Good Morning,
When I’ve entered the camera market, there wasn’t really one quick answer to my questions, and as a new buyer the things are expensive, so you can’t afford to make a mistake. So from 2006 I’ve read up allot, bought few things and played with it, and I will give you a very simplified version of my research and experience, and hopefully you can make a “more informed” decision.
DSLR cameras mainly are made up of 3 components, body, lenses and flash.
When you read all this, and on the internet, just take the following in mind, before DSLR cameras, there were SLR cameras (like Pentax) with a 35mm film, and that film you got in different quality or should I say better or worse capability to capture light when exposed. This is the ISO rating.
The idea of a camera is to capture light reflection similar to what your eyes see and convert into a picture. So a camera work in nearly all aspects the same as your eyes. Then there are two things I would say to photography, one taking a clear / focused and balanced photo, and two the way you take a picture, the angle, the moment etc. that make the picture to come “alive”. I can’t comment on the second part, but regarding the first, there are 3-4 things that affect the picture quality.
1) Sensor sensitivity/quality – So Mega Pixel isn’t everything, but see it as it has the capability, that is the amount of light receptors that will be transferring light to digital data (your photo)
2) The aperture size – This how wide your shutter will open and take in amount of light at any given time. Take your eyes – the pupil would be wide open at night, to get in more light, and in bright daylight it would be small to take in less light.
3) The duration the shutter opens – If you take a photo of a sporting event, and in bright light, the shutter speed (that it opens and closes) would be really fast (parts of a mille second), and when you take photos at night that would open even a few seconds, to get enough light through to the sensor.
4) Lens quality – not all glass are equal, you get better optics, and cheaper glass that is just shaped into a lens.
So you can see with this information, the whole idea behind taking a picture and save to flash, is a combination or formula if you will of the amount of light, the duration the sensor gets exposed and the quality of the sensor. As the lens is the only way the light came in through, the quality of the glass makes the difference, you get less light through a cheap lens, so your pictures at night would look worse. The colour of the light can be tainted with cheap glass.
Last thing I should explain is the focal point. Say an object is 5 meters in front of you, and you focus on that object, then the focal distance would be 5 meters, and depending on the objects around the main object (the mountains or pot plants) are also in or out focus, that is the focal depth. Taking a shorter distance picture usually have a much bigger depth field, so more object are in-focus, say you zoom in 200meter away, the depth is very little, so only one thing is usually in focus, and the rest is out.
So back to the Cameras, each brand make a set of lenses that only fit on their brand, so once you buy into something, the chances are that you will stick with that brand, not meaning it’s a bad brand. There are slight differences in quality were the one brand excel in something and on other things the other excel. That’s why you get Canon or Nikon people (like Audi, BMW or Merc – all good cars, what’s your flavour).
You need to decide what you want to take pictures off?!
So my advise on buying a body would be, buy the best in the entry level market, even one lower. But buy quality lenses. I can’t emphasize this enough, your whole experience is based on the lenses you have, the rest is cheaper, and upgradable. Chances are that you would only buy a lens once, and go through 3-6 bodies.
I’m a Canon guy, so in Canon your body’s come in 3 layers from Entry level to Professional. xxxD would be entry level(under 10K), xxD bit better(10-20K) and xD the best(20K and over). They came out with some sub Entry level and then it is xxxxD. The price ranges just indicate, but not 100% accurate.
So in Canon world I would’ve advise you to go for a 700D or even 650D body.
Then the lenses:
1) If you want to take pictures of things less than 30mm from your camera, look at a lens that called Macro, and some of them has a fixed rating in mm.
2) If you want to take normal photos like you would on a point and shoot, then a 18-55mm lens would do the trick.
3) For people/ like weddings etc., and the most common lens to have would be a 18-200mm, with this you can take close-ups and zoom in at things in nature…
4) If you want to go and take allot of zoomed in pictures go for the 70-300mm or 100-500mm
Look at image stabilisation on the lenses, and you would be able to buy the best one for your money, also look at the F-rating, Lower is better.
Lastly the flashes, buy the biggest you can afford, unless you always take photos in the same environments (small rooms etc.) Then the build in one can work.
The purpose of the flash is to fill in the lack of light, so the bigger the flash, the bigger the area lit for the photo, (taking pictures in a school hall vs a room in you house) or even outdoors.
And don’t be a poephol, some guys take pictures of Table Mountain from Blouberg side, and they have their flashes on, how the hell is this small flash going to light up Table Mountain?!
With your budget I would go for a bundled deal with a Canon 650D or 700D with at least 1 lens 18-55mm.
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/canon-...8-55-dc-lens-sandisk-8gb-extreme-card-and-bag
This would give you a good base to work from, and then as you have extra money, and you find there is a gap in your kit, then you can buy the lens only or the flash etc.
Add a lens for zoom (this one doesn’t have image stabilization) – My first extra lens
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/canon-ef-75-300mm-f-4-5-6-lens
or if you have 6.5k for a lens (I would rather go for this one)
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/canon-ef-70-300mm-f-4-5-6-is-usm-lens
Then Canon decided to make a compact DSLR camera, (in real life smaller, but same inside as the 700D) – The 100D – So it’s the same quality, but less weight.
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/canon-...8-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-stm-ef-s-55-250mm-is-lens
I guess this is too much? But it’s really a spot on deal: - Only thing I don’t like is the big lens is a non-IS one, but that will push price to 15-16k)
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/canon-eos-700d-ultimate-bundle
This is where the Nikon people need to help, but a Nikon D3200 with 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses.
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/nikon-...-vr-55-200mm-vr-lens-shoulder-bag-8gb-sd-card
or one higher (same I think as your Kalahari one)
https://www.ormsdirect.co.za/nikon-...0mm-lens-shoulder-bag-8gb-sd-card-card-reader
Here is a YouTube video to show the difference in body and lens, the guy is a bit weird/funny, but you get the idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk5IMmEDWH4
I was thinking allot to sell my kit and get a bridge camera (in between small digital and DSLR)(like the Canon SX60 HS – R5600), but the fact remain, light stays light, so on the super zoom bridge
cameras, impressive as it may be, it still capture only so much light and the photo quality can be a testament to that.
So maybe it’s only a numbers game, and not photo quality.
When doing the zoom thing, or high speed shots, or family pics, invest in a decent tri-pod. (the cheapy Game ones is a bit wobbly)
You can always just rent a lens for a special occasion, as you not always need the big stuff, so maybe have a good kit, and rent if needed. Much cheaper than owning one, and it’s in your bag 99% of the year.
https://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/
http://lens4rent.co.za/
I guess you didn’t expect a halve of a bible to answer your question, sorry if I over do it a little. I just wished someone explained it like this to me, it would cut the research and trips to store by allot!
So the short answer to your post, yes that is a very nice deal to get you started. What I can’t quickly see from the Kalahari add is if the lenses is image stabilized (think Nikon call it VR), If it is not, I’ll rather buy the body with a 18-55 lens that is stabilized, and later buy an extra lens, IS make a hell of a difference!
Although the Kalahari add is really at a good price, the IS would put me off.
Kind Regards,
