considering move from Superzoom (Panny FZ18) but to what?

Hi all,

My name's Jo and I'm from Norwich in the UK and new to this forum. :D I love birds and wildlife and in the past few years have had the opportunity to travel for at least two or three weeks of the year to places such as Africa, India and the Pantanal in Brazil.

Since 2007 I've been a Panasonic FZ18 user for most of my photography and have generally been happy with the results. However, recently I have been wondering what more I could achieve by stepping up to a DSLR. In particular, I have always found getting birds in flight a challenge with the FZ18 and my holiday this coming year will hopefully include a pelagic birding trip off the coast of South Africa as part of a three week safari cum road trip. So something which is more responsive could be a real bonus here. Plus I've also joined a local camera club (most of whom use Nikons or Canons- there's no elitism but I'd like to be a bit more creative with my photography). That said, I really enjoy the light weight of the Panny and do not want to be carting around something much bigger (or rather heavier) than what I already have, (my FZ18 normally has a TCON-17 attached).



My partner has a Canon 30D but with his Sigma 170-500 (permanently) attached it is really much too bulky for me to want to use. I'm a birder who likes photography rather than a photographer who likes birds!


This leads me to consider either,or just living with what I have, or investing in a lighter lens for my OH's canon (and any advice here would be most welcome), or looking at buying into a new system like Olympus four thirds (I'm not yet convinced that the M4/3rds has a good birding lens in its line up).


With Olympus I'm currently considering the E-620 either with a single lens or twin lens kit with the addition of either the 70-300 or 50-200 oly lens or the E-30 with the same lens combination. I've had chance to play briefly with the E-620 and 70-300 in store and the weight was not that off-putting compared to the FZ18 with its TCON.



From looking online theres maybe 100 to 200 quid in the difference for the bodies but significantly more for the lenses. Would you say the E30 is much better for what I need and worth the extra (I can probably afford it)?
Any thoughts on the benefits or otherwise of either of these two systems and/or getting something more manageable for OH's canon) would be most welcome. I've plenty of time to consider this as my trip isn't until October.


Another point for me to consider is that when we are out locally we tend to do photography together, so having our own cameras would probably be a good thing so I can practice before I go, but OH is not coming on this big trip and so I could borrow his 30D. Incidentally, the person I'll be travelling with is a Nikon user (though I have no idea what lenses she has for her camera). I suppose we could get a second canon body and share the lenses if need be.



Sorry for the rambling post- lots to think about I know. Any help would be most welcome.



Here's some examples of my work to date:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8773601@N03/


All the best


Jo

Jo,
I have the Oly 620 and do a lot of bird shots with it and the 70-300 lens. I also bought the 1.4 extender and have been very pleased with it as well. I also have the Canon XSi with a similar lens and it is also a fine camera. For the price you get really nice glass with the Oly, they seem to do a lot better with their kit lenses than the bigger guys. Top line lenses in any camp are great. There are fewer lenses available for the Olympus camera but more than enough for me. The Oly is lighter than the Canon and any bad photos I have taken are the result of my clumsiness not the equipment. Whatever you pick will probably work well for you.
maria

Thanks for the post and welcome aboard. Interesting issues and lots of ground to cover here. A pelagic photo trip would require a higher quality camera and would point to a DSLR IMO. I have read good reviews regarding the XSi seems to be a nice SLR entry candidate.

I looked over your images and considering you are a birder first, your pictures were good. Hence, you might want to do nothing at all, borrow the 30D (rent a 70-200 f/4 and a 1/4 TC) and evaluate after the trip.

Dear Jeff and Maria,

Many thanks for replying to my thread. I'm aware that hiring lenses is quite common practice in the US but I'm not aware of a simialr service being offered in the UK. However, it seems that I also have a third option. My Dad who I'll be travelling with has also got a Nikon D80 and has a 70-300 lens for it. So it is possible that we could use this some of the time and take out my Panasonic to save weight when the light is good enough. That said, I have not yet checked how old the lens is. I imagine it could well be one of the old lenses from when my dad was using film SLRs. So next question, have the new VR lenses made a world of difference or is an older 70-300 stiill going to be capable of achievng some good shots of Birds in flight from a boat? Any tips?

Many thanks,

Jo