Nikon D40

One additional point about megapixels - if you're at maximum zoom and cannot get physically closer to the subject (physical barriers or the risk of spooking the critter), with high megapixels you can just take the photos, crop out the extraneous scenery as needed, and still wind up with a decent pic of the subject.

Having high MP cameras has helped me out a lot in that regard, particularly with skittish wildlife. I can zoom in, take a few photos from a distance, and gradually move closer as I snap away, knowing that if/when I spook the animal, I'll still have decent photos with a bit of cropping.

Mokele

Yes, zoom and crop is a photographers best friend at certain times.

Originally Posted by Mokele

One additional point about megapixels - if you're at maximum zoom and cannot get physically closer to the subject (physical barriers or the risk of spooking the critter), with high megapixels you can just take the photos, crop out the extraneous scenery as needed, and still wind up with a decent pic of the subject.

Having high MP cameras has helped me out a lot in that regard, particularly with skittish wildlife. I can zoom in, take a few photos from a distance, and gradually move closer as I snap away, knowing that if/when I spook the animal, I'll still have decent photos with a bit of cropping.

Mokele

This has been very helpful for me as well, at least until I get that 500mm lens... someday *sigh*
I'm doing my seasonal work right now... portraits with Santa. It's fun & I love it. The rest of the year I dink around taking photos of various subjects.
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To the OP:
A good lens is what you want on that camera body- be it Nikon or Canon. For reptile photos, a good DSLR camera equipped with a 90mm or 50mm MACRO lens will give great shots of herps. IMHO, The Tamron SP 90mm Macro & the Canon compact-Macro EF 50mm both produce tack-sharp photos... perfect for showing off your reptiles.

If you are looking for an all around lens that will be great for any situation & still give quality Macro shots, the Tamron AF 24-135mm Macro is a wonderful lens... it hardly ever leaves my camera body, even though the first two lenses I mentioned do produce sharper photos.

I shoot Canon & have a 20D, my sister got the Nikon 80D over a year ago... we had the best time going & taking photos together. As a result we were able to compare the results in detail. I found the Nikon to be every bit as good as the Canon for most situations, I preferred the Canon for action shots though & I preferred the multi-point focus on Canon over the D80- but I'm used to it so that could be part of it.

The basics of focus, proper lighting & setting your white-balance will still give most folks great results no matter what camera is used.

Hope this helps- Deb

Originally Posted by NorthernRegius.com

The Tamron SP 90mm Macro

That lens is awesome.
Back when I had a 35mm SLR, I used that lens.
Here is a shot with it.
This is in an aquarium (which is tough) and the print was scanned into a jpeg.
Can't go wrong with that lens IMO.

I love my Sigma 105mm Macro... it gives me a bit more working room so Im not right up in their face.

Technical Details
6.1-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 14 x 19-inch prints
Kit includes 3x 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor lens
2.5-inch LCD with three display options; built-in flash and hot shoe
Fast startup with instant shutter response; shoot at up to 2.5 frames per second
Powered by one rechargeable Li-ion battery EN-EL9 (included); stores images on SD memory cards (memory card not included)
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I have 2 Nikon DSLR cameras and a handful of Nikkor lenses. First off the number of megapixels makes a huge difference, especially when wanting to do macro type photography.

Id reccommend any of Nikons DSLR's to anyone, especially over the comparable canon dslr. Dont get me wrong Canon's are good too, but if your not looking to spend over 1k all of the canons feel like plastic junk in comparison to the nikon stuff.

Some things id reccommend based on personal expierence, the D40 is a good buy but try to find a D50 if you can, or a D70. The reason for this is as previously stated the D40 does not have the internal AF motor. Also many of the newer nikon cameras have been swaying away from the external LCD screen for the exposure settings, which i hate.

They have completely integrated it into the viewing LCD on the back of the camera and i think it attracts too much attention when trying to adjust settings as apposed to the seperate top lcd.

Also many people dont realize that unless the camera (atleast in nikons case) has liveview viewfinder, you are going to have to use the actual viewfinder on the camera to take your photos (all of the older dslr's are like this). So if you want an easier "point and shoot" style DSLR you may want to look at the newer camera bodies.

just my $.02