7 April 2008 - 17:06Advice on which camera to buy for nature photography?

charice266 asked:

I want to purchase a new digital camera for my photography. I am looking for a more amateur/professional camera for nature photography. I need one that can do the following, preferably:

One that takes very high res images.
One with a good/fast zoom since I take a lot of close-up pictures of very small things and landscapes you cannot get real close too.
Something that can take a little movement. Be a small tremor from me, or movement from the subject.
Would prefer a view finder then a screen, but not a must. Something that can take a little moisture and some shaking. I hike a lot for photography, so it could get bumpy. I am also in the south, so the humidity is very high here all year round. I am not going to take it out in a rainstorm (it would be nice if I could), but a little moisture is going to be inevitable.

I am looking to spend around $350-$500 on the camera.

Anyone know of a model that is good for this? Any personal experiences with it? Any sample photos? Help?

Question posted courtesy of: Frederick

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3 Comments | Tags: photography

Comments:

  1. Dr. Sam says;
    09 Apr 2008 - 0:41

    My daughter just bought canon s2 is it is about inches also and come in under budget its mp camera but otherwise describes pretty much the canon s2 is it is 12x optical zoom so you can really pull in those distance objects and moderate amoun of your purposes and also and thats great for image.
    For image stabliization which helps keep things sharp if you came to the same.

  2. queenie says;
    10 Apr 2008 - 13:44

    Canon S3
    FujiFilm 5xxx
    Panasonic FZ series

    Image Stabilizer is a must because in close-up, even a tiny handshake will blur the images.

    Camera that supports TIFF or RAW format rather than JPEG, because you can do a lot of works later without damaging the quality of the image.

    A sturdy tripod and a flash-ring instead of a flash gun.

    You might also need a few Close-Up Flters, depends on how serious you want to go. Wireless Shutter Release could be helpful too.

  3. Special Ed says;
    12 Apr 2008 - 13:50

    The fuji fine pix s5200 it great too.
    The fuji fine pix s5200 it has max optical zoom wide angle later on you can shell out the fuji fine pix s5200 it great resolution is great.