Digital DSLR camera for landscapes

[clicker]

Looking for recommendations for a digital DSLR for both landscapes and wildlife. Any thoughts on Nikon D600 or similar type cameras. Also thoughts on any lens that you may have used for such work would be appreciated.
Thanks

 

[kxl]

For wildlife, I think a DX format body would be preferable. As to which lens, it depends on what kind of wildlife -- birds in flight would require a different lens than large mammals. Also, birds-in-flight would benefit from specialized setup, inlcuding a 600mm lens plus teleconverter, sturdy tripod, a gimbal head, flash extender, etc... The price for admission into this club is not cheap. Can it be done with less than the most expensive gear? Sure, but this type of photography requires reach, and unless you are willing to setle for mirror lenses, 500mm and longer don't come cheap.

For landscapes, either FX or DX woul be good; however, a DX body would hide light fall off or lack of sharpness in the far edges or corners.

 

[x-ray]

How much do you want to spend?

I don't have any experience with the D600 but do have a D800. The D800 will do a FX 1x full sensor at 36mp and reduced crop and less pixels at 1.2 and 1.5x (DX) crop. Also has a crop similar to letter box format for both still and video. It has 14.4 stops dynamic range too. Fabulous camera!

If the D600 does 1.5x DX crop then it would be excellent too. I believe it has 14.3 stops dynamic range.

IMO dynamic range is very important.

With the D800 you need the best glass you can get. It doesn't forgive less than the best. I tried a set of Zeiss ZF 2 lenses and returned them because they just looked terrible wide open and only got good down at F8.

I'm very pleased with my 16-34 f4 VR, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 VR II. I also have the 85 f1.8 G, 24 PCE and 85 PC. All are excellent lenses. I can't say enough good about the 70-200 VRII. The VR in it is amazing. I found during a job that I could get consistently sharp images hand holding it at 1/8-1/15 second at f2.8 @ 200mm. No joke! During the job I found I had no light and couldn't use strobes. I had no choice but to crank the ISO to 6,400 and go the slow speed wide open route. I had a very high percentage of very good images.

I'm not a landscape or bird guy but read may folks like both the D600 and D800 for what you're doing. I don't think you would be disappointed with either.

 

[user237428934]

A friend of mine has a Canon crop camera and travels with the 100-400 lens and a converter. He covers a large distance with that. I wouldn't recommend a full frame camera for wildlife if you are doing this as a hobby.

 

[hausen]

I have recently moved into the Sony A99 and am mainly a landscape guy. Superb camera, full frame, articulated screen, Focus zone, virtual horizion in evf, lightweight all make it a great landscape camera. And with the Zeiss lenses you can't go wrong. I have also been using a Leica PC28/2.8 SA on mine. You can see some of my landscape with A99 here.
http://500px.com/Hausen

 

[j j]

Absolutely any current DSLR would be excellent for landscape and wildlife. Seriously, there are no bad DSLRs out there. Go into a shop and play with a few until you find one that you like to play with and get that one.

If you want to get serious about wildlife then Canon and Nikon have the widest range of lenses for this purpose (i.e. 300mm+) both native lenses and Sigma etc. Sony also but their longer lenses are a bit pricey (but there are good value secondhand Minolta lenses). Pentax have the IQ but autofocus is said to be a bit behind the others (this is hearsay as I have not tried them).

As tom.w.bn says, a Canon crop body and 100-400mm is a classic wildlife setup.

 

[venchka]

For landscapes, a friend uses a Nikon D800, Zeiss ZF & Nikon PC lenses, and software to stitch 100+ megapixel images. Contrary to Don's experience, he gets the most from the Zeiss macro Planars at f/8 and up. The Nikon 24mm & 85mm PC lenses are stunning!
Like everyone said earlier, for birds you will need 400mm minimum, a 1.4 TC and lots of practice. For larger animals, I have been too close to bison in Yellowstone. Needed a 24mm lens.
Have fun. I am also thinking about making a move from Canon to Nikon. While the D600 will probably outlive me, I'm not convinced that the D800 isn't a better investment. The Nikon 24-85 lens is getting a lot of praise at The Nikon Cafe. That zoom range fits my idea of a perfect 90% of the time lens.

Wayne

 

[bigeye]

The D800/D800e are pretty much the standard for fixed piece landscape work with a DSLR. They're almost specialized for it, chasing low-end medium format.

The D600 (and 6D & 5DIII) is more general purpose. As said above though, any of the current FF cameras are good and would be fine.

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