Digital Camera experience

[Kathleen Moon]

Bruno wrote:
> 
> Good Friday!
> OK you camera buffs, here's a question for you.
> I am interested in your experience and recommendations on using a digital
> camera for capturing photos of Leps. I put out a newsletter in Utah (USA)
> and during our meetings of the Utah Lepidopterists' Society, I have often
> wanted to take pictures of some of the specimens for use in the newsletter
> and also on our website. It seems that this would be a quick and easy way to
> put it into the electronic media.
> So the question is have any of you had experience in this? If so, what
> camera do you recommend for some of those close up photos, etc, etc. This
> camera would also be used for field trips, recording special activities, and
> historical work.

Hello.

What experience I have in this field is not all that impressive, but
here goes anyway.

I once tried to get a picture of what turned out to be a hatchling
Orgyia (tussock moth) caterpillar.  Since this was mostly out of sheer
frustration at getting shots onto disk for use in website work, I
thought this might be the solution.  The result was dismal: the
caterpillar being so small, photographing it with my 35mm film camera
and getting the resulting pictures on disk as well as prints would have
been better, but that option was not available to me at the time (it is
now, and the prices are often reasonable).

Additioially, since you will be taking pictures on trips, the situation
is different.  Let's say you find something relatively rare or otherwise
hard to find.  Who likes to wait for what seems an eternity for a second
chance to find some bug?  My answer is simple - but not very kind :-((
.  Wait until a camera comes on the market with the possibility of using
interchangeable lenses.  Nikon is said to be working on the idea, and,
if Nikon is, can Canon and the rest be far behind?

Pierre A Plauzoles
sphinxangelorum at bigfoot.com (new email address)

[message relayed by my wife, Kathleen Moon]