Dear Ms Kboneir:
To try to sum up the situation to you:
In the long term you will be better off with a Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera (MILC) that allows one to put different lenses on the same body for different purposes. Mirrorless is the current platform for cameras now and in the future where the development will be and you can grow with it as you learn about photography and get other equipment.
Your budget is very limiting and you frankly don't currently have the funds for the lenses to shoot wildlife, which involves telephoto lenses that are pretty expensive chunks of glass. As a long-term wildlife photographer, I have quite a few of them. That may not be what you want to hear, but it's a fact.
When you responded to @Shadowsports with: "Well I looked on the canon website and it specifically says may not capture wildlife? Right in the description" you are taking the whole kit as if it is a fixed item. The body with that specific lens is not going to be great for shooting wildlife, but with a different (and more expensive) lens, it will.
The point is, you can afford it as a learning tool, and frankly unless you plan to totally shoot nothing but wildlife, you will want the kind of kit lenses on offer to shoot a wide variety of other subjects - you can shoot social occasions, portraits, scenery and street images. You can LEARN.
As a professional specializing in wildlife photography, let me assure you that a specific lens does not replace knowledge and experience: It takes time and above all skill to consistently get decent wildlife photographs. By your own admission you are a beginner, so your first priority is to learn about the science and art of taking photographs with a dedicated camera, which I why I have given you links to learning sources, which I shall repeat here:
So, I will recommend a couple of initial sources and encourage you to view them so you can come back and be less confused in trying to engage with our advice.
Canon EOS 101: Photo and Videography Basics | Canon U.S.A., Inc.
A complete course from National Geographic photographer Chris Bray on the basics of general photography:
Learn Photography - Simple, Practical - Free Photography Course 1/10 (youtube.com)
If you log onto your local library on-line catalogue, search for an item called LinkedIn Learning. It is a site full of material from skilled trainers in a variety of topics, but with a host of material on photography from the basics to advance skills. If the item is there, it will give you a free link to the site via your card and PIN number.
Once logged on, go to the search feature and input Photography Fundamentals and check out the videos options there.
It's fine to have aspirations of becoming a wildlife photographer, I totally laud your ambition, but realize that you need to do your homework first. You need to do the study of photography as a discipline, learn how to use your camera controls and practise, practise, practise. Right now you don't know what you don't know.
The camera + lens combinations that we recommend allow you to begin that journey within your budget. While you are doing that, develop your knowledge and skill, and save up toward the gear you will need in the future for wildlife, but realize the skills you develop with the current lens options are portable to the more expensive optics. You will be more aware of what lenses are the correct choices and can coordinate better with people who are trying to help you. In the meantime Canon and now Sigma are planning to release new lenses in the future that may offer better deals than the current selection for wildlife.
There are some options that I recommend to purchase when they are available. On the links below, you can select to be notified when they are available:
Within budget:
Refurbished EOS R50 RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens Kit (canon.com)
Slightly above budget (maybe get a loan from family?) this is a better body and has more controls to assist you in shooting: Shop Canon Refurbished EOS R10 RF-S18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM Lens Kit
If you can really get a some extra funds this would be an even more flexible option because the lens focal range is longer. If you need to, wait and save up, if you want that.
Shop Canon Refurbished EOS R10 RF-S18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM Lens Kit |
All of these would be good starting points.
cheers, TREVOR
The mark of good photographer is less what they hold in their hand, it's more what they hold in their head;
"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris
