Thanks for your thoughts. I was drawn to the K30 with 18 - 55 and 55-300 lenses for circa £850 but I guess I'll do a little more research
JOHN TYMON said
Wed Apr 3 1:09 AM, 2013
Looks like I should have said £1200 would not get you a decent new kit ,second hand you can pay a few hundred pounds and hope the camera is in good condition, and second hand lens, but as always with second hand ,you don't know how its been looked after. see the d7100 thread for more Ideas.
JOHN TYMON said
Tue Apr 2 5:55 PM, 2013
I would ditch the pentax gear and pick either Nikon or Cannon.Pentax lost thier way many years ago,when they started selling DSLR'S that were more expensive than the big two,and they dissapeared for a few years and now seem to be high end,with many of the lenses hardly ever available in pentax fit. £1200 will not get you a decent birding kit with either.That will get you a lens ,you really need a budget of around £2000 to get a semi decent set up.See D7100 thread on here for more info.
Paul Wilson said
Tue Apr 2 5:10 PM, 2013
JOHN TYMON wrote:
£1200 will not get you a decent birding kit with either.That will get you a lens ,you really need a budget of around £2000 to get a semi decent set up.
You could pick up something like a good condition Nikon D300 for about £300-£350. Coupled with something like a new Sigma 150-500 lens at £750, you would have a fairly decent birding set up - not top notch, but something easily capable of taking magazine quality images. This would be under your budget (just).
Most Sigma lens are available in Pentax K-mount fitting at the same price as Nikon and Canon fittings, but you would struggle to sell on secondhand if you later decide to upgrade.
Many people actually quite like the Pentax K-5 camera and I've read some good reviews. It has "in camera" image stabalisation, which is more cost effective than getting it built into each lens. Not sure of how it compares though. This camera can be purchased for about £550 (new, without lens). The K-30 is £100 less and won a BEST BUY award in "Digital SLR Photography", so I would assume that it must be pretty decent.
-- Edited by Paul Wilson on Tuesday 2nd of April 2013 05:24:20 PM
Jon Bowen said
Mon Apr 1 8:36 PM, 2013
I am thinking of entering the world of DSLR photography for birding and as I have a number of Pentax K mount lenses and teleconverters, mainly Tamron and Sigma, from days that I took good old fashion film based photos, I was considering the Pentax range. However I have seen little comment on the quality of Pentax DSLRs on this forum with much of the discussion focussed on Canon, Nikon etc.
Knowing there are number of excellent photographers who inhabit this forum I was keen to get a view of whether it's worth going for a Pentax considering the lenses and converters I have or am I better off starting from scratch and buying a Nikon / Canon. The lenses I have include a 28 - 85, 100-300 and 200 plus 1.5x and 2x converter
I've got around £1200 to spend (but don't have to spend all of it!!) so any advise and guidance would be gratefully received.
Most Sigma lens are available in Pentax K-mount fitting at the same price as Nikon and Canon fittings, but you would struggle to sell on secondhand if you later decide to upgrade.
Many people actually quite like the Pentax K-5 camera and I've read some good reviews. It has "in camera" image stabalisation, which is more cost effective than getting it built into each lens. Not sure of how it compares though. This camera can be purchased for about £550 (new, without lens). The K-30 is £100 less and won a BEST BUY award in "Digital SLR Photography", so I would assume that it must be pretty decent.
-- Edited by Paul Wilson on Tuesday 2nd of April 2013 05:24:20 PM
Knowing there are number of excellent photographers who inhabit this forum I was keen to get a view of whether it's worth going for a Pentax considering the lenses and converters I have or am I better off starting from scratch and buying a Nikon / Canon.
The lenses I have include a 28 - 85, 100-300 and 200 plus 1.5x and 2x converter
I've got around £1200 to spend (but don't have to spend all of it!!) so any advise and guidance would be gratefully received.
Thanks in advance