Much better light today so trying out hand held at ISO 400
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Brightly backlit starling
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Female house sparrow on the roof
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Genuine question for you camera buffs…
Is the Sony A77 and lenses Graham is selling on here any good?
Now that I’m retired, just thought that I might dip my toe into the photography pond…and I know less than fuck all about it, so was wondering if the Sony might be a good intro for a beginner… 
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Down the rabbit hole more like 
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ISO 400 again, I’ll try even lower this afternoon, but I’m possibly getting close to the limit…
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I reckon that will be a cracking set up to get into photography. Great price, great condition, trusted seller, what more could you want.
Also, you’re certainly not going to lose money on it if you lose interest.
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FTFY. Retirement day #2, new hobby #1. Attaboy @Jim.
FWLIW, I wish I could take a decent photograph. Sadly, despite a lot of reading up and a couple of 1/2 courses I am utterly useless with a camera.
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I asked the same question last night. It’s a good camera, but if I were buying afresh I’d definitely get mirrorless rather than SLR.
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Why is that, Adam?
Can you get a decent mirrorless with lenses, etc for 300 notes?
Happy retirement Jim. What sort of photography would you like to try? There’s so many options out there that it’s worth knowing if you simply want a point and shoot camera that takes care of all the settings, or perhaps you really want to get to grips with taking over a camera and using the settings for a desired effect.
You have to also think about which lenses you’ll need for what you want to take and how heavy the system you need will be. The more info you can give us, the more we can help find what will work for you.
The mirrorless ones tend to be smaller, faster to use and do video better. And the new format has led to a surge in new snazzy lenses.
There’s loads of mileage in a second hand DSLR, but I tend to like the latest things…
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I’d say the best reason for someone to choose a mirrorless system over traditional DSLR’s is in most cases the user can see how the shot is going to look. Certainly with exposure unless you’re in to long exposures, but even that is easier with them. No guessing, taking the shot and then having to press display as you would on a DSLR. Makes it much quicker to learn what the settings do as you can view it in real time.
Cheers Rick.
That’s a thought provoking post…truth is I don’t really know what I want, but I do know that I love some of the images that’ve been posted on here lately 
In that case I’d suggest looking at a micro four thirds camera. It’s basically a smaller mirrorless camera system that allows you to use lenses from Olympus, Panasonic and some third party manufacturers. They have all the usual features (plus some more with the Olympus) that other manufacturers have in a smaller package. A lot of former Nikon & Canon DSLR users have switched to it when their systems are getting too heavy to carry around for a day. Image quality is very good. Some people feel the smaller sensor limits the system in low light, but I’ve never had an issue. Resolution is usually 20MP which is fine for most purposes. You can print fairly large before you’d really notice any issues. I have MFT cameras, Sony A7R, Canon 7D & a Fuju 50S so am not suggesting the system from a fanboy POV, though I will admit my favourite camera to use is my Olympus E-M1 mk2 which is simply a joy to handle.
Because the system has been around for over 10 years there are lots of used lenses for sale and cover a wide focal range. When I take my MFT gear out I may have three lenses with me and have a focal full frame of 14mm to 800mm. That’s unheard of with the larger sensor formats. You’d need a lot of money and a large bag for a full frame system with that range!
Anyway, that’s just my suggestion & the reasons why I mentioned it.
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Don’t know what most of that means, but doesn’t sound like £300 Rick…
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I would say Graham’s kit is a great buy, mainly as you will get everything you need to be up and running:
- You will get an idea if you are happy with that size body, and if you want to go DSLR or Mirrorless
- Low investment, if you don’t get on with it its easy to move on
- Mix of a Zoom and Prime lens to see what kind of shooting you want to do
- An all-in-one kit you can play around with without having to buy from multiple places and low research time investment (dodgy ebay sellers etc especially at the budget end of the market)
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You know the rules when a budget is mentioned!