Need advice on a camera to buy.

[Jeff Finick]

I'm looking to spend around 800. What do y'all recommend for lightning storms and time lapse star pictures. I have a go pro already and a canon PowerShot xs530 28th a 50x zoom so I guess I need something with a full frame sensor. What do y'all suggest in my price range. I want it to shoot raw I'm a novice photographer. Please ask me some questions cause I really don't know exactly I want. Thank you

 

[Isaac Schluesche]

Full frame is pretty much out of that price range unfortunately.
I just got a Canon t6i and love it so far. I'd highly recommend it for a beginning photographer.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Yeah, the $800 range is going to put you in the beginning section of DSLR cameras, which you would need for the listed activities. Check into used Canon 60D and 70D or some of the comparable Nikons. They are going for your price range.

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

Nikon D5200. About $500 New with an average kit lens. Leaves you $300 to get another lens, or for time lapse, an intervalometer (the onboard one is crap IMO).

FWIW, this is my main camera. I'm not a pro, and have no intentions to be, but I love the camera.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

You can pick up a D7100 for around $500 just the body (probably would have be used but new prices have gotten down there too). $300 should be enough for a wide angle like the Sigma 10-20, but you will definitely have to shop around to squeeze that budget. I mention the D7100 over the D5200 mainly because some of the features it gives you. Really just have to go through the features a that are important to you and base your choice on that. For lightning and star trail photography, which I do a lot of both, I have to say the wide angle lens should be the highest priority though.

Sent from my VS986 using Stormtrack mobile app

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

You can pick up a D7100 for around $500 just the body (probably would have be used but new prices have gotten down there too). $300 should be enough for a wide angle like the Sigma 10-20, but you will definitely have to shop around to squeeze that budget. I mention the D7100 over the D5200 mainly because some of the features it gives you. Really just have to go through the features a that are important to you and base your choice on that. For lightning and star trail photography, which I do a lot of both, I have to say the wide angle lens should be the highest priority though.

Sent from my VS986 using Stormtrack mobile app

Good points on the newer body, Wesley. I just run mine til they die, and the 5200 has been good to me thus far.

Agreed on a wide lens as well. Best purchase I made was to get a budget friendly Rokinon wide.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

A good site to follow - http://www.nikondeal.com/. I used to help find the deal I bought my D7100 with last winter. Great for finding good deals on Nikon related stuff. Bet there is a Canon version of the page too. Just sign up for their email alerts.

 

[Greg Campbell]

For a first camera, consider used equipment. KEH, Adorama, and others sell fully functional, inspected bodies with a ~6 month warranty.
$800 should comfortably get you a complete weather kit.

You can get an older, but still very competent camera for $200 or less. Canon, Nikon, Minolta, whatever.
Specifically, look for a camera that has 'live view' manual focusing. This is handy when shooting lightning at night, when the autofocus system won't work worth beans. Water-sealed controls are also a 'nice' feature for a storm camera.

Toss in a super-wide zoom. Tokina 12-24 gets good reviews, but there are plenty of others to consider.

A middle-range zoom or 35/50mm fixed lens.

Tripod and head. None of this "K-Mart Tripod" crap. Get a ~$100 item.

Cable release, a few flash cards, etc.

And you're good to go!

Down the road, when you know what specific features you want in a camera, you can upgrade if you feel the need.

 

[Jeff Finick]

Thank you for all the valuable information. I think first off i eill try to find something used and with a wide angle lens for sure.

So with a wide angle lens im adsuming i need a high Megapixle count? Just thinking thw wider fov lens will get grainy with a small mp count.

Also why do i see dslr 12 mp camera going for $1000 vs a 19 mp for 500

 

[Greg Campbell]

Please don't fret about mega-pickles. 10, 12, 18, whatever, it makes little difference in most uses. Sure, "more is better," but only to a limited degree. Critical focus, lens sharpness, etc. are just as important. (The system is only as strong as the weakest link.) With your budget, you're not going to be buying $1000 super-sharp lenses anyway, so don't worry too much about it. Also, even with perfect glass, focus, etc., linear resolution goes goes up much more slowly than raw pixel count. In this sense, am 18MP is only 34% sharper than a 10MP (Not 80%)

The sensor does not care or respond to the lens' FOV. It just records the image. I think you're somehow confusing overall image magnification with pixel pitch.

The only real 'grain' that digital cameras suffer is thermal noise. Restrict your shooting to low ISO values and it will seldom become a worrisome issue. (So long as you don't become one of those Pixel Peepers or Gear Dweebs that infest photo forums and whine about how much better or worse their camera is than Joe's latest purchase. )

I bet the 12MP is a FF or has some other special characteristic. For example, the Sony A7S (2) has 'only' 12MP, but is exquisitely sensitive to light, and can be used to record very faint subjects like lightning sprites, etc.

 

[Greg Campbell]

While my coffee kicks in, I thought I'd whip up a list of what I might buy with $800. This is in NO way a 'best list' of any sort. Use a a broad guideline at best.

All are from KEH, 'cause I'm too lazy to shop around. Adorama, etc. may have better deals, and buying from Fleabay will save at least 20%, at the cost of a warranty. How rise-averse are you?


Camera
https://www.keh.com/shop/canon-rebel-t3-black-digital-camera-body-12-2-m-p.html
Or, if you want more pickles.
https://www.keh.com/shop/canon-eos-rebel-t2i-18-megapixel-digital-slr-camera-body-only.html

Lenses
You'll NEED a super-wide for proper storm, rainbow, skyscape shots. On an APS-C camera, get a lens that goes to 14mm or lower.
https://www.keh.com/shop/tokina-12-...unt-lens-for-canon-aps-c-sensor-dslrs-77.html
https://www.keh.com/shop/canon-10-mm-18-mm-f-4-5-5-6-ultra-wide-angle-lens-for-canon-ef-s.html

and a longer zoom.
LOTS of choices.
https://www.keh.com/shop/canon-ef-24-85mm-f-3-5-4-5-usm-standard-zoom-lens.html

Tripod
Weight and heft are GOOD things to have in a storm 'pod.
Something roughly like this, or any number of similar ones.
https://www.keh.com/shop/tripods-bogen-manfrotto-3001n-chr-6-7-57-718266.html

Tripod head.
I'm fond of grip / ball designs like this.
https://www.keh.com/shop/manfrotto-322rc2-head-adapter-231903.html
I actually have this beast:
https://www.keh.com/shop/tripods-bogen-manfrotto-3265-grip-action-ball-hd-231879.html
It's heavy and slightly awkward, but is plenty solid. For 50 bucks, I'd buy another...

Remote switch.
I think this is the right remote switch.
https://www.keh.com/shop/canon-rs-60e3-remote-241182.html
Similar / cheaper on Fleabay. Just make sure it specifies your camera and has a locking function for shooting lightning.
Or plonk a little more for an intervalometer. Generic ebay units for ~20, or a real canon for $45 or so,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-TC-60N3-Timer-Remote-Shutter-Release-for-Canon-Cameras-/182461671401

 

[Jeff Finick]

So is will an apsc sensor with a wide angle lens get me the same range of view of a full frame sensor? Im assuming no because the sensor itself depicts the field of view of a photo.

Also u talk about super wide angle lenses. Do these distort with the fishbowl effect? I absolutley hate that effect. I just want a camera that comparable to see what i see.

Thank you all for the help.
Greg cambell thank you for taking time to break everything down.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Yea. With the same lens, a smaller sensor will produce a narrower FOV.
Conversely, with an APS-C (1.6x smaller) you need a smaller focal length to reach a given (wide) field of view.

Most of the wide zooms do 'pretty good' on the distortion, and none make a wild 'wrap-around' fisheye effect. What little distortion you get can be easily corrected with any number of programs, including the free RAW processing software that Nikon, Canon, etc. provide.

 

[Michael Snyder]

Just a heads up guys, the best prices, and some extremely knowledgeable people are over at the- www.fredmiranda.com site.
There is so much movement on lenses (buy and sell) and the prices really are the lowest around.

If you can scratch out 1000$ you can get a A6300 (APS-C) sensor with the kit lenses (16-50), (55-210). It only gets 24mm wide (1.5 crop factor), which isn't that bad, but the zoom is really nice (315mm)

That's one of the main benefits of the Full Frame Camera, you can get super wide, and there are many lens options to do so with.

Im heading out this year with AR7II (full frame), an A6500, and an A6300. One for recording during time lapse, the other for still images during recording and time lapse.

As far as lenses I'll be bringing:
10mm Voigtlander (Hyperwide!)
18mm Batis (Very wide)
24-70 F2.8/GM (General use)
70-300 G Series (Big zoom which is 105-450mm on a APS-C sensor)
18-105 for the A6300
A6500 will be shooting with what lenses are left over.

It's good to see knowledgeable camera people in here.

 

[Michael Snyder]

So is will an apsc sensor with a wide angle lens get me the same range of view of a full frame sensor? Im assuming no because the sensor itself depicts the field of view of a photo.

Also u talk about super wide angle lenses. Do these distort with the fishbowl effect? I absolutley hate that effect. I just want a camera that comparable to see what i see.

Thank you all for the help.
Greg cambell thank you for taking time to break everything down.

There are plenty of good lenses for most systems that go really wide. But again if you want the really wide, you need to go full frame.

10mm on a crop (APS-C) is about 15mm. Which is still wide, but not ultra wide.

10mm ~122 degrees of view, 15mm is ~100 degrees of view.

The widest Gopro with wide settings can hit about 150 degrees.