Best lower budget DSLR Camera for lightning photos

[Stephen Levine]

I'm ready to upgrade to a DSLR, and there have been debates over Canon Rebel vs. Olympus.
What in your opinion would be best for especially night time lightning shots?

 

[Steve Miller]

Go buy a Canon T2i with the 18-55 kit lens and you'll be set. It's a reasonably inexpensive DSLR, has 1080p video capability and yes, will shoot fine lightning. You can start building your lens collection to include wide angle and telephoto as you go. It's fun - everyone should have a DSLR to play with now that they are affordable.

 

[BBauer]

If you want to save yourself some money I'd go for the Nikon D3100, most all the same features of the T2i but it will be $200 cheaper. It can be had on Amazon for around $550 w/ 18-55 kit lens. A steal for such a nice camera in my opinion.

 

[James Langford]

Hi Stephen! If you have an old point and shoot Canon, or even a film camera, you can trade it in for 20% off their refurb prices that are here:

http://shop.usa.canon.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subCategory_10051_10051_-1_29252

Let me know if you want the phone number, and I can dig it up from somewhere. Canon T2i is an excellent camera, and so is the 60D.

 

[Patrick Martin]

Better factor a tripod into your budget! Without one, nighttime and lightning photography will be nearly impossible, regardless of the camera you use.

 

[Greg Campbell]

IMO, the cheapest lightning rig would be a used or refurbished DSLR and a few cheap manual focus lenses.

Adorama offers a 1 year warranty on refurbs.
http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/d...&category=1088 4294959989&sort=p_price_sort|0

Here's a handy chart showing compatibility.
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html
In general, a given camera body can use lenses from another manufacturer if the lens' flange distance is greater than that of the 'native' lens.

FWIW, I shoot lightning and after dark subjects with an old Drebel XT and a handful of Olympus OM/Zuiko manual focus lenses that I bought for next to nothing. IMO, the MF lenses are actually ideal for low light since you don't have to fight the camera's autofocus. (Most AF lenses will focus past infinity so you can't just turn them all the way and have a properly focused image.) Most of these http://www.flickr.com/photos/19806236@N00/sets/72157622800084513/ are shot with this setup.

When buying AF or MF glass, remember that you don't need a fast lens for lightning since you'll be shooting around f/5.6 or higher. Get a 50mm f/1.8 or 28mm f/3.5 lens instead of the respective f1.4 / f2.8 versions for a fraction of the cost. Add a $10 adapter, 'cable' (switch) release, a few extra memory cards if you want to 'machine gun' at twilight, and a decent tripod and you'll be set.

 

[Joe Hawks]

Purchased a Canon XSI/350d 12mp to use for one season 2 years ago and was very impressed with the photo quality.
Really miss the timer that showed on the LCD, which my Nikon doesn't have. Back to one thousand one-one thousand two.........
You should be able to find one fairly cheap. good luck

Just realized the photo on my avatar was taken with that camera.

 

[Stephen Levine]

I thank each of you for your input and ideas. It means alot to me and I will research your suggestions. My inclination is to purchase a new camera rather than a re-constructed one and will at some point visit a photo store to try them out personally before actually purchasing.

 

[Matt Tottle]

Just so you know, there's a big difference between 'secondhand'/'pre-owned'/'used', and 'refurbished'. "Used" means you are buying it directly from someone (whether a face-to-face sale or buying it used from a store) who may or may not have taken care of it, may or may not have bought it from someone else who may or may not have taken care of it (you see where this is going?)... Even if the store selling it claims to have 'refurbished' it in-house, it is still a gamble, because all they usually do is clean it, give it a once-over to make sure it works, and slap a price tag on it..

On the other hand, FACTORY REFURBISHED means it has been tested, inspected, cleaned, aligned, parts replaced, and meets the same factory operating standards as a new unit. In a lot of cases, a refurb unit is in better working condition (albeit in a lightly worn shell) than a brand new unit off the robotic assembly line with the 1 of 50 QC check, because it has been fully tweaked by hand.

 

[Wes Carter]

I agree with Matt, I actually prefer to buy refurbished because I have had much better luck with electronics that have been refurbished by the manufacturer than I have with the brand spanking shiny new stuff. Like he said, the new stuff has come off an assembly line. The refurb stuff has come from a shop with more knowledgeable technicians usually. I've bought Nikon lenses that are refurbished and all of them have performed exceptionally well for less money than the new ones. The only difference is they come in a plain white box with a sticker on the end that tells what's inside instead of that nice shiny gold box with the photograph of the lens and specs printed on it. So my decision algorithm has always been "shiny gold box vs. 15-20% less money".

 

[Stephen Levine]

Thank you, Matt and Wes.. this is good to know. I will definitely consider factory refurbished units as a possibility.

 

[Matt Tottle]

No problem! Another thing worth considering is that in many cases, refurbs are new units that were rejected by QC for cosmetic or other flaws. Maybe had a label printed off-center, or a non-functional scratch or some other blemish that the manufacturer wouldn't want to stick a full-price customer with. So chances are, the unit never even left the factory before it was hauled back to the refurbishing department. They used to call these 'seconds', but you really don't hear that term anymore..