Would this camera/lens combo be sufficient?

[Mattyice008]

I am a college student on a budget, but really want to get into taking some nice pictures of corals, mainly macro shots so I can finally start selling corals online with decent pics.

After cruising the forums, and amazon, I was wondering what your guys' thoughts on these are:

Nikon D60 body, with either the lense in the third thread, or possibly this one that I found on ebay?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-D60-A...Kit-w-18-55mm-Zoom-and-55-200mm-/221890803679

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-DSLR-Ca...UTF8&qid=1443024441&sr=8-4&keywords=nikon+d60

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...r=8-9&keywords=nikon+d60+lense&condition=used


Or instead, maybe the D3200?
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D3200-D...d=1443025728&sr=8-1&keywords=Nikon+D3200+body

With a lens like..
Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP AF/MF 1:1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00021EE4U/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Let me know your thoughts! my budget is really only around $300-400, which is why I'm leaning towards the D60 with a cheaper lens

 

[pgravis]

I've used a Nikon d200 with a nice 1.8 lens (granted it wasn't a macro) and a canon g12 (current models are called a 17 or 18) and I have gotten really good results from the canon. It's a point and shoot with full dslr controls. A used one is definitely in your price range. I do think canon makes a better point and shoot than Nikon. I'll link some of my threads to see some samples of the capability of the canon

 

[Tegridy Reef]

I have the canon and a cool thing about them is that u can use Nikon lens with them can't do the other way around cause Nikon is smaller but to the point I bought a used Nikon macro for 150 same situation u r in college kid on a budget so my whole set up didn't cost me to much

 

[Tegridy Reef]

see I can get right up close to it

 

[pgravis]

That's a great photo!

 

[hatfielj]

That tamron 2.8 macro lens is a great lens for macro photography (I use it, but on a full frame camera now). Keep in mind though that on a crop sensor camera (such as the D60), the effective focal length will be closer to 135 (due to 1.5x crop factor). That means you might have to be further way from the subject to get the kind of composition you like. This can be tricky doing top down shots (may require the lens to be well above the water surface). I used that lens on my old D7100 (also crop sensor) and found the focal length to be a bit annoying. I haven't done much macro in awhile and haven't used it on my new full frame body yet, but I suspect I'll enjoy using it more now with a shorter focal length.