Wildlife Camera

[kargen 0]

The most important thing to consider with a digital camera that will be used for birds and wildlife is the delay. I have a Sony digital camera that has a delay between when I push the button and when it actually records the photo. Actually my brother has it now as it didn't do what I needed. Does everything he needs though. With birds in particular delay could cause you to miss the shot.

Birds add another problem to most digital cameras. THe camera may focus on a piece of branch in front of the bird or bushes may confuse the camera so it is difficult to focus on the bird. Some digital cameras have several focus modes and you can usually make one of them work, but if you can get a camera with manual focus override that is even better.

Others have mentined the zooms. Only consider the optical zoom and not the digital zoom. There is software available that will let you crop in on your photo doing the same thing the digital zoom would and the programs are able to do a better job.

The digital cameras I use now all have interchangable lenses. If you can this is the way to go. THere are a lot of lenses available and digital cameras are getting the feel of 35mm cameras more and more every day. Being able to add lenses as you go is much better than having to get a whole new camera when you want to upgrade.

[Sean Juan 0]

Thanks for the advice guys - theres a whole lot more to it than I realized, especially the part about the delay that makes a lot of sense.

 

I am getting a bit distressed that nearly everything I buy comes from Cabela's - it shouldn't be the first store you think of for camera's but yet it was...I'll head out to a real camera store and see what the camera dude has to say.

[Graham 0]

Hey Sean Juan,

 

There are a number of things that cause delay, starting with how long it takes your camera to power up, how long it takes the lens takes to focus, how long it takes to write the info onto the memory card, etc. Some cameras can turn on in less then a 1/10th sec, internal-focus f/2.8 lenses are super fast to lock on focus because wide apertures can let in a lot of light quickly, some cameras have memory buffers allowing for at least several frames per second shooting, providing continuous rapid fire shooting. And the technology continues to improve at a brisk pace. I just learned that Nikon is about to introduce a new 10.2 MP camera onto the market, costing significantly less than I paid for mine. Seems that whatever camera you buy, it wont take long until better units are available at lower prices, just like computers.