cameras with telephoto zooms

[fuscia]

any suggestions? since we moved into our house, mrs. fuscia has become a bird freak. here's a typical conversation...

me: that damn bird @#$% on my car.

her: what kind was it?

me: i don't know. it was a bird.

her: well, was it a grackle, a tufted titmouse, a red-heade...

me: it wasn't an eagle and it wasn't a chicken, so, whatever's left...

anyway, she might like a camera with a telephoto zoom. the one we have is about the equivalent of 35-105, so i would like to see if i could find something like a 100-300. it would have to be an optical zoom, not digital, and the cheaper the better.

[KiwiNZ]

Canon 350D or the Nikon D40X are fantastic
I have the Canon with Lens and it takes awesome pics, These are DSLR's but its the best way to go especially for the shots she wants to do

[fuscia]

Canon 350D or the Nikon D40X are fantastic
I have the Canon with Lens and it takes awesome pics, These are DSLR's but its the best way to go especially for the shots she wants to do

do digital SLRs have noisey mirrors in them? just occurred to me that might be a problem taking pics of birds.

[KiwiNZ]

No , you can turn off all sounds , also the Canon is very fast and can take unlimited continious shots , so quickly that the almost look like a movie when you play back .

That is great for wild life shots

[tlink]

I have the canon 400D and I love it (Rebel XTi). Takes superb bird shots

[fuscia]

i'll check those canons. sounds good. thanks.

[Iceni]

I agree. With the Cannon 400D (the replacement for the 350D) i snatched crystal clear pictures of Formula 1 cars doing about 330-340 km/h. That should be enough for any birds:) (The 350 is slightly slower, but more than enough for birds)

I do think you would have to pick up a separate zoom lens for best effect. I believe there are only a cheap ($100-200) or an expensive ($1000-2000) one available for that camera. You can probably find other 3rd-party options. Cheap lenses are not as good of course, but good enough for your wife's use.

*prices translated from Norwegian kroners, I think they are cheaper in the US.

[adamklempner]

If you are not looking for a SLR, I highly recommend the Panasonic Lumix FZ series camera's. These are 12x superzooms, (my FZ-5 has a 36-432 mm equivalent range). I find that it generally takes very good quality photo's. Granted, the shots might not be as clear or free of distortions as a SLR with an expensive telephoto, but for $250 US it sure can't be beat. It has optical image stabilization also.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/483661-REG/Panasonic_DMC_FZ8K_Lumix_DMC_FZ8_Digital_Camera.ht ml

Attached are a few test shots. The building shots were taken with an FZ-3 (3 megapixel), the others with the FZ-5 (5 megapixel). None were cropped, only resized for the web. The bird was 2-3 meters away at 100% zoom, the race car shot was at about 70% zoom, and the building was at full wide angle and full telephoto.

[curuxz]

I just picked up a Samsung pro815 for £250 (in sale but I think you can get em for 320 online)

Its NOT an DSLR, but it is SLR Style (ie looks like one) and has a fixed lens that does 15X optical (largest fixed lens apparently)

details on here: http://www.samsungcamera.co.uk/product/pro_view.asp?prol_uid=540&cat_uid=9

[mcduck]

I recommend the Nikon D40. Not the D40X as while D40X has more megapixels the image quality actually is worse than in the way cheaper D40.. Adding more megapixels while keeping the cell the same size results in more noise in images... Actually after some testing I must say that the D40 even beats the lot more expensive D50 in image quality. :) And it's very small for a SLR so it's nicer to carry it around.

[mips]

No , you can turn off all sounds

I say rubbish. The mirror is mechanical and not a sound you can turn off. Show me a dslr that has a mirror and makes 'NO' sound and I will give you anything you desire :)

[mips]

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1316

SP-560 UZ

[curuxz]

I say rubbish. The mirror is mechanical and not a sound you can turn off. Show me a dslr that has a mirror and makes 'NO' sound and I will give you anything you desire :)



I know of several (admittadly broken) dslr's that make no sound......unfortunately no pictures also :( lol

[Obor]

Well if you want to go the SLR route you'll be fine with the Nikon or Canon entry level cameras but then you add a 70-300mm zoom lens and the cost can go up quite a bit and if you want imigi stabilization/vibration reduction in your lens then it will take some $$.

If you think that digital compact will be enough there is plenty good super zooms around. I had Canon S2 IS and I had some great picture from game reserves. The built in image stabilizer is a big advantage with large zooms. I think the current model is now Canon S5 IS.

Panasonic has also some great superzooms. I think its the DMC FZ series.

It all depends if you thing that the autofocus on compacts is fast enough to capture the action.

[fuscia]

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1316

SP-560 UZ

18x optical zoom? how is that possible?

[Magnes]

All of compact cameras with 18x (and similar) zoom have poor photo quality. All of them have poor photo quality at high ISO. I recommend Fuji s6500fd (also known as s6000fd) - if you don't want a DSLR it's the best choice out there (read reviews and opinions at dpreview.com for example). It's known for very good high ISO performance (for example you could take very good photos at ISO800 and usable at ISO1600). Well, and its very cheap right now. But if you can afford a DSLR it will always be better than any compact camera.
My photos taken with 6500 with additional macro converter: http://flickr.com/photos/tomaszkucza (but there are much better photos from that Fuji on the Internet).

[mips]

18x optical zoom? how is that possible?

The Olympus UZ models are affectionately know as "Uzi's" amongst their owners and are great cameras. Best to read some reviews on them and make up your own mind.

[Bartender]

fuscia -
Do you want a DSLR or a point-and-shoot?
You haven't said, but you did say "cheap as possible". If you go DSLR, you can get a "reasonably" priced body for about $500 to $700. Then you can go shopping for a telephoto lens. A good telephoto lens can cost way more than the body.

I'm pretty happy with our little Olympus SP-500UZ. 10X optical zoom, but no image stabilization. IS is more common now in the high-zoom point-shooters, and should probably be on the list of features you want.

[fuscia]

when i say 'cheap', i mean less than $300usd.

[tigerpants]

Canon 350D or the Nikon D40X are fantastic
I have the Canon with Lens and it takes awesome pics, These are DSLR's but its the best way to go especially for the shots she wants to do

I just bought the Nikon D40x, after alot of testdriving and review reading. It comes with the best kit lense of any DLSR in that price range, and you have Nikon's legendary light metering, which is superior to the Canon by a long way. Minolta make DSLR's via Sony branding now, and also have exceptionally good light metering. The Pentax K10 is also a fantastic DLSR.

Overall, the Nikon takes by far the best images.

[curuxz]

if budget is your game i recommend getting a canon ixus, great pics great camera. fairly good optical. and should be within 300 bucks

[use a name]

For telephoto cams, go with the ones with an image stabilizer. You'll end up with motion blur otherwise. Panasonic has a few very good 10x zoom cams.