I got a bridge camera as a gift several years ago (Sony H300 camera), and I’m really enjoying the different functionalities of it, and taking a range of pictures, but would like to upgrade (potentially to one with separate lenses?).
I’d like it to be able to use it mainly for macro, but also birds and more general wildlife stuff. I also enjoy taking pictures of buildings and architecture so if there’s a good camera that also works well for that, thats a bonus! I climb outdoors sometimes, so any protection would be handy!
I’m looking to spend between £500 to £1000, as an upper bound! If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions that would be really appreciated!
There’s so much out there it’s hard to know where to start!
For macro I can wholeheartedly recommend the LAOWA 65mm lens. It’s seriously great and not too expensive. (It costs about 350€ used here)
However, shooting birds from any distance at all is not really that great. It is primarily for macro (though you can do something like portraiture with it too).
I don’t know much about camera bodies, but you can get something like the Sony Alpha 6000 for as little as 200€ used here. I haven’t used it ever, so I don’t know whether it is a good camera. But it seems quite nice and has 24 megapixels which should allow you to crop a fair bit into the image.
My first bit of advice is to buy second hand as you will get much better value for money (just make sure you inspect thoroughly before buying). Secondly would you prefer a DSLR or mirrorless camera? In general DSLRs are cheaper for what you get but they are older, heavier, and new lenses for them are not being developed. Mirrorless are lighter and newer (tend to have more advanced systems) but are also much more expensive then the equivalent DSLR.
