NeilL Loc: British-born Canadian

Look forward to seeing photos of it taken with your new camera.

RichardSM Loc: Back in Texas

Thank you I know the area well, I spent a lot of my summers in Monterey Ca. And Santa Cruz mountains. Very picturesque indeed.

Jiminyclicket

All of the above recommendations have their points, but based upon your budget I would advise staying away from the SLRs or mirror cameras. The eventual addition of extra lenses will blow the prices way up. Lenses can be very expensive, especially if you're looking for fast ones with low aperatures of F-2.8 or below. The best bargains that I have seen are the new bridge cameras. I have a Canon SLR with six lenses and with all of the other extra goodies included in the bag the invested value far exceeds $3,000. When you chose a good bridge camera you eliminate the need to buy extra glass. Canon SX 50, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200, Fuji Finepix HS 50, Nikon Coolpix P520 and the Sony DSC HX300 all are good choices. I researched them all and narrowed it down to the Canon, Panasonic and Fuji. I do a lot of sports photography, professionally, and because of that I picked the Fuji. If I needed it for the artistic type, painter, I probably would have picked the Panasonic. While the Canon is an excellent all rounder, but didn't seem to be quite as sturdily built as the
Fuji.

Jiminyclicket

All of the above recommendations have their points, but based upon your budget I would advise staying away from the SLRs or mirror cameras. The eventual addition of extra lenses will blow the prices way up. Lenses can be very expensive, especially if you're looking for fast ones with low aperatures of F-2.8 or below. The best bargains that I have seen are the new bridge cameras. I have a Canon SLR with six lenses and with all of the other extra goodies included in the bag the invested value far exceeds $3,000. When you chose a good bridge camera you eliminate the need to buy extra glass. Canon SX 50, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200, Fuji Finepix HS 50, Nikon Coolpix P520 and the Sony DSC HX300 all are good choices. I researched them all and narrowed it down to the Canon, Panasonic and Fuji. I do a lot of sports photography, professionally, and because of that I picked the Fuji. If I needed it for the artistic type, painter, I probably would have picked the Panasonic. While the Canon is an excellent all rounder, but didn't seem to be quite as sturdily built as the
Fuji.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Ahhh! I'm quite familiar with Ben Lomond.

I'm in San Jose (Santa Teresa area). There are lots and lots of photo opportunities around here. I was shooting down near Hollister last Friday and Saturday, up in Livermore on Sunday. This coming Saturday I'm going to be in the hills above Oakland. And the following Saturday I'm heading down to Carmel and Pebble Beach.

You're probably familiar with one of my favorite spots...

romanticf16 Loc: Commerce Twp, MI

If you go to "my profile" You can enter Santa Cruze Mtns, CA as your location- It'll help people suggest where to seek camera gear related to your location.

Budbearden

Don't know if you would be interested, but I have a like new (seldom used) Canon 60D that I want to sell. You can match that up with any kind of lens that would suit your needs. Check it out on line to get all the specifics on that camera at the Canon website, and if interested just let me know at this e-mail address: budbeardenx@centurylink.net

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

sounds good : I'll snap that up right now . I'll send you address to send it to
when it arrives I'll send check . if it meets my inspection . other wise you pay for the return trip also . or you can send it to our local post office I know them there , they will let me check it out and I pay them and they send it to you . same as C.O.D. what you asking for it ?

Budbearden

Bram boy

I was talking with a local camera store and they are interested in trading it in for a new camera I would buy from them. It would cost a little more than buying from B&H or others online stores, but it did sound like it would be convenient.

I am just a little hesitant about shipping my camera out to just anyone I don't know personally. I know you want to be sure you are getting what you are paying for, but...

Thanks anyway for your interest. Wishing you sunny days.

Bud

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Jimmy, if that bridge camera is sooo great, why did you waste the additional $2500?! :lol:
I could easily put together a DSLR camera and lens that would do a decent outdoor sports job for $750. None of it would be new, but it would easily do a good job with decent light. ;-)
SS

specs-4-bats Loc: Berkeley originally

Thanks
I thought I had done that but I guess I didn't hit the update button. It has been corrected.

Nikon5

You may not want to hear this but the Panasonic Lumix ZS40 is an 18 MP point & shoot with Leica lens & 24-720mm zoom. Shoot in RAW for all the day you'll need toamipulate while your partner can shoot Intelligence auto JPEG. Just used this Camera on a 2 week trip to the Balkan countries and couldn't be happier with the results. Cost - about $460.

jazzysam Loc: Knoxville Tn

:thumbup:

Bram boy Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada

yes it's to bad the hedge hog dident have some sort of system where we could sell our photo stuff through the hog . it could be done it wouldent take much . all you need is a bonded member to agree to have stuff for sale sent to his house . he could check it out or some other hog who lives close to him , her could . and then emale the seller giving them a go or a no meaning put it
for sale or not , and if it sells the hog depo which holds the goods collects the money takes the cost of shipping mails the goods to buyer . sends the seller a check for what it sold for minis the handling cost . it would be very easy to do , all you do is work it around tell it fits . I have a bullet proof garage . I could hold a lot of stuff , but we are scattered around . we should be able to
find a holder almost every where people have stuff for sale . we could have a drop off depot almost anywhere . if every one thought how this would work
I'm sure we could come up with a buy sell plan that would make it safe for a hogger and a buyer to get togeather .

Larrie Loc: NE Ohio

I love my 7D but the OP seems to be calling for a SX50. Lightweight, easy to use and learn. Don't count on much return on the film gear. I doubt if you can get $100 for the whole lot. The third party lenses won't draw any interest.