Hello everyone. I know this kind of question gets asked in a lot of different ways so my apologies for being redundant. Since COVID I have missed going birding with my local club not only because they are cool people but I always learned something from them. Now that I've been birding solo and don't have anyone else there to help ID a bird I often wished that I could have a little camera to take pictures of birds I didn't know so I could look them up later.
Well, a few weeks ago I bought a Lumix ZS70 and let me tell you that this is a really great little camera. I basically just leave it on all the time and I have found a way to hold it in my right hand so that I can still easily help hold my binoculars up mostly with the thumb and index finger. I leave the camera at maximum zoom and have gotten pretty good at quickly sighting things I want to photograph through the viewfinder. (I don't use the LCD screen to take pictures) I can take a lot of photos while walking around and the battery seems to last around three hours or so before I have to swap it for a freshly charged one. More often than not I can get a good enough picture to ID birds far away and I can even get great (well I don't know, great looking to me anyway) pictures if they happen to be rather close. This is only if the light is pretty good of course which leads me to my question.
I like this camera a lot but I am starting to wish that I could just take better pictures of birds farther away and in lower light. I have a little while to still be able to return this and get something else and so I have been reading around a lot checking out my options along with my rather limited budget.
I think that I have found that the best option I can afford is a Nikon D3500 which Adorama is selling with an 18mm-55mm lens and 70mm-300mm lens for just under $600.
What do you think? Should I get this Nikon or forget about it until I can afford something else? Maybe I've completely missed something different that would be better?
Thank you so much for your feedback. I really do appreciate it.
Well, a few weeks ago I bought a Lumix ZS70 and let me tell you that this is a really great little camera. I basically just leave it on all the time and I have found a way to hold it in my right hand so that I can still easily help hold my binoculars up mostly with the thumb and index finger. I leave the camera at maximum zoom and have gotten pretty good at quickly sighting things I want to photograph through the viewfinder. (I don't use the LCD screen to take pictures) I can take a lot of photos while walking around and the battery seems to last around three hours or so before I have to swap it for a freshly charged one. More often than not I can get a good enough picture to ID birds far away and I can even get great (well I don't know, great looking to me anyway) pictures if they happen to be rather close. This is only if the light is pretty good of course which leads me to my question.
I like this camera a lot but I am starting to wish that I could just take better pictures of birds farther away and in lower light. I have a little while to still be able to return this and get something else and so I have been reading around a lot checking out my options along with my rather limited budget.
I think that I have found that the best option I can afford is a Nikon D3500 which Adorama is selling with an 18mm-55mm lens and 70mm-300mm lens for just under $600.
What do you think? Should I get this Nikon or forget about it until I can afford something else? Maybe I've completely missed something different that would be better?
Thank you so much for your feedback. I really do appreciate it.