Camera Recommendations

[Phil Lilley]

Hey guys.

My bro-in-law is an avid birder and I want to get him a good, light weight camera this Christmas.

On our trip to Guyana, the zoom feature seemed to be important since we couldn't get real close to the birds. One of the guides had a Canon 20x zoom but said they came out with a 30x zoom recently. Sounds like that might to what a birder needs.

Want to spend about $500, more or less.

Thanks!

[Thom]

Phil:

Nikon has cameras that can be used with a spotting scope which works great. An adapter can be added to the camera and then it can be attached directly to the scope. I use mine often for this purpose but do not have the matching adapter for my Nikon scope.

During trips to Port Aransas and Florida birding areas gave ne a chance to see some of the birders using this method. The big advantage is that the spotting scope and camera can also be used independently.

Using the camera with the scope attached to the tripod gives some great effects without moving the camera as the shudder is pushed. Multiple sequencial shots can be programmed to get birds in flight and taking off and landing.

Thom

[Phil Lilley]

Thanks Thom. We had 4 spotting scopes in the group counting one of the clients and 3 guides. We used our cameras to take pics through the scopes and it worked fine. I used my Optio to even take video.

Barry has a decent scope but doesn't like to take pics through it. He uses a camera now- I just wanted to get him an upgrade.

I will look into the adapter though. That's a route I may take next time.

[flytyer57]

Kodak 26x Zoom for $300

KODAK EASYSHARE Z981 Digital Camera

[Njardar]

Phil,

On thing to keep in mind is that you will be buying into a system, so you may want to look at the price and quality of accessories such as a dedicated flash, lenses and the like. A digital camera body may be obsolete in a few years, but the accessories may not. I bought a Minolta Maxxum a number of years ago and recently purchased a Sony (who bought Minolta) alpha and all my lenses and flash work are 100% compatable.

- Charlie

[Geoff]

They also sell an adapter for about 30 bucks that will fit onto the end of most spotting scopes and telescopes that allow point and shoot digital cameras to connect to them. Cabelas has em for about 30 bucks.

[jdmidwest]

Kodak 26x Zoom for $300

KODAK EASYSHARE Z981 Digital Camera

I would second the Kodak Z Series, I have owned a 915 since back in the summer and been pretty pleased with it in my fishing and hunting bag. Decent zoom, video, good in camera processing, AA battery powered, cheap and kinda small. But, for a serious photo, go with a Canon Rebel or better for the best quality photos. Their imaging system is second to none.

[3wt]

If you're interested in birding, I'd spend as little as you can get by with on the body, and spend as much as you can on the lenses. Imaging is gettign so good between the big 2 or 3 that your real limitation, especially for telephoto stuff is gonna be the lenses. Get a package with a simple 50mm or so, and upgrade to a good telephoto (I don't think variable "zoom" lenses are generally as good as a fixed length.) To do this you'll probably exceed your budget unless you can do the spotting scope thing. Or look around at used stuff. Canon and Nikon are probably the best bets as they are common and the potential of decent used accessories should be a little higher.

I assume we're all talking dSLR's here. I wouldn't try to take long range wildlife shots with anything that takes 2 seconds to actually engage the shutter.

[Geoff]

I assume we're all talking dSLR's here. I wouldn't try to take long range wildlife shots with anything that takes 2 seconds to actually engage the shutter.

With the budget he had listed in the first post, he's not going to be able to get a DSLR and a worthwhile birding lens. He'd need to go closer to double or triple his buidget

[ness]

For birding, the ability to get close in is the most important thing -- which means a big lens or big zoom. But shopping based on zoom ratio alone is a little risky. You can pretty much assume that the image quality (sharpness, etc.) will decline the greater the zoom range. There's always a trade off -- it's in the physics. It's fuzzy big bird or sharp small bird. You can crop away and make the sharp bird bigger. But fuzzy is fuzzy. It may make sense to go with something with a little more modest zoom range, but with a better image quality overall.

DPReview did a review of 'super-zooms' which you might find helpful. It's a bit dated, but it would be a fair assumption that the current models would share the genetics of the earlier ones. If nothing else, it will get you familiar with the things to look for. Here's a link