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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kelvinyam" data-source="post: 1229007" data-attributes="member: 66568">I always like nature photography, be it in the zoo or in the wild, although I have no luck in getting any good bird shot in the wild.I have been using Canon S3IS for almost a year. It's a very good camera in doing landscape, macro and still due to the wide DOF and in-camera sharpness. Shooting bird sitting still inside a zoo or bird park is easy and the result is good. However when I try BIF, it fails me. The focus system is simply not fast enough to lock on before the bird fly pass my EVF. The noise with S3IS is driving me crazy, even at ISO80. Any minor curve or level adjustment will result terrible jpeg artifacts.This year February I bought an Alpha 200. Match it with a Sigma APO 70-300mm and I'm getting a lot of keeper on BIF. The focus is so fast that it lock on to the subject in a fraction of a second. A200 may be having a same 3 FPS burst speed as S3IS, but the experience is totally different due to the much faster focusing and locking system.Noise is extremely low on A200, at ISO200, the noise is barely visible. Even at ISO400, it's almost equivalent to ISO80 on S3IS.I paid a total of RM2600 for A200 + kit + Sigma APO 70-300mm, while I paid RM1500 for S3IS (later model S5IS is being sold around this price too). Although the DSLR package is RM900 more expensive than S3IS with the same focal length of 450mm (35mm equivalent), I strongly suggest going for the DSLR package if you are serious with wildlife birding photography.I have never used FZ18 before and I do not know how it performs. But as long as the sensor size remains at 1/2.5", I doubt the noise can be well controlled at ISO400 or higher, which is always required to freeze the moment especially BIF. Anyway this is my assumption and I could be wrong.</blockquote>

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