Not crazy expensive DSLR setup?

[Royal Hijinx]

So I am thinking about making the leap from my point and shoot to a DSLR when I get back.

It will be mostly for snake photography, but the ability to do other stuff will be nice. So will need the ability to do macro, normal and some zoom.

I know very little about lenses and what they are used for.

So, folks recommend me a basic beginner (but quality) setup.

[spitzu]

If you're going to go the DSLR route you'll have to do some reading. I started off with this site: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

You can get a used DSLR for a few hundred bucks. I'm using the Canon T1i, which is kind of outdated since there is a T3i now, but it works okay. New I think it sells for 600-700?

The kit lens (18-55) that comes with the T1i is pretty good. I would recommend using whatever comes with your camera for a while before jumping into other lenses, because lenses are expensive!

I took these two with my 60mm macro yesterday. You can "zoom" in pretty far with a good lens which is fun for general macro photography, but not very useful when trying to sell a snake. I bought this macro lens for its ability to take crisp pictures, not to be able to take pics of individual scales. So to take pictures like this first one where most of the snake is in focus, you either need to be right above the snake looking straight down, or you have to stop down the aperture quite a bit which requires a LOT of light. You could mess around with the ISO setting to minimize the extra light needed, but that adds noise to the photos. You could also slow the shutter speed in allow more light in, but that could require a tripod. That is also not an easy thing to do since most snakes don't like to sit still for pictures.

[schrammalot]

Check stores that are going out of business, too. I got my Pentax K110D (PERFECT camera for beginners) for $199 with the 18-55 lens. I picked up a 55-300 lens from KEH used department for $40.