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Hi all! I hope I'm posting this in the right section... I have been lurking around and viewing the wonderful photos on the forum. I currently have 7 Labradors that I am showing in conformation and obedience. They sort of got me into this hobby!! I had always wanted to take nice pictures of my girls and got a Nikon D50 with a 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR lens. Then I went on a trip to Yellowstone, and now I'm in LOVE with taking wildlife and nature shots, as well as pictures of the girls and other dogs, especially at the shows. I am about as new as they come, when it comes to photography!!! I have signed up for a class and workshop (just with our local camera store) and I'm looking to upgrade my camera. I can't decide between the Nikon D90, D300, D700, or D3. Of course, money is a concern, but I want to be able to take shots of wildlife, dogs at shows, dog/animal portraits, as well as landscapes. I know I need a fast camera, and I'm prepaired for a big purchase. I'm also looking into getting some new lenses to go with the camera, so suggestions on those would be great. Right now, I like the Sigma 150-500 OS f/5-6.3. Any suggestions?



Melissa,

Welcome to the forum and yes you are in the right place.

As far as photographing your girls you can't get better advice than that given by Jim Garvie. It's what he does for a living and he does it very well.

As a Nikon shooter I can offer some advice on Nikon gear. You can see my gear in my profile. With regard to your camera upgrade, all the cameras you mentioned are excellent. I think your first decision is what sensor size you want to shoot with. The D90 & D300 use an APC sized sensor which means that you can get pretty good pixel density shooting long lenses, but you give up the high ISO performance of the full frame sensor that is in the D700 & D3. There is an immense amount of information concerning the pros & cons of each sensor size and I would direct you to the following sites if you haven't already found them

DPReview - go to the D300 and D700 forums as well as the reviews of the individual cameras
http://www.dpreview.com/

bytom - Nikon guru Thom Hogan's site
http://www.bythom.com/

If cost is a concern you will quickly see that sensor size makes a big difference to the size of the dent in your pocketbook. Personally, I love my D300 and would recommend it to anyone. If you want to shoot action it will shoot 6 fps which will capture most things and if you get the external grip you can shoot 8 fps. The buffer size is similar to the 40D that Jim mentioned. Eventually I will probably get a FF camera, but not until the prices come down. I have never used the D90 and would probably find it wanting since it only shoots at 4.5 fps and the buffer size will only take 7 RAW images. The D700 is really a version of the D300 that sports a FF sensor. If you think that you will the need the added high ISO performance it provides, be prepared to pay more for it. I agree with Jim that renting cameras is a great way to find out which one will meet your needs.

As far as lenses go, the new Sigma 150-500 OS has received some good reviews. You might want to check the reviews at Fred Miranda's site
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=358

and Michael Furtman
http://www.michaelfurtman.com/sigma150_500.htm

If you are looking at other lenses you might to also check out the lens reviews at Photozone (they don't have a review yet of the 150-500). You should check both the Nikon and Canon review because they have different lenses reviewed for third party lenses for each camera.
http://www.photozone.de/

I currently use a Sigma 100-300 lens as my main intermediate lens and I love it. You can see some results with it at
http://lamson.zenfolio.com/p875529624

I know it isn't the lens you mentioned, but it does speak well for the quality of Sigma lenses. However, be forwarned that the 100-300 is considered to be one of Sigm's best lenses for image quality and the 150-500 is a different beast.

I hope this helps.

Geo

Some of my best
http://www.lamsonweb.com/Galleries/Photography
http://lamson.zenfolio.com/