Wildlife Camera

[paulchandler6]

Hi, I am after a camera for general wildlife photography.......birds, insects, plants, closeups (macro) etc A friend of mine has just bought a Fuji Finepix S700 and is raving about it so I guess something similar would be good. Please advise. Cheers

[Deer Hunter]

The camera you mention is a nice little camera and I'm sure you would get some good pic with it, however its got limitations.
If you want to do some serious wildlife photography then you should be looking at a DSLR that is capable of taking a wide range of lens.
For instance if your passion is photographing deer then a telephoto lens would be useful, if on the other hand you are into butterflies then a macro lens would be ideal. For those scenic shots a wide angle lens is a must.
Sadly the one thing that comes in the way of owning a wide selection of lens is that evil thing MONEY.
There are however lens on the market (sorry can't name them on this site anymore) that will zoom from the wide angle to the telephoto with a macro setting thrown in - look on the net

[HowlinWolf]

Originally Posted by paulchandler6

Hi, I am after a camera for general wildlife photography.......birds, insects, plants, closeups (macro) etc A friend of mine has just bought a Fuji Finepix S700 and is raving about it so I guess something similar would be good. Please advise. Cheers

Although I have no experience with the camera you mention, a versatile all-rounder is a good place to start. Use it to shoot whatever takes your fancy. After a while, you will begin to understand what type of subject interests you most. It's then that you can invest in more specialised equipment to suit your needs.
Unfortunately, there is no panacea lens wise, so again, you'd need to invest in one or more optics to suit your style and needs. As Deer Hunter says, all this costs money, and mistakes in choice can be expensive. There are plenty of contributors to this site who are willing to impart their knowledge and experience. Just ask.

HW

[David Hyde]

Hi Paul
Nothing wrong with FinePix cameras but Deer Hunter is quite right, compact or bridge cameras do have their limitations for the reasons he says. Refurbished DSLRs can be had, with lens, for under 300 squids and I would give them serious consideration. If you go the
s700, or similar, route then bird photography is the tricky one. 300mm is pretty much the minimum requirement; even then you need to get closer than you think to get a reasonable size image in the frame. The s700, at its max zoom, will give you 380mm equivalent so it gets you in with a chance. The image stabilising should help as the camera might struggle in low light to achieve high enough shutter speeds 10x zoom. Check also that the auto-focus will work at 10x in low light.
Heed also HW advice, a single zoom that will 'do everything' will have its limitations. Good luck with your choice, look forward to seeing some pictures.
David

[Interpreter]

Fuji cameras are the best that I have used. If you can get hold of a Fuji S7000 you will be onto a winner. It is not a DSLR, but the results are quite outstanding. I regularly get A1 prints from mine. It leaves my 350D and 5D standing.

Last week, I was passing a camera retailer and picked up their brochure to see what was on the market. What caught my eye was the Olympus SP-550UZ. I have never used this camera, in fact I have never even seen it, but the specification looks very interesting. It is not a DSLR, but:- 18 x zoom (28mm to 504mm equivalent). Dual Image Stabilisation and it will focus down to 1cm in Super Macro mode. It is 7.1Mp. 5000 ISO (It says) and takes XD cards. This company advertise it at £369:99.

Don't make the mistake of buying overkill. i.e. a camera which does much more than you need and then economise by using cheap glass on the front of it.

My personal recommendation would be a pair of Hasselblad H3D cameras. Put a 500mm lens on one and a 38mm lens on the other. This saves changing lenses and keeps dust off the sensors.

[mh68]

A bridge camera like the Fuji you mention would be a good introductory camera. There are plenty of others on the market too such as Panasonics (quite a popular camera on these forums it seems).With the addition of a teleconverter lens (olympus tcon 17 for example, and a raynox macro lens such as the dcr150, you`ll be covered for everything from shooting small birds/distant mammals to macros of small insects and everything in between. Both of these extra items can be purchased for an additional £70 or so if you look around the net.#, so a fairly inexpensive way of getting the maximum versatility.
If you eventually decided to go the DSLR route, the bridge camera would still come in handy for macro work,the latter having an advantage over DSLRs for their greater depth of field and light weight.

Mark H

[Ambriel]

A DSLR and selection of lenses would certainly get you on the track to some good wildlife photography but you have to remember that they're going to be heavy to lug around.

A good compromise might be a "bridge" camera such as the Panasonic FZ50. This has many (if not all) of the features of a DSLR except that the lens is fixed. This isn't necessarily a problem as it comes with a 12x optical zoom covering the 35mm equivalent of 35-420mm focal length, which should satisfy most people.

The thing is, the FZ50 is a lot lighter than your DSLR and lenses and so you're more likely to take it with you than if you need to lug a kit bag round with you. Mine lives in a case on my belt most days.

[paulchandler6]

Thanks for all the advice. Cheers

[macro junkie]

get an slr..nikon d40,d50 and canon 400D will do u good.

[billybob99]

I have a kodak dx6490 which i have added a tcon 17 teleconverter which has helped me no ends with distance shots the only downside is its no good close up as you get vignetting
will post some comparison shots later