Bye bye Pentax. Hello .... I don't know yet.

[Benfr69]

Hi everybody,

Having been a loyal and convinced Pentax user for 5 years now, mainly for urban landscape photography, portraiture and night photography, I now have a growing interest in wildlife and action photography.

I want to start in this direction more seriously and I have been trying for like a year now with my Pentax gear. I thought that with the weather sealing and IBIS it would be great for outdoor wildlife.

But now I start to hit the limits of the Pentax system, mainly in two areas:

- The first being a lack of long lenses with silent AF. How many times did my subject run away (boar, dear, fox, lynx, birds, ...) because the screw-drive AF (which is pretty fast) was making the noise of a hydraulic drill in the middle of the forest. Also the longest affordable lens right now is the DA* 300mm f/4, which is a nice lens, but a bit short and it doesn't have the versatility of a zoom.

- The second thing is that despite some progress, AF subject tracking is still pretty awful. I have a reject rate of about 80% based on out of focus pictures alone.

- Lack of third-party accessories and lenses.

So yesterday, I was out shooting with a friend on a forest hike and we both missed a fox because of the darn screw-drive AF of my lens. That was the last drop for me.

So I have a choice now between the following two setups which are within my current budget range:

- Nikon D200 (9500 clicks) + AF-S 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 + 3 batteries + Tamron 70-300 SP VC USD + 400mm prime ( A good friend of mine is selling it, so I know it is in good condition )

or

- Canon EOS 50D (15000 clicks) + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM or EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM + original battery grip + Tamron 70-300 SP VC USD + 400mm prime ( Sold at a local camera store with 1 year warranty, and I know they do a sensor cleaning and maintenance on all their second hand cameras )

For both kits I will be adding the Tammy 70-300 (I have been waiting for years for it to come to Pentax) and the 400mm prime.

I have already played with both cameras and both feel great in the hand and the ergonomics are nice. I always preferred the ergonomics of semi-pro / pro bodies over entry-level for quick access to controls.

Which kit would you advise me to buy and why ? Important things for me are silent, quick and accurate AF and good focus subject tracking.

Thanks in advance.

Ben

 

[beagle1]

Hi everybody,

Having been a loyal and convinced Pentax user for 5 years now, mainly for urban landscape photography, portraiture and night photography, I now have a growing interest in wildlife and action photography.

I want to start in this direction more seriously and I have been trying for like a year now with my Pentax gear. I thought that with the weather sealing and IBIS it would be great for outdoor wildlife.

But now I start to hit the limits of the Pentax system, mainly in two areas:

- The first being a lack of long lenses with silent AF. How many times did my subject run away (boar, dear, fox, lynx, birds, ...) because the screw-drive AF (which is pretty fast) was making the noise of a hydraulic drill in the middle of the forest. Also the longest affordable lens right now is the DA* 300mm f/4, which is a nice lens, but a bit short and it doesn't have the versatility of a zoom.

- The second thing is that despite some progress, AF subject tracking is still pretty awful. I have a reject rate of about 80% based on out of focus pictures alone.

- Lack of third-party accessories and lenses.

So yesterday, I was out shooting with a friend on a forest hike and we both missed a fox because of the darn screw-drive AF of my lens. That was the last drop for me.

So I have a choice now between the following two setups which are within my current budget range:

- Nikon D200 (9500 clicks) + AF-S 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 + 3 batteries + Tamron 70-300 SP VC USD + 400mm prime ( A good friend of mine is selling it, so I know it is in good condition )

or

- Canon EOS 50D (15000 clicks) + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM or EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM + original battery grip + Tamron 70-300 SP VC USD + 400mm prime ( Sold at a local camera store with 1 year warranty, and I know they do a sensor cleaning and maintenance on all their second hand cameras )

For both kits I will be adding the Tammy 70-300 (I have been waiting for years for it to come to Pentax) and the 400mm prime.

I have already played with both cameras and both feel great in the hand and the ergonomics are nice. I always preferred the ergonomics of semi-pro / pro bodies over entry-level for quick access to controls.

Which kit would you advise me to buy and why ? Important things for me are silent, quick and accurate AF and good focus subject tracking.

Thanks in advance.

Ben

Do yourself a favor and save more and get something newer. Those cameras are pretty old ( 8 years?) and even if it came with a limited warranty the older Tamron lens are not very good. By newer I mean at least Canon 60D or 750D or Nikon D5200, 7100, etc. And Tamron does have good lens, e.g. 150-600 which is good for wildlife. Yes, it's going to cost more but it's going to be worth it (IMO)

 

[James Larsen]

Why in the world would you get a camera that old? You can get a good used 70D at least for like $550, or a Nikon D300s (not super great but still a good camera) for like $400 in the used market...

Get a newer camera with a good AF system, you won't regret it.

 

[lomoapontaechuta]

Well, it's just a sugestion.

To counter act the noise problem, you can preset the focal distance before or ajust it between the shots. Maybe this will improve your sucess rate.

If necessary and if the intent is to post on the net there's the flexibility of cropping the image.

For whatever reason there's no recent models on your list.

But in the virtual gallery where i post my photos, often i'm amazed with some photos i see time to time taken by obsolete cameras like nikon d40 and canon d450.

This is one.

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olhares.sapo.pt

But a recent model will definitely fix your af problem and others.

 

[Limburger]

I'd look into a Nikon D300s or Canon 7D.

Get your lenses sorted first.

As always lenses first.

 

[Benfr69]

Hello and thanks everybody for the input,

I have finally settled for the following:

- EOS 50D with original grip and two batteries (9367 actuations + 1 year warranty)

- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM

- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

- Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM

- Sigma 1.4x DG APO EX multiplier

In October a friend of mine will get the MkII version of the 100-400 L IS USM and will sell me his Mk1 version.

I will upgrade to a newer body later down the road, like a 7D Mk II. I know the 50D since I had one some time ago and it is a quite capable camera. People tend to forget that 8 years ago this was topnotch and that today they still perform admirably.

Also in my experience, when I was shooting kite surfing at the time with the 50D, focus tracking was always spot on and I had a 80% keeper rate of in focus images. ( That was with a Sigma 70-300 DG MACRO !!! )

Like Limburger pointed out, glass is the priority and I don't think that within my budget I can get a better body + glass combination.

I will keep you posted about how it went.

Cheers

 

[beagle1]

Hello and thanks everybody for the input,

I have finally settled for the following:

- EOS 50D with original grip and two batteries (9367 actuations + 1 year warranty)

- Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM

- Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM

- Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM

- Sigma 1.4x DG APO EX multiplier

In October a friend of mine will get the MkII version of the 100-400 L IS USM and will sell me his Mk1 version.

I will upgrade to a newer body later down the road, like a 7D Mk II. I know the 50D since I had one some time ago and it is a quite capable camera. People tend to forget that 8 years ago this was topnotch and that today they still perform admirably.

Also in my experience, when I was shooting kite surfing at the time with the 50D, focus tracking was always spot on and I had a 80% keeper rate of in focus images. ( That was with a Sigma 70-300 DG MACRO !!! )

Like Limburger pointed out, glass is the priority and I don't think that within my budget I can get a better body + glass combination.

I will keep you posted about how it went.

Cheers

--
"The speed of light is greater then the speed of sound. That's why some people look bright until they start to talk" Coluche

OK, the original 100-400 is still good

 

[photosen]

You want a 100-400 II with a 7DII, or an 80D. Sell the car, the silverware, whatever you need to.