Digital Camera for butterfly photography and a sighting

Roy Zartarian royz at royzartarian.com
Sat Apr 21 20:27:37 EDT 2007


I'm surprised no one's addressed this.

You can find a good introduction to the various categories of digital
cameras at Phil Greenspun's photo.net.  Take a look at:
http://www.photo.net/equipment/best-digital-camera/


Some random thoughts:
I would suggest you look at some different models at a real camera store
where the staff behind the counter know something about the products they
carry.  My experience at the big box electronic stores is that the sales
people are most familiar with the commission they get for selling an
extended protection plan.
For close-up lep shooting, you will find that a swing-out LCD panel is a
very useful feature.
Try a couple of models focusing on something small like a quarter about two
or three feet away to simulate photographing a butterfly.  Of course, the
test isn't completely realistic.  Viewing conditions inside a store are far
different from being outdoors with the sunlight falling on the LCD viewing
panel.
Consider the power source.  A proprietary battery pack may have an advantage
in terms of the number of shots from a full charge, but AA batteries can be
readily found anywhere.
Consider the post-exposure processing you may have to do.  The smaller, less
expensive cameras produce images only in the jpg format.  That format is
readily read by any number of computer applications, but manipulation of the
file (resizing, e.g.) and repeated re-saving will cause a degradation in the
image.

That said, I will note that after last year's season ended I decided I
wanted a digital camera more easily carried that a Canon SLR with a heavy
Leica manual focus macro lens attached with an adapter.  So I acquired a
Canon A630 which now goes almost everywhere with me.  But I'm still waiting
to try it on a nectaring lep.

Perhaps Clay Taylor will weigh in on this topic.  He did  a program on using
digital point-and-shoot cameras at a CBA field day a couple of years ago.

Oh - the sighting:
>From Newington, a total of 7 Cabbage Whites - 4 at the Young Farm, 3 seen in
the course of the day's local activities.

Roy


On 4/20/07, Linda& Jeff Ives <skytuc at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi,
> What should I look for when purchasing a digital camera if I want to be
> able to zoom in on butterflies?  I can't remember the term or spec I am
> looking for and what degree ... is it optical zoom?  digital zoom?  and what
> X?  I'd appreciate any help I could get on this.
> Thank you!
> Linda
>
>
>
>
>
>
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