 Lisa Friedman |
purchase advice/assistance please Hi All! May have to bullet this just to keep withing char. limits so please know I'm not being a rude newbie. Just moved to the most awesome place (top of a mountain in the Blue Ridge chain in VA)for nature of all sorts, need everyones assistance if y'all have time for this. Need to purchase lots of goodies, I started with the Book from this site but while I await delivery.. I know that like medicine, the more information I gather from you folks in the "trenches" using all sorts of gear, the better. Here goes.. * Have a disability it affects both arms and legs so need SL camera to learn on that is either not too heavy or one very well balanced once extra lenses are added. * also need a tripod easy to set up and one useable with a remote (not sure if that is proper name?) * optical zoom lenses for photos of our uninvited resident bear UGO as in U go HOME! mid-range for white tail deer and Pileated Woodpeckers and oh so many other species and sizes of birds and wildlife as well as wildflowers, some gardens planted by former owners and so much more. * would a wide angle lens help or are there combo lenses to help save some cash AND most importantly PLEASE tell me if I've got this wrong... spend as much as I have available and then some on the camera (but no more than 5-7 mp range) and tripod (what is a pan head and will I need one?) themselves, go less expensive with lenses or lens "kits" (what are these exactly?) until we see if I can find ways to work around my disability with this setup as well as trying to set up and learn the digital video camera I was given as a " HOLY COW SHE MADE IT TO SEE 50" (the insurance actuarial was betting I'd never see the south side of 36 LOL) gift. Can I use some of the extra lenses folks gave me for the video on an SL still camera or the color lenses? No tripod for this one Panasonic so good thing I have plenty of time after the sun sets to take courses here and learn from the pros! Any and All replies welcome, even if just for a portion of my massive list of questions....don't say I didn't warn you! LOL.... Lisa in Wild Kingdom
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Jon Close |
I happen to be an actuary in my day job, so a heartfelt congratulations to you on beating the odds!! I assume that you are not looking at DSLRs with large/heavy interchangeable lenses, but the smaller "SLR-style" cameras. For bears at a distance and birds you'll want one with an optical zoom that reaches to 400mm (equivalent). I don't have a specific recommendation, but there are several that are pretty good. The Olympus SP-550UZ is particularly appealing as it is both wider angle (to 28mm equivalent) and long tele (to 500mm equivalent) than any other. Don't have any first hand experience with it, though, so I can't really recommend it over similar cameras like the Canon PowerShot S5 IS (recently replaced the S3 IS), Kodak P712, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50, etc.
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Lisa Friedman |
Jon, Thanks for your time and guess I did not insult your day position, WHEW! Let's just say it was a WC insurer in Florida and leave it at that? Not certain WHAT I am looking for, that's the trouble. How much weight are we talking pount wise and dollar wise Lisa
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