WTB Camera for my wife

[Ballertrawler II]

What can people suggest my son has a canon 5i and my wife wants a camera with similar capabilities to take long distance wildlife and scenery pictures.

What can you suggest this is for her birthday.

Thank You

[Albertadiver]

What is your location? Based on this we can maybe suggest some good camera shops.

[Dean2]

The longer the lens the more important glass quality and stabilization is. Pentax is one of the few that that have used the same lens mount for decades, which means there is a ton of high quality lens availabe, at decent prices. Most of the other makes have kept changing their lens mounts. The other make that has done this is Nikon, but I won't buy or use Nikon anymore since they welched on their lifetime scope warranties. Sold all my Nikon gear after that. Use to have Nikon and Pentax, running all Pentax now.

McBain Cameras is a great place to get advice.

[tool]

Hasn't Cannon also used the same lens mount for a really long time too?

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by tool

Hasn't Cannon also used the same lens mount for a really long time too?

Nope. They are among the worst. Change mounts regularly. At least 8 if I remeber right and about 3 times in the last 10 years alone that I recall.

[flyrodfisher]

Originally Posted by tool

Hasn't Cannon also used the same lens mount for a really long time too?

Canon changed to the RF mount for their mirrorless camera system.
Adapters are available.

Nikon similarly changed to their Z mount for their mirrorless system
Adapters are available.

[Pixel Shooter]

Your dating yourself Dean2 lol

Been shooting Canon last 15 years. There are 3 Canon lens mounts in this time. EF-s being the oldest and not compatible with the Ef and Rf. Those were mainly pro consumer entry level cameras ie rebel etc.

Ef is compatible with the newest Rf lenses with an adapter. RF is for nitriles cameras. Ef has the biggest range of available lenses and best price points especially for wild life lenses from 300 to 800mm.(used market). RF is the newest generation and new format and doesn’t have allot of available lenses and what they do have is expensive. I just changed over to this format. I like the upgrade especially the body and excellent focus and tracking systems, crazy good. Be careful wildlife photography is not a cheap hobby lol. What I will tell you is bodies come and go l, so would rarely buy new. but glass is forever! Prime lenses for wildlife is the way to go. 300mm f2.8. Can ad 1.4 adapter without loosing any degradation. 500mm f4 is the standard for wildlife. It’s big and weighs a bit. Tripod helps immensely. Great price points in used market. It were still talking thousands of dollars

Biggest question is how much you’re willing to spend? As your cheapest option ie under a grand is a camera that has an optical zoom built in. Maybe happy with that but the end results don’t compare but maybe very happy with end result

Even the old EF that I’m suggesting still takes stellar picture in the right hands. Examples below.

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[Dean2]

Well, I am getting old, and it is true you have to remember a long ways back to recall the 8 or 10 lenses changes over the years. However, since even by your account, they have changed the mounting system 3 times in the last 10 to 15 years, not so sure that demonstrates aging myself as much as it demonstrates a great abilty to recall things.

Canon does make great camera gear but their lack of consideration for their customers kind of annoys me. It was like the need to buy a new set of chargers everytime you bought a new phone. It is merely an intentional way to grab the consumer for some extra bucks without giving them any extra value at all.

[antlercarver]

My wife got into wildlife photography. Being retired we take our camper and go on what we call camera safaris. We don`t go to crowded campsites and I think we enjoy our trips much more. Quiet places by the lake or river, early morning----great.

[wallz]

You could always go a decent camera and an adapter to a spotting scope. I'm sure you could use a spotter when not in camera use!

I get some decent long shots with the Kowa 883 and a phone scope with the iphone. Tripod is a must.

[MK2750]

Originally Posted by Ballertrawler II

What can people suggest my son has a canon 5i and my wife wants a camera with similar capabilities to take long distance wildlife and scenery pictures.

What can you suggest this is for her birthday.

Thank You

I went to McBain in Red Deer with similar intentions years ago. They set me up with a nice package from Olympus. It was significantly cheaper than the Nikon/Cannon equivalent.

I am no camera expert but I had several friends and family members buy similar equipment ($3000-$5000 range) at that time and I believe the Olympus stuff was as good or better.

Having said that, we have all switched to bridge type cameras. Obviously not the quality but they are easy to use and take awesome pictures. For me it was the weight as I would often get miles back in the bush fishing or hunting and wish I had a decent camera with me. The Olympus set up was just too much to be lugging around.

[WV911]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Nope. They are among the worst. Change mounts regularly. At least 8 if I remeber right and about 3 times in the last 10 years alone that I recall.

Not completely correct.

Canon used EF full frame lenses since 1987

The EF S lens is not a change in mounts but a change in lens technology in 2003 to match the new at the time reduced sensors in digital cameras.

You could still use the EF lens on a EF S camera.

The new lenses, the RF are again to match new mirrorless technology which all manufacturers are eventually switching to.

I have been shooting with Canon for over 30 years and still use the EF mount and besides Canon, there are third party companies with EF lenses.

Like the tube TV, technology will eventually replace all of these.

[Off in the Bushes]

Buy yours a great spotting scope and then get the wife a great point shoot camera and set it up for digiscoping. Then you have a spotter for hunting season and she has a good everyday camera and one for long range photography when she wants to do it. 😎

[Mr Flyguy]

After lugging around my Nikon D7000 with a Sigma DG 150-500 mm lens I'm ready to look at a bridge camera. The Sony RX 10 IV is highly rated but anybody know how much it weighs?

[Strix]

Originally Posted by Mr Flyguy

After lugging around my Nikon D7000 with a Sigma DG 150-500 mm lens I'm ready to look at a bridge camera. The Sony RX 10 IV is highly rated but anybody know how much it weighs?

The Sony specification page lists this camera at 1095 grams (2 lbs 6.7 oz)
which includes the battery and memory card.