Looking for a new camera.

Not totally sure where to put this thread. Oh well... Lol
Anyway, I have been looking into getting a good camera for some time now. I dont know much about them but I am looking for something to get good shots of my corals. The camera I have now doesnt do them justice and cant even focus on them half the time. I really like the nikon D3100 but if its possible I would like to spend a little less money... Any ideas or opinions? Ive seen some awesome pictures from fellow 3reefers.

 

Hello, Norg.

The 3100 is a good camera. You can often times buy almost-new cameras, for much less, just by buying them refurbished. Refurbished cameras (or any technology such as computers, etc.) waere at one time broken some how, but has been fixed and they cannot sell be resold at full retail price.

This is similar to when spectra-pure has scratch-n-dent sales. nthign physically wrong with the camera, but cannot be resold at full price. Sometimes they will replace the outside case of the camera body too though.

When I upgrade cameras I am looking at a refurbed Nikon D5000...similar to the D3100.

 

I purchased a D5000 a few months ago. They have now been discontinued to make way for their upgraded replacement model. If you check around at all your local sears, targets, and other department stores you may be able to find some leftover stock that will go for extremely cheap.

The quality of the pictures really is not the camera itself, but the glass that you have on the camera!

 

You can probably find some good deals on CL or eBay from folks that are upgrading (there's a TON of used Nikon D90's out there right now for next to nothing). If you go that route, make sure you have a way to get it inspected by a pro before you buy it though. Might be worth looking into used equipment at a local camera store too.

One other thing to consider: once you choose a brand of SLR you're kind of stuck with it. Nikon lenses won't fit on Canon cameras etc... And, once you buy a really nice lens you'll want to make sure your future cameras will be compatible with it.

Like Dingo mentioned, the lenses are where the rubber meets the road. If you can find someone selling a decent DSLR body with a few good quality lenses (again, have them inspected before you buy) that may be the way to go if you're on a budget.

 

Thanks for the replys guys. I love to do a refurb camera, that was going to be my next question. Haha. I still have to do some more research, but what would be some lenses to look into? I know literally nothing about them.

 

+1 to this. Camera bodies (of the same brand) are usually pretty similar, aside from maybe the number of megapixels, which really isn't a big deal when it comes to SLRs because you can change the lenses.

I would recommend a 55-300mmor 70-300mm lens and an 18-50mm as your standard 'macro' lens. The higher magnification (lower number of mm) macro lenses (i.e. 10-20 or 10-18mm) are going to cost a lot more.

Extension tubes can be used to increase your focal length, thus increasing magnification.

 

Im going to be going half and half on the camera with my dad. We looked into the specs of some cameras more today and the Nikon D5100 is looking pretty promising. It comes with a solid lens. Ill probably get a better one for up close images later on but at 16.2 megapixels with a nice lens Im sure this will do much more than suffice for what we need it for.

 

Hit the nail on the head... you are stuck once you buy the lenses.

Do your research and try some out if you know people who have them. Ask to borrow them and take some pictures of your tank with them and then decide. This is not a cheep purchase if you are going for a good camera.

 

The 5100 should be nice camera for you. lol. 16.2 megapixels is way more than necessary. 12mp on an slr should be plenty.

 

I agree, but my pops going in on half is some motivation to spend the extra buck. We also have some rewards cash saved up at best buy which already has the lowest price by fifty dollars. So, I figured eh, what the hell, lets do it. Haha. Im probably going to go to a camera shop in the next day or two to get more opinions and to mess around with a camera a bit. Ive never actually used a nice camera before so it should be interesting. Ill also be taking photography classes to use this thing to its full potential.