Hi all, looking for a very basic, reliable camera for starting out in bird photography. I have a very small budget (in terms of cameras) of £250, so it is likely I will be buying second hand. I would really appreciate any advice as searching online is fairly overwhelming!
I don't think there is any advice other than visiting a camera shop so you can see what's on offer , get a feel of the camera and see what camera best suits your needs , some shops also sell second hand cameras but then you can also search online when you decide what you would like for a better deal
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
Definitely go to a shop to see what feels "right" in your hands. If you don't like the feel of it then you won't use it, so it will be a waste of money.
Your best bet to start with will probably be a bridge camera... I just googled "best bridge camera" and THIS was the first UK site that came up wth reviews and specs.
Hope it helps
Thank you very much
Nice to see both my cameras on that list
I started with a panasonic lumix, either 80 or 82, can't remember which lol
Soooooo long ago Mr mirrorless
just looked it up, came out in 2018 lol info
EDIT £290 on Amazon currently
That must be roundabout when I got my 1st one.jeez feels soooooo much longer than that lol
In your budget, 2nd hand is likely the best way to go as you suggest, you'll get more bang for your buck. A bridge camera is also the simplest - whilst a DSLR and lenses would give you the highest quality, you'd likely need far more cash than you want to spend (though if you want to learn more about photography and the hardware available, follow the link in my footer to the Getting off Auto index page for all sorts of info).
For bird photography, the most important specification you'll want to look for is the maximum focal length. This is expressed in mm, normally referencing "35mm equivalent field of view". That simply means it will give you the same field of view (through the viewfinder) as a specific focal length lens on a 35mm camera (35mm was the most common film camera and even today, sensors on "full-frame" cameras are that size. Smaller sensor cameras (like a bridge) are referred to as "crop sensor"). For birds, look for something with an optical zoom of 600mm or so if possible (check carefully, they often quote digital zoom, which is no different than simply cropping the picture). Other specifications are not such a big deal at this stage, everything you can buy is likely to have all the basic features - though the ability to switch between general focussing and spot-focus is handy (focussing normally happens across the frame, spot-focus uses a small point in the middle to focus with. Very handy if a bird is in a tree as cameras invariably try and lock on to a random branch rather than your subject!)
Good luck with your search!
___
Find me on Flickr / All about your camera - The Getting off Auto Index
A nice starter set up would be a Canon APS-C camera and the canon ef-s 55-250 mm f4-5-6-is stm lens (as Cheap as £150 used) (ensure it is the stm model not IS or IS II). A good used camera would be the either Canon 60d or 70d (£100 - £200 used). The stm lens is very light weight and sharp with image stabilisation. The 250 mm focal length is equivalent to 400 mm on full frame.
I took these images with the 55- 250 lens: