Camera for bird and plant pictures (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I look for a digital camera mostly for plant pictures, but also for other wildlife.
I want to have detailed pictures from plants especially fern, also under poor light conditions ( e.g. in the rainforest ).
If have only analog camera Canon EOS 300 with 2 zoom objectivs ( x..70, 70...300 ).
I have also a small digital camera Canon Powershot 620.
But this camera is very unreliable ( very often it do not works ) and the service of Canon is really poor.

So I do not want Canon again, even digital camera could use also the zoom objectivs from the analog camera.

Maybe Nikon F 80 ?

Any suggestions ?

Best regards
Dieter

Why do you say the 620 is unreliable? What does it do when it "does not work"? This type of camera should be pretty good for macro picture taking (i.e. closeups of plants).

Canon 620

Hello,

the Canon Powershot 620 shows the date, time menu, when I switch on.
Setting is not possible, it runs the menu by itself, whitout setting.
I have to switch different programs to get ready to take photo.
With zoom is the same, I have to switch different programs quite often, something the zoom works after it.
Look for the last photo do not works.
I was 4 x in the shop, where I bought this camera.
The Canon service seems very poor.

So I decided never Canon again.



Best regards
Dieter

I cannot really understand what you are saying. Have you read the manual? Your camera may be faulty, but I'm wondering if you have read the instructions.

"I cannot really understand what you are saying. Have you read the manual? Your camera may be faulty, but I'm wondering if you have read the instructions."

Hello,

I used this camera for 4 months and made a lot of pictures.
So You can be sure that I red the instructions and no how handle it.
If basic functionallities do not work ( like zoom ), the camera is faulty.
Buy the way, I am not a beginner of using camera and electronic equippment.
Complex electronic equippment is my daily business.

Best regards
Dieter

Dieter,
Sorry, sometimes it is hard to tell if someone is a beginner, especially when their English isn't too good. I do think that Canon is a good brand, but I suppose I'd dislike them too if my camera died and they were unhelpful.

Most point-and-shoot digital cameras are good for macro photography because most take advantage of their zoom lenses to implement macro functionality. Some allow you to get closer than others, but many allow you to get within a few inches of the object. You could check the specs on dpreview ( http://www.dpreview.com/ ).

A good camera for both birding and macro is the Canon S5IS super-zoom (oops, Canon!). For macro, it allows you to get to a distance of 0 inches - the lens can be right up against the object! It can also be hooked up to a PC (via USB) and operated from the PC screen - change the focus, aperture and shutter settings, etc, and activate the shutter from the PC. VERY handy for macro photography, since you can much better judge focus on the large PC screen. You can also immediately judge your image on the PC (it is stored on your harddrive, not the cameras card).

This PC capacity has been added to the latest Canon DSLRs, the 40D and the XSi.

Camera for birding and plants

Hello,

You are wrong. I have cameras since lots of years. Movies and thousends of pictures, I made with a camcorder since different years.
Buy the way, I do not know Your enviroment. But in normal developed areas the people included school children, learn how to handle basic functions in few minutes. And off course they will find out if something is going wrong.

How I wrote before, never canon again.

Best regards
Dieter

If you want ultimate versatility without going the DSLR route, maybe the Panasonic FZ50 or the Fujifilm s100fs would be the way to go. These cameras have all the extras like built-in hot shoe, tiltable LCD, RAW capability etc etc some of which tend to be omitted from their smaller relatives :
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/com...as=panasonic_dmcfz50,fujifilm_S100FS&show=all
The Fujifilm camera looks particularly promising for plant photography with better native macro than the Panasonic and the promise of better high ISO performance if you insist on available light. Lens is not as fast at telephoto end though, and maybe the ambitious spec might yield problems with focusing and fringing there. Not sure there are any comprehensive reviews of the Fujifilm camera out yet.

albatross02 said:

Hello,

You are wrong. I have cameras since lots of years. Movies and thousends of pictures, I made with a camcorder since different years.

Click to expand...

Yes, I understand that, which is why I said I was sorry for thinking of you as a beginner earlier. You are not a beginner, I was wrong. Sorry.