DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me with the predicament I am in. For starters I'm not massively into photography so I'm not too savvy with photography acronyms and camera specs. I mainly use my camera for bird ID rather than for artistic purposes, especially when I'm abroad as it's easier to have a photo to ID than just a memory.

Now the issue...

A few years ago I managed to acquire an old Olympus e400 DSLR, with a Sigma 50-500mm lens, and have had some pretty decent results. The drawbacks being the setup is quite heavy and I'm not the most careful, and now the camera is giving up (blue line through photos & saying card cover open intermittently when its not!).

After a friends advice, (not into bird photography) today I went and bought a Panasonic FZ1000 bridge camera, took it out this evening and was not too happy with the results, the zoom wasn't sufficient, and had much better results with my old setup. Although it was better not having a massive lens hanging around my neck for hours. So it's going back tomorrow.

With £500 to spend what's best idea?

a) Compact/bridge camera with a massive zoom.

b) Try to find a decent old/second-hand Olympus 4/3 camera (I have read they are no longer manufactured). Also was the E400 a decent spec camera for a 4/3 lens?

c) Quit photography and stick to bino's and memory.

d) Buy a new micro 4/3 camera and an adapter thing to take the sigma lens, if that's possible, which I think it might be.

e) None of the above, but one of your suggestions.

Any help would be great,

Cheers,

Julia.

Biar wrote:Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me with the predicament I am in. For starters I'm not massively into photography so I'm not too savvy with photography acronyms and camera specs. I mainly use my camera for bird ID rather than for artistic purposes, especially when I'm abroad as it's easier to have a photo to ID than just a memory.

Now the issue...

A few years ago I managed to acquire an old Olympus e400 DSLR, with a Sigma 50-500mm lens, and have had some pretty decent results. The drawbacks being the setup is quite heavy and I'm not the most careful, and now the camera is giving up (blue line through photos & saying card cover open intermittently when its not!).

After a friends advice, (not into bird photography) today I went and bought a Nikon D5300 bridge camera, took it out this evening and was not too happy with the results, the zoom wasn't sufficient, and had much better results with my old setup. Although it was better not having a massive lens hanging around my neck for hours. So it's going back tomorrow.

With £500 to spend what's best idea?

a) Compact/bridge camera with a massive zoom.

b) Try to find a decent old/second-hand Olympus 4/3 camera (I have read they are no longer manufactured). Also was the E400 a decent spec camera for a 4/3 lens?

c) Quit photography and stick to bino's and memory.

d) Buy a new micro 4/3 camera and an adapter thing to take the sigma lens, if that's possible, which I think it might be.

e) None of the above, but one of your suggestions.

Any help would be great,

Cheers,

Julia.

Any updates?

I suspect your sorted now, I have a DSLR with long lens and the problem is speed of focus, mine is too slow to follow birds of fast jets, so I would find a local camera club and ask there.