New camera

[BeatleJohn]

Hey guys... so ive got the bug and love cameras and taking lots of photos. Im sure some of u might have seen my new posts having just bought a fuji x70. Its a great camera and i love it. Love the articulating screen which allows me to get cool angles.
So now im looking for something that has a bit more of a zoom. I guess a telephoto lens option for wildlife and general nature photography that will allow me to zoom in close and i would like some advice if possible.

Im looking at 2 options at the moment...

Fuji X-A3 twin lens kit.. XC 16-50mm and 50-230mm lenses.

or...

Sony A6300 with 16-50mm and 55-210mm lenses.

I really like the articulating screens which they both have.. And i love the fuji colours of my x70. But the sony seems like a really awesome camera and it has a viewfinder which could be handy on bright days i guess.
Im kind of leaning towards the sony.. but id really like some advice on these 2 or if there is anything else i should be looking at.

[arthurking83]

Of the two, I'd say go with the Sony.
Major reason is it's AF ability.
Sony has been praised for it's AF, whereas the Fuji doesn't have phase detection ability and is going to be slow to achieve initial focus acquisition, and then struggle to maintain that focus on moving subjects.

Of course you haven't specified what type of nature/wildlife you're going to be interested in, but if you take all facets of that genre into account(eg. small birds), you want the best possible focus ability you can get.

I don't know what kind of money either of those two kits will set you back, but as another option for you to take into consideration:
if you do take this advice and go with the Sony, instead of a twin lens kit(which means a twin consumer grade lens kit), take those lenses out of the equation and try to stretch the Sony budget to the A6300 + their 70-200 f/4 lens for the telephoto end of the focal range.
(ie. instead of the 55-200 Sony lens)
The reasoning behind this is multiple. Firstly the 55-210mm has a maximum aperture at the long end of a very small f/6.3. Not only does this force you to shoot using a higher ISO, but it's ability to focus at the long end will also be more compromised.
By comparison, not only is the 70-200/4 sharper at the 200 mm end, it's f/4 aperture allows the focus system more light(ie. it can see better) to focus more accurately and quickly as well.

Of course the downsides are that it's much larger(by comparison) and heavier and I believe that the 70-200/4 is close to $2K in price too. But, as with any aspect in life .. you get what you pay for.

There is also the Sony 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 lens as well, but it's specs are similar in terms of size and weight to the 70-200/4 and it's price is seriously insane at about $2K too. Most other manufacturer's 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 type lenses are in the $700-ish price range.

So, what you'd then do if you went with the A6300+70-200/4 pairing is that you'd keep your Fuji x70 as you general, all rounder, wider angle shooting device, and use the A6300+70-200 lens exclusively(in a manner of speaking) as your wildlife/nature combo.
The x70 therefore take the role of the 16-50 kit lens ;)
There's nothing worse than shooting with one lens on the camera, and the opportunity of a lifetime comes along for a fleeting moment and you really needed the telephoto lens attached. By the time you've removed the wideangle lens, and attached the tele lens, the moment may have passed!
x70 is a nice small lightweight, hence easily pocketable camera. You already have it and like it, so to walk around with it in your pocket(I assume) is easy enough. Moments where you need a wideangle lens are usually of the slower more deliberate type, so I doubt you'd find a situation where pulling it out of pocket, turn on and shoot is going to be missed.

anyhow, hope that makes sense .. and that's what I'd be inclined to pursue going by what you've requested.

... Actually, if I were starting from scratch, I'd be more inclined to go with a Nikon D7200, and Nikon 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR lens for that kind of price range .. but that sideline comment should be taken in context from the point of view of a Nikon fan :D

[BeatleJohn]

Hi there... really appreciate the advice :th3:

The camera with the 2 lenses would cost me around $1800.
So the telephoto kit lens would be rubbish then?

[arthurking83]

....
So the telephoto kit lens would be rubbish then?

Not so much 'rubbish' .. but more aptly described as "not quite as good" focus response, image quality .. durability, etc.

I'm sure it'll capture some OK images, but the f/4 lens would capture much better images. You'll only really see this when you zoom into the image to view more detail in it.
If you shoot and never crop, I doubt you'd complain about the quality of the kit telephoto lens.
But when you're shooting small birds at only 200mm, they're very hard to get close too to fill the frame. So at that focal length you're more than likely to be cropping images heavily.
The more expensive lens will give you that possibility more so than the cheaper lens of the same focal length.

The accepted wisdom with lenses is that as you approach the longer end of a zoom lens focal length, IQ slow deteriorates.
So a cheaper 70-300mm lens(such as the 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 option) at 200mm will most likely give you similar IQ to the 70-200/4 lens at 200mm.

I'm not well versed on non Nikon camera pricing, as I don't search for them much.
But I know that a Nikon D7200 + 70-300/4.5-5.6 combo could be had for $2K at a local real store. And I'm sure a deal could be negotiated for a bit of a discount on that price(or a few added extras thrown in) under the guise of good customer relations ;)

An FYI on kit lenses:
You may well be quite happy with the image quality of the kit telephoto lens at the long end ... but you definitely wouldn't be the first person to subsequently seek out a better lens after a bit of use of that kit telephoto either. Which then relegates the kit tele lens to the confines of a shelf or a drawer at home.