If like me you find the cost of a Digital SLR off-putting, you can get
into digital photography with a "super zoom" digital compact camera.
While *not* a substitute for an SLR, there is much to be said for having
a long lens (~430mm) in a small, very portable camera.
I opted to get a Canon Powershot S2 IS: image stabiliser, 5 megapixel,
12x optical zoom lens (36-432mm equivalent in 35mm terms.) A friend
and fellow birder opted for the Panasonic DMC-FZ20, which has very
similar specifications. Both have an optional 1.5x teleconverter,
pushing the zoom capability up to 648mm (equivalent); I've yet to try
this.
The key advantage of digital photography - regardless of camera - is
there is no cost penalty for taking a photo. If you are not sure if
the photo will turn out, take it any way and see what happens. If it
doesn't work, just delete the image(s) - no more counting frames in
approx. $1 increments. Digital cameras also often have a video mode
(the S2 IS offers up to 640x480 30fps, limited only by your memory
card capacity), which may be invaluable to capturing the jizz (and
possibly call) of a rarity.
All of my photos on the Canberra Ornithologists Group photo gallery were
taken (handheld) with the Canon S2 IS, scaled and/or cropped from the
original "large" (5MP), "super fine" (minimum compression) JPEG image:
http://photogallery.canberrabirds.org.au
--
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Paul Taylor Veni, vidi, tici -
I came, I saw, I ticked.
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