suggestions for purchasing new DSLR camera.

[kavipriyapg]

I am interested in taking photagraphs of close zooming of flowers as well as the distant zooming of mountain scapes, natural sceneries. And also I want to know the technical details and its usage before purchasing. Please help me to get the right one with proper accessories.

Regards

Kavipriya Periasamy

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

Hi,

What is your budget?  You can get a Canon Rebel series camera body for between $600 and $800 in the US.  That would be like T3i, T4i, etc..  Then you need lenses.

Flowers and bugs:

If you are serious about the close-up flowers and insects you can get a macro lens for that.  Canon makes a 50mm ($250.00) and a 60mm Macro lens ($400.00) that is not terribly expensive.  You could also spend a lot of money and get an image-stabilized Canon 100mm macro lens ($900.00) or even a 180mm macro ($1,400.00).  The shorter length lenses like 50 and 60mm require you to be very close to the subject to fill the frame up, like just 3 or 6 inches from the front of the lens, which is managable for subjects like flowers that don't scare easily.  The longer lenses (100mm and 180mm) will let you stay at a farther distance, so you don't frighten away the bugs.

If you want to save money, and dip your toe into the hobby to try it out first, you could buy extension tubes to put onto a regular lens and that would not be much additional cost (beyond that of the lens itself).

Mountainscapes, scenery:

I could not tell what you were looking for here.  Many people would not want to "zoom in" to get a view like that; they would instead get a wide angle lens so they could take in the whole wide view.  You can, of course, do it the other way and buy a telephoto lens to "zoom in" and capture just a piece of the scenery from a distance.  Which were you looking for?

[ScottyP · Accepted solution]

Hi,

What is your budget?  You can get a Canon Rebel series camera body for between $600 and $800 in the US.  That would be like T3i, T4i, etc..  Then you need lenses.

Flowers and bugs:

If you are serious about the close-up flowers and insects you can get a macro lens for that.  Canon makes a 50mm ($250.00) and a 60mm Macro lens ($400.00) that is not terribly expensive.  You could also spend a lot of money and get an image-stabilized Canon 100mm macro lens ($900.00) or even a 180mm macro ($1,400.00).  The shorter length lenses like 50 and 60mm require you to be very close to the subject to fill the frame up, like just 3 or 6 inches from the front of the lens, which is managable for subjects like flowers that don't scare easily.  The longer lenses (100mm and 180mm) will let you stay at a farther distance, so you don't frighten away the bugs.

If you want to save money, and dip your toe into the hobby to try it out first, you could buy extension tubes to put onto a regular lens and that would not be much additional cost (beyond that of the lens itself).

Mountainscapes, scenery:

I could not tell what you were looking for here.  Many people would not want to "zoom in" to get a view like that; they would instead get a wide angle lens so they could take in the whole wide view.  You can, of course, do it the other way and buy a telephoto lens to "zoom in" and capture just a piece of the scenery from a distance.  Which were you looking for?

[Skirball · Accepted solution]

There's also a non-L non-image stabilized (non-IS) 100mm Macro. Unless you're going to get the IS version, it should be your first macro lens, IMHO.  There's no advantage that the 50mm or 60mm macros, unless you need that specific FOV.  The extra distance the 100mm allows is extremely beneficial for bugs or getting light in-between the lens and the subject. 

[jimmy637]

If you want a DSLR then the EF 100mm f2.8 with out  IS a is a great choice. In most instances a tripod would be a great choice in conjunction with the EF 100mm F2.8 W/O IS.

Also note that the use of a 25mm extender is an option for use on a lens, for close up photography. You can do a search for examples.

If you would like to just take nice photos of bugs and flowers an other suggestion is the G series of point and shoot camera's. My wife has used the G9 and now the G12 for years with great results.

jimmy