help picking a camera (1 Viewer)

Hi all! I am a birder and nature lover. I am an ecology major. Right now, I have a little Canon point and shoot. I want to get something better. Obviously, 3x zoom isn't enough for birds, and it's autofocus always messes up close shots.

I can't decide what camera to get.

I was thinking the Panasonic FZ-18. It has 18x lens, and I am hoping it would do well for close shots. However, pics I have seen online have not really satisfied me, they seem blurry, not sharp at all. It does have IS onboard, though.

Then, we get into SLR's like Nikon and the Digital Rebel. The images I have seen from those cameras are clearer, but, cameras are much more expensive. I could also only afford a 70-300mm lens, with no IS. Is 300mm good enough, even, for birds?

I'm hoping for some advice as to what to do. I admit, these cameras are advanced for me, and I do not understand a lot of the features. I have started reading up, and am going to take a class at the local shop. I would like a camera with these features, to give me room to grow, and more professional features. However, I can't afford to drop 1,000 dollars on a camera, but I don't want blurry images....

Help!!

Any of the super-zooms (e.g. Panasonic FZ-18, Canon S5IS, various Olympus models, etc) should fit the bill for you. If you see any pictures online taken with these cameras that look poor, the fault is with the photographer, not the cameras. I could take blurry pictures with a $5000 camera if I wasn't careful, especially with a big zoom lens!

No, 300mm isn't really enough for birds, unless you are a really good stalker. If you want a fairly reasonable DSLR good for birding, the Olympus DSLRs (especially the E-510) are excellent. With the recently introduced Olympus 70-300mm lens, you have the equivalent of a 600mm lens on a film SLR, which is enough for birds. The E-510 is particularly inexpensive nowadays because it has been out for awhile (yes, it may be being replaced sometime before the end of the year, but if you want one now, it seems like a good time to buy, price-wise).

As RAH stated, blurry pictures are usually the photographer's fault. Taking some time to read up on photography basics, and specifically about bird photography, will help a great deal. Then it's practice, practice, practice.

A camera with the following:
- at least a 400mm lens (and you'll still have to get close to the bird!)
- camera with these modes: aperture priority, shutter priority, manual
- shutter speeds faster than 1/1000 sec
- ISO settings from 100-1200
- a camera that produces clean images at high ISO settings (very important)
- burst mode (the ability to take 3-5 frames per second while holding the shutter release button down)

IS (image stabilization) does not help to stop a moving subject. It reduces very small amounts of camera shake when hand holding the camera, and IS usually has the most impact when using slower shutter speeds. Freezing fast movement in a photograph requires high shutter speeds. Birds move fast!

I agree with CMB's guidelines, except that most super-zooms won't do 3-5 frames/second. For that, you pretty much need to get a DSLR (and also for really low noise with a high ISO).

Check out these pictures recently posted elsewhere on this forum for an example of the fine images a super-zoom (a Panasonic FZ8) can take (and with a teleconverter also being used): http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=111940

These shots are all taken by me with the FZ18:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=FZ18&w=8773601@N03

Hope that helps.