I am taking up photography as my new hobby.
Last autumn I tried taking some photos (on my mobile) of falling leaves but without success. Can someone please give me advice on what kind of camera I would need to capture the falling leaves or do I really need some special equipment? My price range to start out with is around £250. If I could get a camera to start out with that could also take that shot then that would be best.
I suggest that you start out with a point-and-shoot in the $300 range. Stick to name brands like Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic. I like the models that have both a LCD viewing screen and an eyelevel viewfinder. This is because the eyelevel viewfinder works in bright sunlight. For my last "leafer" trip to New England I kept in my pocket a Panasonic with GPS. I proudly show these images of the leaves.
There is no particular camera or lens suited to capturing falling leaves and exactly what range and lighting you're in greatly influences what is possible.
If you want to try photography using a serious camera then I'd suggest looking at good used equipment dealers like ffordes.com (Scotland), lcegroup.co.uk (many UK locations) or mpb.com (online dealer). I've used all three myself and they rate their gear and you get various levels of warranty with whatever you buy. These, of course, are just the UK dealers I look at regularly.
A basic starter kit would be a used DSLR (too many to mention). If you're OK without movies you can get a used DSLR and 18-55 kit lens for as little as a £100 if you shop around and are patient.
Although they are not as flexible in terms of possible technique you can apply, superzoom bridge cameras can be very good as they offer a relatively small and simple way to get a very large zoom range (which is hard with large sensor cameras like a DSLR). Again look at used models.
It's against site rules to recommend specific products or services, so I'm already out on a limb, but don't get distracted by megapixel counts.
Odds are that a great photograph of a single falling leaf is not actually a photograph of a leaf while it is falling. Most likely it is a photograph of a leaf that looks like it is falling with a camera on a tripod and artificial lighting and similar studio techniques.
Likewise a great shot of many falling leaves probably involves careful analysis of the light, and perhaps supplemental lights under the photographer's control and maybe even an assistant or two with a leaf blower. Sure sometimes a photographer can get lucky. But mostly photographers make great photos by doing a seemingly ridiculous amount of work in addition to whatever luck they have.
A different camera might help. The amount it helps is mostly the degree to which a different camera inspires the photographer to greater effort and more time striving for better photographs. It won't help to the degree that replacing a cell phone with a different camera creates inconveniences that reduce the joy the photographer experiences taking pictures.
A different camera will not eliminate taking pictures and being disappointed with the results. A photographer's expectations will change to match the possibilities that the new camera affords. What a photographer tries will also change. In the end, trying to get great photographs of falling leaves with a cell phone is mostly like trying to get great photographs of falling leaves with the best camera money can buy. It is always a matter of having a vision and executing on that vision...and if that vision involves posting to Instagram a cell phone may be better (and will certainly require less administrative work involving computers and networks).
