Camera Suggestions

[bowz]

I've never owned a digital camera and i'm in the market for one now before hunting season comes in. I wish I would have had one the last few years with all the time I spend in the woods. I'm looking to spend $500 dollars or less and get the best bang for my buck. I want a camera that takes decent pictures and that I can actually see the deer in the photo if it's a little ways away when the picture was taken. I'm hoping to get one that has 10x optical zoom or greater and i'm not really sure on how many megapixals I really need. I probably will never have any pictures developed that are larger then 8X10. The camera will be used for mostly hunting, kids, and vacations.

Thanks for any info you could provide. I don't know much about digital camera's except for the little i've read so far. Here's a couple i've been looking at, just a little confused trying to pick one. I read the reviews and am trying to find out more about these and open to any camera suggestions. I'm still trying to figure out what alot of the specifications mean on the descriptions of the camera's.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Pana...nic_dmcfz30.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Pana...onic_dmcfz5.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Olympus/oly_c770uz.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_s2is.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydsch1/

 

[Lan-Lord]

Hey bowz, welcome to Jesses.

Ive never used or owned one, but I've seen impressive results from the panasonics. (fz series) Their vitals sound good too, leica lens, Image stabilization, 12x power, etc.. and I think they are right at $499.

Ive even seen people add a 1.7x telephoto to them for a little extra reach

 

[Lan-Lord]

have heard and seen good results from the canon S2 IS also.

 

[gil850]

You're on the right track with each of those cameras - you'd probably be happy with any of them. I agree with lan-lord and would put the S2IS and the panasonics at the top of the list. The IS means Image stabilized and it will make a picture tack sharp even if your hands are shaky which is a nice feature. I think the panasonics may have some sort of IS too - not sure though.

Gil

 

[bowz]

I've found two camera's that I can buy for about the same cost and there is very little difference between the two. My wife put her foot down today so I cant' spend as much as i'd like for a new camera at the moment. Here's a link between the two i'm thinking about buying one of. I notice that one doesn't have a manual focus, could that be a problem when taking pictures of deer at farther ranges? Other then that I don't see a huge difference between these two camera's and the price difference is about 30 dollars. Would a few of you camera guru's give me a little advice. I appreciate the replies so far, i'm still trying to do more research before I make my final decision and buy one. Deer season comes in Saturday so I plan on ordering something monday.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/compare_po...mcfz20&show=all

 

[RtWill78]

I really like our Olympus C-750, I bought it after seeing the pictures that OhioBowhunter (Dan) took from stand with his, so do a search and check them out. The camera itself has a 10X OPTICAL Zoom. It's worth checking out, plus I think that now they are closer to $400 (I paid $500) so you could save a $100 bucks.

 

[gil850]

bowz,
The manual focus of the FZ20 is an advantage. There are times (not often, but there are times) when the Auto Focus gets confused and can't find a focus point. If this happens, all you'll end up with is a completely blurred photo, so being able to focus manually if needed will make sure that you don't miss shots. The FZ20 also has a better lens - it'll perform better in low light at the long zoom than the FZ5. Don't get me wrong, both cameras will perform and give great results, but the FZ20 is a little bit more $ for a reason - it has some slightly better characteristics.

Gil

 

[Calpos]

Bowz,
I'm not an expert on digitals by any stretch, so take all of my suggestions as just that, suggestions....

This month's Consumer Reports did a review of digital cameras. (They do it about once every 6-8 months it seems, since the market changes so rapidly.) I find that Consumer Reports is a good magazine to get you to really think about what you want in a product, though I don't always agree with their product rankings.

One of my biggest considerations in getting a camera was to have a good optical zoom. The Panasonics, the C-series Olympus, and certain Canons have very good optical zooms.

Another consideration was my desire to stay away from rechargeable LiIon batteries. They're usually specific to a certain camera, and they're pretty $$$. You'll need at least one more than you'll get with your camera. Otherwise, you'll be sitting in your truck or hotel room, waiting for your charger to recharge your camera's only battery. Now, that said, it's getting more and more difficult to find good digital cams that'll use rechargeable AAs.

My cameras are 1) my original Olympus C-720, which was good in its day and is now my "leave it in the truck, take it to the job site" camera, and 2) a remanufactured Oly C-740. I considered the C-750, but I really wanted to stick with AA batteries, so I didn't upgrade to the C-750 level.

Another issue you need to consider is the media the camera stores to. My C-720 uses SmartMedia cards, which are antiques in the industry it seems. My C-740 uses xD cards. Consider your media format when you choose a camera -- you'll prefer one that's non-proprietary and used by several manufacturers.

If you are considering an Olympus, you might want to check on eBay. OlympusAuctions is the Olympus corporate seller of remanufactured Oly cameras. They sell them with a 6 months warranty, and they usually sell well below retail. Plus, you can by extended warranties for them if you like.
Hope this helps, and happy hunting,
Brian

 

[bowz]

Thank you all for your input, I ordered a Panasonic DMC-FZ5 camera this week and should have it Thursday or Friday. Was going to go with the FZ20 but I bought a 1 gig card and a back up battery (this is why I almost chose a different camera). My wife set my price limit and would have killed me if I would have spent too much, have to keep her happy because she doesn't complain about all my hours hunting. I'm going to start trying to figure out the camera this weekend while in the treestand. I hope the manual isn't like reading a tech report and it's gonna take me the rest of the year to half way figure out what i'm doing with the camera.

Thanks again for all your input, hope to start posting some pictures soon.

 

[RuddyDuks]

I am very happy with my FZ-3 . Here are a couple of pictures taken with it.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/16578Picture_1356-med.jpg[/img] ]My Webpage://http://www.jesseshunting.com/photop...g] ]My Webpage

http://www.jesseshunting.com/photopost/data/500/16578Picture_13381-med.jpg[/img] ]My Webpage://http://www.jesseshunting.com/photop...mg] ]My Webpage