They say I need to post to prove I'm not a spammer.
I haven't got an SLR yet but I'm planning to purchase a K20D with the kit lens and a DA 55-300. However I'm open to other suggestions. Perhaps a K200D and spend the difference on better glass or a 3rd lens. Photography isn't my main hobby so the amount I can justify spending is limited.
I need to figure out the best way to carry the camera, both on foot and on a bicycle. My shoulders are pretty messed up so this might not be easy. Have to study up on filters too.
My use will be casual wildlife and landscape photography. I'm not very observant, but my wife is. However, she's hopeless with a camera so we work as a team. In the past decade much new wildlife has been spotted within the Minneapolis city limits. Besides climate change bringing new species northward, I believe many critters have figured out that in the city, the people with guns just shoot at other people.
I've been using a Panasonic DMC-FZ-10. But while I have gotten some shots I'm proud of, (when there is plenty of light) I think I've outgrown it.
Here's links to some of my best shots.
I got these two 5 minutes apart, less than 25 feet from Diamond Lake Rd. at rush hour.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/birds/Shoreline-Woodies.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/birds/blue-and-white.jpg
I got this Coopers Hawk across the alley. He's a big lad, that's a 2 x 4 he's perched on. He and his mate have had a nest at Minnehaha Creek and 12th Ave S. for several years.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/birds/Tim'sHawk1.jpg
Here's one of our local eagles. The nest is about 400' west of 58th St & Cedar Ave in So. Mpls.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/birds/mad-dad.jpg
We had Great Grey Owls a few years back, when food got scarce in Canada.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/ggo/21.jpg
The bugs in Jane's garden are like nature's jewels.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/bugs/Bee1280.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/images/Dragon1280Web.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/bugs/Great-Black-Wasp.jpg
The flight and sound of the Sphinx Moth mimics that of the hummingbird and the larger ones are about the same size. Note the long proboscis sticking into the flower. This smaller one is the only Sphinx I've ever seen out in mid-day. They usually come out at twilight, so I was lucky to get this shot in bright sunlight.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/images/Sphinx.jpg
These aren't wildlife, but kinda neat.
http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/images/Country_Sunset.jpg http://home.earthlink.net/~marks_pix/scenery/blue-sunset-1024.jpg
The 1st was taken from a freeway on-ramp and the 2nd from the bike path around Lake Nokomis.
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