What camera?

[flytie]

Dear all, I am thinking of purchasing a camera for using while I am stalking, and would love to know what all of you think is the best value camera on the market?

Our family camera has just died, a lumix, nothing to do with me this time!! I did kill the previous two by wading too deep while sea trout fishing and submerging them, but this one is not my fault, honest.

There are some wonderful photographs published on this site, and I am frankly quite useless with cameras and need all the help I can get

Regards, ft

 

[mereside]

hi flytie it all depends on what you want to do really if you want different lenses or you just want a compact to take along i have a nikon coolpix 12million pixel which is very easy to use which is what the wife wanted but i take stalking as its small and light i confess i am still in the dark ages as i do it the old way still in film but i find carrying a big camera and lens a pain and really just need to stalk with a camera ,wayne

 

[liamnjs]

If you are after something compact to take stalking I would recommend a Lumix DMC-FT2. It is very tough- waterproof, shockproof, 14.1 megapixels and has all sorts of settings I don't understand. I value toughness above picture quality, but even I have managed to take some lovely pictures with this. I will put some up when I get home.

 

[flytie]

If you are after something compact to take stalking I would recommend a Lumix DMC-FT2. It is very tough- waterproof, shockproof, 14.1 megapixels and has all sorts of settings I don't understand. I value toughness above picture quality, but even I have managed to take some lovely pictures with this. I will put some up when I get home.

Sounds like my kind of camera Liam! Thanks

ft

 

[Weather Witch]

Lumix is a good choice.

 

[norseman]

http://www.buyacamera.co.uk/xsearch...mju8000&pt=g&gclid=CL6cuOKo-KQCFUsB4wodrBVdiA

Olympus U Tough, great camera and always in my pocket. I've taken pictures underwater with in and no longer worry about keeping it in a waterproof case, just one of the crumpler neoprene ones

 

[BigTikka]

First thing to get sorted out before you venture into buying a camera is to know what you're going to take pics off and know what you are going to do with them. This might sound daft but if you're going to be going out looking for photos of deer that are 50+yards away and intend getting the shots printed to 18"x12" then you are not going to get great results with an average compact, even if it has got 14 mega pixels or higher. For these kinds of shots you will need to have some pretty expensive gear, including decent long lenses.
If you want to take decent record shots of the day with the odd scenic as well and have them printed at up to 10"x8" then just about any branded compact will do a decent job. Don't be drawn towards the one with the biggest pixel count. In the world of compacts the more pixels there are on the sensor the more digital noise they generate when trying to get shots in bad light conditions (generally the dawn/dusk light we tend to be out in).
Waterproof is good, but not absolutely essential. If you have a decent inside pocket in your jacket it should keep the camera well enough protected.

What to get then?
Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus are all good brands to pick from. Don't spend more than a couple of hundred quid, because as a beginner you will not get the use out of many of the more expensive camera's extra features, and by the time you have grown out of the entry level camera there will be much better ones available for much less than the more expensive ones at the moment.
Make sure that, whatever one you get, it runs on a rechargeable battery and not AA's or AAA's.
I find that I tend to take deer photos when I'm out with the camera looking for deer photos and not stalking to kill. When I'm stalking I tend to take stalking photos and leave the wildlife stuff alone, simply because doing both compromises both

Anyway, hope some of this helps you

 

[limulus]

TZ10 Lumix, beats lugging around the Canon kit so you tend to take more photographs.

 

[flytie]

TZ10 Lumix, beats lugging around the Canon kit so you tend to take more photographs.

Limulus, I would be unlikely to buy another lumix when ours has just died after less than two years and very little use

ft

 

[jimbo123p]

I see lidl has the finpix on offfer this coming week at £80. Mine is the older model but there is little difference to my canon and it does not do video.
Jim