I have decided to chip in here based on what I said earlier on this thread. I may not know half as much as some of the people on here about photography, I have only had DSLRs for 3 years or so, so compared to some, I am a novice.
Anyway, the first camera I had was Vivitar 4345. See here:
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Vivitar_ViviCam_4345 for more details It is really only a point and shoot with no macro capabilities and not designed for insect photography and it only has a 4 mega pixel size, which by todays standards is small, but I didn't know this at time, or knew what macro was. People do say, give someone a camera and if they learn how to use it as best they can, they can turn out a good shot as you can get with it. Here is the first few shots I got with it. I was surprised I got the White-Shouldered House Moth at all, as its a micro moth and its not easy to get one without even a good macro mode
- White Shouldered House Moth
- Silver Y Moth Resting
But after a while I noticed that after I started learning things about cameras and how limited my camera was. I still did not know enough about cameras or have the money for a good DSLR or whatever, so I upgraded to a Samsung Digimax L85. Its Macro function lets you zoom to 1cm close to subject and it has 8 mega pixel sensor and image stabalisation, see here:
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/digitalcamera ... 640,00.htm for more on it. It was a good camera, I got many decent shots with it, here are a few:
- Green Brindled Crescent
- Owl Butterfly
- Painted Lady Feeding
- Female Common Blue, Subspecies Mariscolore
In 2007 I upgraded to my first DSLR, Canon 400D with 18-55mm lens kit. I was glad I got it in autumn/winter, so I could learn to use it before the butterfly season began again next year, but I didn't have a macro lens, which is important if you want to get decent shots of insects. I looked around and found about prime macro lenses and other lenses and because many had said and used Sigma 105mm or 150mm, and since I only had enough money a few months later for 105mm, I got it. Still I found it hard to get shots. It took me a few months learning how to focus on insects properly with it. I did like the extra distance and the option of changing lenses so you could do a range of things with the camera. You may wish to read this thread I made when I first started using my Canon 400D and sigma 105mm:
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... 00d#p10750
It took a while to get used to compared to the compacts I used before, but once I got the hang of it, here are a few of the shots I did start getting:
- Owl Butterfly (Caligo Memnon)
- Ringlet Feeding
- Small Heath Resting
- Small Tortoiseshell Very Damaged
Then I started noticing the difference between shots taken with a compact and those taken with a DSLR, like I noticed shots with a DSLR looked more realistic I thought.
I then this year, upgraded to Canon 500D, but I still have all my other cameras. There is nothing wrong with my canon 400D, still find it useful, but the canon 500D has an extra mode, CA which allows you adjust how you want to shoot something like have vivid blues/greens or have a sharper/blurrier background etc... It also came with full HD video recording, which I liked since I found it annoyng changing cameras and liked the video mode, but for photographers, its not always what people go for. It also lets you shoot using the LCD screen, on live mode, which is not always as good as using viewfinder, but occationally it can be useful. You'll see all the shots I take now are with my 500D and Sigma 105mm.
I am not bias towards Canon, its just the only DSLR make I have used and since I like it alot, have not decided to move away, plus my lens fits canon mount and it would cost too much for me to transfer over, and besides, there is nothing wrong with the cameras I have as I like them and know how to use them fully. I have not used other camera makes, but I have seen what they can do in the right hands, like the Sony A700.
If you look here:
http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com you'll see many wonderful shots taken by Adrian Hoskins and if you see here:
http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Bu ... graphy.htm
He says:
My gear : People often ask me what equipment I use to produce the images used on this website. Almost all of the images have been photographed with my Sony a700. Most shots are taken using fill-in flash supplied by a Sony twin-macro flash unit. The vast majority of photos are taken with a Sigma 105mm macro lens, although I also carry an ancient Sigma 180mm F5.6 macro for less accessible species such as hairstreaks, and use a Sigma 28mm F2 for habitat shots. Why did I choose Sony ? Mainly because I was already tied into a system of Sony-Minolta lenses, having used Minolta film cameras for many years previously.
And if I could choose my dream outfit ? If I was unlucky enough to have all my Sony equipment stolen, and had to re-equip with a complete new outfit, I would probably choose either a Canon EOS 50D or a Nikon D90 body. Both are extremely well specified, and superbly built. I would probably choose in favour of the Nikon because I prefer Nikon ergonomics, and the Nikon 100mm VR macro lens is equipped with optical vibration-reduction, which gives a steadier viewfinder image. By the time you read this however Canon may well have brought out something even better !
You can see he is not exactly bias towards one make. And that link will help on photograhy, helped me a bit. Well good luck in finding a camera, whichever you decide to choose! Now I'm off to bed
of the butterfly photography fraternity 
) for the job. The big difference in image quality comes with the lens you buy for that body.....