Compact or DSLR

[Amoli]

I am looking at buying a good camera for my holiday in December.... is there one you would suggest for a beginner with add-ons later. :?

I would use it solely for nature and distant objects.
I will have no income from it - it will be sheer hobby used.
I would like to add lenses as I get to know the camera.
I am not looking at the most expensive one - :(
Can a person buy a second hand one without it having hidden problems.

I have a bit of 'mik and druk' experience (since 1965) and a bit of digital 'mik and druk' - and think it's time to graduate to above.

Thanks.

[Flutterby]

Amoli I'm not that a big boffin on cameras............but a few years ago I got the same longing and the mik and druk just did not do it for me any more...........I started with the then "new" on the market Canon EOS 1000 which was a very nice beginning for me ( as I still had to learn a lot of all these technical stuff ) .........it had that nice safety net called sports for all those cheetah kills!!! (hahahaha) and the normal landscape and portrait etc..........at that stage money was a problem ( actually it still is!!!) so I settled for a Sigma zoom lens ( 150 - 500).......... now I could "see" that leopard in the tree 750 miles away ( ok that is a bit mellow dramatic!!!)

Shop ( the one with the eyes and not the purse) a bit round on the internet...........most of the camera sites have some nice specials from time to time with bundles where you get a nice camera and lens for not that much........I try and stay away from the pink shop...........the guy in the camera department don't always now the stuff I want answers on!!!!

[PRWIN]

Amoli

Mik and druk you get some good ones now with a good zoom. I just bought one for the lo with a 30x zoom .In planeenglish that is a 720mm zoom lense. You only get a 800mm zoom on the interchangable lenses ,then you have to robe 2 banks not one.

The one I bought only problem is the start up time to focus .For quick photo,s of birds in flight ,this is a no no.

All I can say look at a Canon or Nikon in the d series. A good place to look for second hand camara's and lenses is here http://www.outdoorphoto.co.za/classifieds/ .Good luck and enjoy.

[dup]

Hi to all the persons who know more than me. :mrgreen:
I am also part of the" mik and druk "gang,thinking of up grading to fujifilm fine pix h s 20 16 MP 30x optical zoom lens. We have lots of good results with this camera s brother finepix S 5700.
Please any advice more than sales talk would be appreciated.

[Sprocky]

30x optical zoom???

That is a decent range, but you will need to have rigor mortis to stabilise it. If you as much as breathe it will be too much, as it is a very "slow" lens. In good light it could work with some practice, but then I don't think you will use the full zoom very much.

[PRWIN]

Hi Dup

Just bought the fujifilm fine pix h s 20 16 MP 30x optical zoom lens for the Lo and have been testing it out.

All I found which upset me is that at the moment adobe cs5 and coral paintshop pro x3 have not caught up to the raf file yet. The raf file is the raw file, so if you going to shot in jpeg no problem.

2ndly when shooting in a large file format and on multi shot it takes a while to down load to the card before you can take a photo again, maybe it's the card I'm using don,t know.

Also what I found on bird photography is the start up time , that is the focus time when focusing for the first time is a bit slow , you end up having to look for the bird again when in flight ,but don't be disharted there is ways of getting around this. But once the focus is in the area of the bird it is quite quick

Here is a shot taken by me of a black shoulderd kite.



Just remember it not the same as a DSLR camara.

[dup]

Thanks again, but got problems submitting my discussion on your answers.
Lets try again;
both confirm that focus could be a problem but could or will be overcome with practice.
It brings me back to the thinking proses. I want a camera that gives me just
that bit more than just a mik and druk.Further it (the camera)must help with some of the settings/"things" during" bok koors(jitters) "

[PRWIN]

Hi Dup

The thing that realy stood out for me was the price and the zoom. Also it is said it can take shots of a Malachite in a dive ,now that must be quick as there are only a few DSLR that can do that and a cheetah in full sprint.

Only way I can see that is on program mode , there are 3 types and on a much smaller file size maybe mid or small. The functions on the camera are veary user friendly where you can video and take a photo at the same time.

Conclude if you want to stay by mik and druk and price wise with all the cmos and zoom size ,not a bad bet.

[Peter Betts]

Agree with what the folks are saying here but there comes a time when you want to utilise apps more like a faster start time etc then you need to look at DSLR and for Wildlife you are probably looking at Canon and Nikon with their larger choice of long lenses...the most important part of a photographers arsenal ...NOT a Large Megapixel camera..thatsa myth..anything more than 12 is a waste and you pick up more noise and colour gradations are not as good as large big spread out pixels on a sensor

Cards are also important and here bigger/faster is BETTER..whats the point of having a camera with a RAW buffer of 48 rattling off at 9FPS asanexample and you have a card that only reads 30 MB per second when it should be 3 times that speed to help avoid waiting while the action unfolds and you cant take pics.

[PRWIN]

Peter

I think the fuji has a card issue ,where do you see the speed. I know it was not the best I could have got??