Birding On a tight budget - should I buy less now or wait to buy right?

[kneale]

Hi all. I love nature and am tired of using only my iphone. I've had cameras in the past but it has been years. So long in fact, when I tried to hook my old Pentax DSLR up to my Macbook, it was incompatible, so no way to download my photos. So, now I am looking at Canon Rebels including the SL2, T7i and also the D77.

My goal, other than being able to take photos of my kids, is to shoot nature. I love to garden and we have many birds, bees and butterflies that come into the garden on a regular basis. I also have lots of flowers and want to capture them as well. My husband would like to use the camera for video capture of his Tankganyikan Cichlids (fish). 

My dilemma is I've watched so many Youtube videos and it seems I "need" at least the Canon T7i or D77 to be able to even get a mediocre shot (according to all of the "experts"), and I honestly can't afford the price point of either of these with all the lenses. I can afford the D77 body only, which obviously does me no good. The T7i is slightly better but only with the 18-55 lens. I can just afford the SL2 with the kit 18-55 and the 55-250. 

I'm at a loss. To hear most of the Youtubers anything less than at least one of these is a waste of money. No camera means no pictures but I am wondering if I should just hold off and save up for the better camera, the D77 or maybe even the D80. What are your thoughts and experiences?

Thank you!

[Wolfie0827]

Two things, first if your old pentax uses standard memory cards and the quality of the pictures were fine before then all you really need is a card reader for your mac. Just remove the memory card from the camera and place it in the card reader when you want to download the pictures.

Second, Don't give too much credit to the "experts" on youtube. Any mid-range DSLR camera from the past 5-8 years will work well (Of course the newer the better in most cases) with a good lense. Just be sure to get one fromone of the better manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon (Boo, hiss, hiss ... kidding), or Pentax etc..

[kneale]

Wolfie0827, which of the midrange do you suggest for capturing birds, butterflies, fish, family :), etc.? 

Thanks!!

[Wolfie0827]

I really can't give any other advice on cameras to use since I wasn't using any since like 2004 until just recently when I bought the Rebel T6i. It has worked very well for me so far (Just got it a little over a month ago.) My only complaint is the autofocus when shooting video, it is a little wonky, and tries to re-focus even when nothing has changed in the view area, and manual focusing  while shooting video is not as easy as for stills.

But that being said the camera works very well, and as others have said refrubished directly from Canon has a very good reputation. I would say find the one you know you can afford (remembering to include accessories in the price you can afford) and get it, Just don't be affraid to check Amazon and the like for slightly older models that may work feature and price wise for you.

One last thing if you go for the T6 that I have, go for the T6i or the T6s, the extra features on these two over the base T6 are definitly worth the extra price. Or they are for me.

[Waddizzle]

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@kneale wrote:

Wolfie0827, which of the midrange do you suggest for capturing birds, butterflies, fish, family :), etc.? 

Thanks!!

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You want the T71, 77D, or the 80D.  But, it is all about the lens you use.  Your images will never be better than the lenses that you use.  Any of the Canon EF-S “STM” lenses will give you great photos, and smooth video.

The 80D has the most bang or the buck, and is a really capable camera.  It has near professional grade automatic focusing for tracking subjects like birds and butterflies.  It also makes full use of the Dual Pixel AF sensor for smooth focusing when shooting video.

Check out Canon’s Online Refurbished Store.  If something is out of stock today, wait for it to come back.  Graduation season is just around the corner, so I suspect that many items may be back in stock, like the 80D and 18-66 STM lens.  I have bought two of them as gifts for less than $850, which is a price that appears only once ever six months or so.