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Ok, so in a week to 2 I will be in the market to buy a new and decent camera.

I would love to buy one of those kits that has the extra lens with but am totally clueless as to what the difference will be.
The budget will be about R4k to R6k.

Where do I start?

You start with: what do I want to photograph mostly.
Also handy would be to know if you are a birder, or run the risk of becoming one. (If yes the budget goes out of the window.)

Will a compact camera do, like one of the Panasonic FZ series, or do you want a real DSLR?

Well I need it for our Kruger trip in Dec and then your normal family photos and so on......
At the moment I am not a birder(although I love birdies) but don't think I will become a big one either.

I currently have a compact and would love a DSLR.

Magriet, add 30% to your budget because you never keep to it. The two best choices are Nikon and Canon. Personally I use Nikon due to their excellent after sales service. If you can wait till Oct/Nov you can usually get good specials at the Photo show at Coca Cola dome. Good lenses are essential. You buy lenses once and upgrade the camera body every view years. I use a Nikon D3100 and lenses: 15-55 Nikor, 55-300 mm Nikor zoom and 150-500mm Sigma Telephoto.

Hi Magriet,

have a look at Makro .. they have a special for R5999 now on for a Canon 1100D with two lenses (18-55mm IS lens (Family), 75-300mm lens (Wildlife) a 4GB card and bag.

Good start up that will satisfy all your needs immediately It's a DSLR as you would like as well

Link to Makro Special

That is a good price indeed, and would kit you out fully...

Forgive me Magriet, for asking questions on your thread, but you are asking the same sort of things I want to ask.

What is the quality of these two-lens kit offers? What is the quality of the Canon 1100D body? Would it perhaps be an option to buy a 55-250 lens or a 70-300 lens separately, perhaps another brand which is compatible?

My wish is for better magnification for wildlife pictures. I’m no photographer, but my little Fujifilm camera just hasn’t got the zoom capacity to even get decent ‘snap shots’ at any distance.

Another option would be an upgrade to what they call a ‘bridge’ camera with a 26X, 35X or 42X optical zoom. These are somewhat less expensive than the current two-lens kit offers, but better than my current 15X zoom. Or would it be a better option to wait and save for a basic DSLR which can be added to?

Not knowing a lot about cameras, one can so easily buy something which is cheap and nasty under the impression that you are getting a good deal.

Please help.

I've used bridge camera on my last three trips to KNP and have had some great photos. The zooms have been good and allowed me to get reasonable images of the sightings we had. However when comparing my shots with DSLR shots of the same sightings I was disappointed that mine just lacked the crispness and sharpness of the DSLR pics.

My bridge cameras have both been fuji finepix ones. My brother had a Panasonic lumix and I think his pics benefitted from the Leica lens that comes with the Lumix.

Both of us have now bought ourselves DSLRs. I've gone for a Canon EOS 500D. I got it as a package too. I did upgrade the 70-300 lens quickly though as it didn't have IS. Additionally I also got a 28-135 IS lens.

I have to say so far I am very happy with the change - I just have so much more control over what I can make the camera do.

The most important thing though is to make sure you learn how to use your camera - spending the money to get some lessons will be invaluable!

Happy shopping.

Hi chirinda,

I have the 55-250 mm .. it's a decent entry level lens for the non-pro photographer .. like me .. My SO has been using it on the 500D and she got some awesome shots with it. the 70-300 should be very similar except you have more zoom ...

You will get to a stage later on where you will want "more" from you camera .. and in that case I just could not stop myself any more and indulged myself in a long time dream and got the 100 - 400 mm IS L lens. You might want to seriously consider the 70-200 mm IS L lens with a 1.4 converter ... your lens is in most cases more important than the camera body .. and a decent lens is just way more valuable than a decent camera

So in short, yes .. you will be very happy with the lens the first time you go to KNP .. but the 2nd time the itch will start ..

PS: Just a health warning .. that it NEVER stops

I would recommend a Nikon D90 or D7000 if you can save more money to the budget(the D90 costs R9000 in RSA with the kit lens 18-105mm)....don’t buy a budget camera and feel sorry after a while….thinking that you should have bought a better one…

Mostly they have a kit lens 18-105mm and you can use a 70-300mm for the distance shots...or you could buy a Sigma 50-500mm/150-500mm for real distance shots...

I have the Nikon D7000 and am very satisfied about the quality and use....

Its quite difficult to pick up D90's anymore as they have been replaced with the D7000 as far as i can see.

Dont forget about the Canon 550D as an option, with the release of the 650D the price of the 550D should come down substantially. It is also available in 2 lens kits and so on with camera training which might be helpful to the beginner.

not sure if you have ended up buying a new camera yet...

I have recently bought a Canon 550D from Dion Wired, they have a special on the camera body for R3900... http://www.dionwired.co.za/sale/canon-d ... -only.html (when I bought this it came with a 16gb memory card and a Lowepro bag aswell)

However, I did not need any lenses as my father has quite a few decent ones, so this may be a better option, I am very happy with the camera and I have taken some amazing shots on my latest visit to the Kruger last weekend.
http://www.makro.co.za/p/28729/canon-55 ... ns-bundle/
if you are just starting with SLR photography this may be the best option. There isnt much difference between the 550D and the 600D...they are pretty much the same camera....http://snapsort.com/compare/Canon-600d- ... n_EOS_550D

My only thing is I am not sure how good the 75 -300DC lens is? I don't know if would be better to buy the Body Only and then spend the other R3,500 on a decent lens.....you can pick up some really nice second hand lens sometimes from the following website: >>> http://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/joomla/ (under the classifieds section) ie:
http://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/classifie ... acro&cat=4
http://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/classifie ... -300&cat=4

Buying separately may be a bit of a mission....but its a really nice camera and like I said I had some really nice shots recently with it.

What you could also do which may be helpful in the future is purchase a camera with the standard 18-55mm lens so you can use it for family and then for while you are in kruger hire the 100-400mm canon or a similar lens in nikon and use it for your wildlife photography, will also give you an understanding of what you may want in the future.

I currently use the 100-400mm on a canon 550D body and am very happy with the results if you look in my signature, my blog has some images i took with that combination and i don't think they came out to bad.

Hopefully this will help you. I know with the release of the 650D Canon and D3200 Nikon, the prices of the 550D and D3100 respectively have come down quite a lot in price.

So we have finally done it and bought the following:

D5100 with 18-55mm lens and 55-200mm lens with 16GB memory card for R7799

"The Kruger trip and family pics" or words to that effect you used. I was going to suggest a Bridge camera like the Olympus SP620UZ (24-890mm) or the new Canon SX50HS (24-1200). Both nice neat 'n small and when you get to birding what an arsenal you will have :1200mm ! Both these have all the bells 'n whistles of a DSLR.
But, you have bought your Nikon, so go have fun.