camera's own focusing system. Important is, how many AF points the camera has, and how many of them are crosstype (helping more accurate and fast focusing). (below is an img of focusing points)

ZAFPOINTCOVERAGE.JPG

 

 

Beginner cameras have about 9 AF points and 1 of them is cross type (the middle one), more advanced ones (mostly designed for action and sport photography) have about 39-51 AF points with about 9-15 cross types all over the places.

 

- you will want a camera with good noise performance even on higher ISO. ISO is the measurement of sensibility of the sensor. You may remember, in the old days we could buy films with 100 ASA (or DIN) or 400 ASA (or DIN). So that is the same idea, only that now you don't have to change the film, but the ISO settings.

In the UK it is many times cloudy, rainy, dark - therefor you will need to set the ISO sensitivity higher. But the more you set the ISO higher (you can set it on most DSLRs from 100 to 12500), the noisier the picture gets. Too much noise is not a very good thing to have:

Example_lena_denoise_noisy.jpg

this is a noisy picture. You can see, the lines are not definite, all the picture is a bit grainy and "indistinct". You want to avoid it. Therefor you don't have to care what is the highest number you can set your ISO to, but you care for what is the level that you will avoid TOO MUCH noise. (Some noise will not disturb you, it is not that critical.)

Beginner cameras will be noisy from about ISO 800 or 1200 and very noisy from about ISO 3200, while more advanced ones will be noisy from about ISO 1200 and will be very noisy from about ISO 6400.

ISO is something you always have to change according to the weather (or if you were out and you step in to a house or church) and keep it as low as possible, so it is nice to have a separate button for that on your camera.

 

- you may want to have a telezoom lens as your dog(s) will be further away from you. ;) I suggest you to have a cheaper, but good quality edition (Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 USD, VC ). This Tamron lens is suitable for both Canon and Nikon cameras - just take care that the bayonett will be for Canon or Nikon. :) This lens will not be good inside of your apartment because of the focal length. Thefor I suggest you to have a "non-telezoom", one with shorter focal length lens, say the Nikon 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR or a Canon 18-135 IS STM USM.

The f-number is important: the smaller the number is, the heavier, the better quality and more expensive the lens is (just check out for the price of the Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II. or the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II.).

 

VR / VC / IS / OS stands for Vibration Reduction (in different companies it called others, but all mean the same and are for balancing your hand+bodyshakes and helping you having sharper photos. There are also lenses without this feature).

 

 

And most importantly: you will need a good book/ course/ good sites on the net to learn about the basics of photography in order not to rely on the automatic functions, becausde you can do MUCH better pictures by yourself then what you woulod do with the automatic functions!

Equally important is to practice and try out new things and settings.

 

I hope it did help a bit more, if not, please feel free to ask! :)

 

ATB,

Anna

Edited by Panna
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I try to show through comparison what I think are the main differences and may be important for you when choosing a camera for taking photos of your dogs in action.

Below are 4 DSLRs: 2 of the lower cathegory and 2 of the more advanced (better for taking action-photos, but still not super-expensive and surely not pro cathegory). These are now Nikon, but I can do the same for Canon too.

 

10408512_10152728035508293_2817664649927

 

Effective pixels: all of them have just enough Megapixels, don't think that the more Pixels, the better! You can make nice billboards from 6 MPixels, so no need to too much MPixels! Too much MP may even be a disadvantage if you think of the storage capacity of your computer and memory card.

 

ISO: here you can see how high numbers they put there - and all are just "marketing". As I wrote above, I think that these numbers practically does not mean anything. What I also think is important: do NOT rely on the auto-ISO, that will put most of the time the highest possible - which is mostly not what you want.

 

Image stabilization: the image stabilization for Nikon are in the lenses, not in the body. Not all lenses have IS (Nikon calls it VR for Vibration Reduction) and not always it is useful. (In many cases tough.) For example if you want to take a sharp picture of your dog running after a hare, you want to use fast shutter speed (1/2000th of a sec, 1/4000th of a sec), then there is no function for the VR, you will not be able to shake the camera in this short time.

 

Autofocus: mostly marketing blabla, what important is that you have "continuous" focus mode and by

Number of Focus Points you have as many with crosstpye focus points as possible. (39 would also be enough IMO.)

 

Focal Length multiplier: not important, but useful when buying lens: the old Leica-size sensor (36x24mm) is the size of the "Full frame" (or FX as Nikon calls it). All the cameras mentioned in this topic have so-called Crop sensor (this is the "C" in APS-C). Their sensor is smaller then the Leica size sensor, therefor their multiplier is 1.5 when you buy lens. (by Canon the multiplier is 1.6)

For example: if you buy a telezoom lens of 70-200mm, on Full frame sensored camera the focal length will be 70-200mm, while on crop sized sensor the focal length will be 105-300mm. On every lens they give you the focal length on Full frame.

 

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...

 

10603348_10152728035513293_4533710801029

 

Articulated LCD: fully articulated may be good if you use your camera for macro photos and if you used to take photos holding the camera above your head or very much on the ground, without laying on he ground. May be useful for videos. In all other cases fixed is just fine.

 

Screen dots: again, not important, but useful: when you see your pictures back on the LCD screen, the more dots you have, the more exact you see the picture (also if it is not sharp enough, or not where you wanted it to be sharp).

 

Live view: again, not important, but useful to know: that it is practically not good for anything. ;) Live view is when you see on the display what you like to take a picture of. It has another focusing system, MUCH slower then the normal. It may be helpful for macro photos or taking pictures of your children when they sleep. ;) (Ah, and for video, of course)

 

Maximum shutter speed: 1/4000th of a second may be fast enough for you.

 

Continuous drive: That is this Frames Per Second that may help you a lot in cathing THAT moment! 3fps and 7fps makes the difference.

 

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10534708_10152728035523293_3616722216490

 

Storage refers to memory card. Some cameras have double slot (D300s and D7000), which may be nice to have, but we can live without.

 

Environmentaly sealed: may be useful as you may want to use your camera on the field, where there may be dust or some little rain.

 

Battery life isn't described for D3100 and D5100, but if you do not use flash and don't look at your photos on hte LCD for long minutes, they will easily serve you on a day out.

 

Weight: I would go for heavier, more sturdy cameras. I myself just sold my D7100 (similar to D7000) and bought a D300.

 

Last, but not least, I think that it is important that you will not have to spend long minutes finding some setting in your menu or in the "fast settings" (see last picture), but you will have dedicated buttons for the most important settings (such as ISO, focus point changing, focus area, etc). In my experience it is also very hasndy to have an upper display on which you can see immediately the most important settings that you have.

These are pictures of a D3100 and a D300s for comparison:

 

d3100-top-600.jpg

 

 

Nikon300s-gora_gallery_wide.jpg

 

and from the back:

d3100_back-600.jpg

 

Nikon300s-tyl_gallery_wide.jpg

 

 

ATB,

 

Anna

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