Which DSLR camera?

[Bubblehide]

Okay, I was hoping some of you experts could help me out here. I have been wanting to pick up a new DSLR for some time now. I want it to photograph wildlife. So, I was leaning toward the Sony translucent mirror cameras, a full frame camera. My understanding of the translucent mirror is that the mirror does not have to move out of the way to obtain focus, and as such, moving objects, animals, people... are in focus; as opposed to a typical mirror camera where the mirror must move to obtain focus, and then move back into position, while the subject is still moving (out of focus). I have not kept up with all the advances, so what has applied in the past (my understanding), may have changed.

But allow me to complicate things a bit here. I just picked up a Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di Vc USD lense, but it has a Cannon mount. It was literally a steal, so I couldn't pass it up. I know I can get an adapter to adapt it to another manufacture, like the Sony. But I am looking for advice here. Are there disadvantages to using an adapter? Have advances made the translucent mirror irrelevant or negligible? I know some older DLSR's will not allow for all the functions of the lens (even lens's have made significant advances). So, I am looking for a full frame DSLR that is capable of taking advantage of this new lens of mine. What do you guys recommend, and why?

 

[cjack]

Huh......never heard of the translucent mirror. What is the advantage? Focus speed? I have always preferred Canon and if you have a Canon lens I would lean toward that as my choice.

 

[ranchwife]

I definitely favor Canon, especially if you have a Canon lens. I recently purchased the Canon 7D Mark II and found this video on capturing moving objects. I think newer model cameras make photographing wildlife so much easier with better results. This video explains the 7D to give you something to think about http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2014/eos7dmkii_intelligent_viewfinder.shtml

Also, check out this article on photographing birds in flight. http://digital-photography-school.com/10-surefire-tips-for-photographing-birds-in-flight/

Photographing wildlife depends on camera settings. The translucent lens is very new and not mainstream yet. Might be worth waiting to see if Canon/Nikon pick it up.

 

[TheGDog]

Hey Bubble... I do not know if it can take advantage of the lense you mentioned... but definitely checkout the Nikon D3300 18-55 VR II Kit. Takes b!tch!n action-shots in Sports Mode. Easy on-screen menus to customize stuff when you're doing it the Auto way. Really like the menu'ing system for reviewing shots. When you zoom-in on a pic when reviewing... and scroll a Rectangular Field of Preview thing within a pic.... when you advance to the next pic it maintains that Rectangle in the same relative-offset region. This is very useful when previewing multiple frames of a particular Action Sequence. I got the Red Body kit so it stands out and would be harder to mess-up and forget it somewhere by mistake. I've never had the battery get anywhere near empty on me yet. I'll average 60-100 shots in an outing centered around an activitity with my kid, such as Cub Scouts stuff. You can adjust how many of the AutoFocus points you want it to pay attention to and use when focusing. For the Action shots I just have it only use the center one so I control the focus more directly. For timing critical shots... do a lil half-press when pointed at something near the target are of your shot, then you're ready for when your subject comes along... such as a DirtBike flying off a jump. Takes something like 4 or 5 per second I think.

 

[Bubblehide]

Thank you all for your replies, you've given me something to think about. Clearly I need to update my education on photography, I'm pretty dated considering all the advances.

... The translucent lens is very new and not mainstream yet. Might be worth waiting to see if Canon/Nikon pick it up.

Sony has a patent on the translucent mirror (not lens). It's been around for several years, if not over a decade now. However, until their patent runs out, I don't see it being used by the other manufactures, unless of they pay to use the technology, like Nikon did with the Tamron aspherical lenses.