So, /p/! I'm ready to start a new hobby in photography!
I live in interior Alaska, so there's plenty of opportunity for great landscape and wildlife photography. Problem is I have no idea how to go about it.
I obviously need a camera. My budget on one is around $250, so I'm looking at used. I have a couple of options:
>Nikon J1 w/30-110mm lens
>Nikon D3100 with a 70-300mm lens
>Kodak Easyshare
A lot of people up here buy cameras on a whim and never do anything with them, so I'm sure if I post on facebook or something I could get some bites.
What kind of camera should I be looking for when it comes to outside shooting?
>pic related, that location is less than two hours from where I'm at
This should really be in the gear thread.
Fuck the Kodak, for a start.
As for deciding between the other two -- what interests you more? Landscape, or wildlife?
>>2806428
Landscapes, but wildlife is a target of opportunity up here. I've literally been within two dozen feet from a cow (moose) and a calf before.
I suppose I would like to do both with a focus on landscapes.
>>2806427
>alaska
you obviously need a pentax.
>>2806430
Is there an entry-level pentax model that could beat that Nikon D3100? I can get it for $250.
Really, neither of the lenses for the Nikons are really suited to landscape photography. Even though a 30mm focal length lens on a sensor the size of a full 35mm frame will provide you with a reasonable field of view for landscape photography, the sensor in the J1 has an area about 2.7x smaller than a 35mm 'full frame' one. What this means is that the field of view (how 'much' you can see) is also cropped, and for want of a better word, an image taken with the same lens on the J1 and a full-frame camera will appear more 'zoomed in' (it's not really, it's just that you're taking the centre of the image and blowing it up) on the J1. I've made a picture to explain and posted it
>>2806445
here.
There are far more lenses available for the D3100, and the possibilities for future upgrading mean that if you do choose to get a better Nikon DSLR in the future your lenses will just immediately work. Compact System Cameras like the J1 are still new, and as fuck there are fewer lenses and less guarantee that you'll be able to upgrade them while keeping the same lenses. The lenses for both the J1 and D3100 are really both portrait/zoom lenses. You'll be able to shoot wildlife from a distance but you'll find yourself struggling to get any landscapes in, as the field of view will just not be enough. If you really want to start out on the cheap, you should be able to pick up the 18-55mm kit lens (cheap lens that comes with most non-pro DSLRs when new) for peanuts when you buy the camera, which will allow you to get a much wider field of view, and a better chance and doing landscapes.
>>2806448
That really helps me out.
One thing to note on the J1 is that it does come with the standard 10-30mm lens as well.
I know that the D3100 had more available gear for it, but I was worried about the age. Five or so years is a long time for camera improvement and Nikon has discontinued it.
>>2806450
10mm will be enough to compose landscapes.
There are people on /p/ using cameras over 100 years old -- if it's decent, it'll stay so. The beauty of interchangeable lens cameras is that (someone correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm not a Nikon user) lenses made after the camera comes out will generally still work. I myself use an 11-year-old DSLR. For $250 you aren't going to get pro-quality pictures, so I don't think that's a massive issue. Also, if do you do choose to get into photography seriously, you'll be buying a DSLR (or at least full-size mirrorless) so having a couple of lenses (which don't really go out of date, I myself use a couple from the 70s/80s) will be handy, as well as it being a better platform to truly learn photography on. I myself am a big proponent of an optical view-finder -- instead of looking at what the lens can see through a screen, you look directly through the lens -- with your eye -- on a DSLR. The D3100 also has a live-view mode too to help you focus/compose.
http://snapsort.com/compare/Nikon-J1-vs-Nikon_D3100
By this website's (arbitrary) image quality scale, the D3100 still produces better images. Remember -- bigger sensor, less noise.
>>2806459
Well, I think that just about settles it. I'll offer him $250 for the D3100 and see if he bites.
Thanks a lot, anon.
>>2806459
That said, if literally all you can afford is the J1 and you get both of those lenses all in for 250, you'll likely still be satisfied with it. I personally would recommend getting the D3100, finding a cheap 18-55 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-AF-S-Nikkor-18-55mm-F-3-5-5-6-DX-SWM-ED-Lens-For-DSLR-Cameras-/111955466539?hash=item1a1110d92b:g:7QkAAOSw6wRW~w-N -- though I'm not sure if this is compatible with your camera, I'd make sure before buying anything) and then saving up for a decent wide angle lensm like the Sigma 10-20mm or the Nikon 10-24mm.
>>2806520
Yes, it's in fact often easier to do landscape with a long lens because you can survive without interesting foreground. It is actually difficult to compose a good image with a wide lens, you risk having everything tiny and around the horizon, plus ugly stretched corners.
It took me some time to figure this out many years ago. I started watching what lenses one good photographer uses and he often said 70-200.
>>2806493
How about this one?
[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]
Camera-Specific Properties: Image-Specific Properties: Image Orientation Top, Left-Hand
>>2806463
How about going up a step and grabbing an 18-70 for a tad more? I find it a much better lens and such good quality and a bigger aperture, focus scale, more reach, internal focus, loads more.
