wrote:
Greetings, all. I've been offered the gift of any digital camera (as
much under $1,000- as possible). Main needs for me as a birder seem to
be:
- maximum optical zoom
- Mac-compatibility
- maximum pic-storage
- maximum battery life
- shake-reduction
What models would you recommend that would cover these needs?
And what else should I be looking for?
Thanks.
Judith.
Judith,
If the camera is to be used for general use as well as birds - eg.
landscapes - a 28 mm equivalent is useful as it saves you walking
backwards into the lake while trying to fit everything in. I doubt
whether many cameras in the middle price range have more than about 160
mm equivalent - 300 is more common for birds, and Anthea and I use 500
(35 mm SLRs) Electronic zoom is apparently not worth it - not for your
purposes. LCD viewfinders are just about useless in bright sunlight, so
you will need an optical one, although I have seen a suggestion that a
magnifying slide viewer can be used over the LCD one. I must investigate
this for my own digital camera.
No worries with MAC compatability - the down-load cable has USB end
Pic storage - get a 512 card as well as the standard 128. (or a couple
if you can't download them on a long trip)
Battery life - some models will take AA batteries as well as the OEM
rechargable (mine does, but the one I bought for grand-daughter - same
maker, longer zoom, MUCH cheaper, being a year down the track, doesn't;
this may have something to do with the lower price).
No thoughts about shake reduction, but we have both used 500 mm mirror
lenses hand held.
Most nowadays have very quick focus and shutter response times; I don't
know if any enable pre-focussing on a suitable twig
Brian Fleming
Melbourne
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|