[jward]

Hello all,

Is it worth me buying this camera for bird shots? I am new to camera's (other than point/click), but have been birding for a few years. I was aiming for the 300D, but am afraid that I will need two lenses (ie, two expenditures) to cover my love of both fungi and birds. Do you recommend the S1 IS or should I simply buck up and get the 300D?

jw

[stevo]

Hi Jw

I would go for the 300d & then buy a short zoom lens with macro capability like say a 300mm Sigma you can always add a teleconverter latter if you feel you haven`t got enough reach.

Regards Steve.

[Scrums]

Hi jw

Go for the 300d by all means, a lot of us have - with no complaints......But try to avoid the 'kit' (18-55) lens that can come with it - it's OK, but made specifically for that camera, probably won't take a teleconverter and has virtually no resale value should it become redundant for you.

Better buy a body only and the lens that's most importsnt, focally to you - then save up for the next one.

Regards,

Chris.

[rka]

The Canon S1 IS is tremendous value. Also you should take a look at the Panasonic FZ20 and the recently released Nikon Coolpix 8800.

The advantage of these cameras over DSLRs are:

1) Portability
2) Price

However note that nothing beats a DSLR for:

1) Shooting with high ISO
2) Image quality (much larger CCD)

The FZ20 has a list price of US$600 and for that you get:

12X F2.6 Zoom Lens
Manual Focus Ring

Good recipe for birding.

rka

[jward]

Thanks everyone! I'm now leaning towards the fz20 because of the 12x IS zoom. That will be 600+usd. The 300D will be at least 800, plus macro lens, plus zoom lens. That will blow my budget too quickly. I'm trying to get to a camera store, but in the US, things are out of control! There's no way to get to a quality camera store, because they've all been "Walmart-ized"...