I head to Zimbabwe next month for my first African hunt. I have put off buying a digital camera for the last few years because I am much more comfortable with film - and even though an engineer, just plain old tired of learning to use new gadgets. However, it looks like a digital camera is the better choice for such international travel. I would prefer compact, simple, and $200 - $500 so it will not be so painful if stolen. Any recommendations - or warnings? (I am logging off shortly and will check responses tomorrow.)

Thanks for the help.

I bough an Olympus 750 two years ago and I´ve been staisfied. Gadgets aren´t my thing and the Olympus is easy to use and has a X10 optical zoom.

Look at the Panasonic DCM-FZ5 with the 12X zoom. It could be a great camera for you on this trip.It cost about $500.00 plus memory. I just bought a Canon Rebel XT for my trip. This is a real upgrade outfit for the traveling sportsman.

I bought Cannon Powershot A80 last year and am very happy with it, has quite a few bells and whistles but they don't get in the way of it being simple and easy to use out of the box.

gabe

DD,

cewe & I agree on several items and one is the Olympus C765 10X Ultra Zoom (the new "improved" flavor!)

Like you've stated, the reasons are:
1. I WAS digitally challenged,
2. Old-fashioned,
3. Had to make a "digital" move to get with the program.
4. Got tired of spending money on delevoping film.

After several consultations my wife & I agreed that not only for taking trophy photos (I'd have bought something REALLY basic and that would have been a major mistake) there are not only the trophies but panaorama, group, close-ups & animal photos that the 10X zoom added so much more versitility with a menu that most digitally challenged person such as myself can deal with. Net, go for it or similar optical zoom - not digital zoom as it simply adds pixels to a photo.

It was the best single decison we ever made for an Africa Safari and my old stand-by 35mm Leica is now 2nd fiddle and reserved for back-up use.

Make sure you've got two battery packs (one gets charged while you're using the other) and at a minimum 256 mb memory, I use 16mb, 128mb & 256mb cards which are good for hundreds of photos and attempt to down load onto a laptop or desktop and burn a CD.

Your safari will be relived for years from your the photos and a digital camera gives you the opportunity to click away at everything and sort the wheat from the chaff later without cost. For trophy photos take every conceivable angle, pay attention to the sun & shadows, background for horns mixing with tree limbs and twigs, etc, and USE the flash, even in sunlight! It is not uncommon for me to snip 20-25 photos of a trophy pose, with,without the PH, gun, tracker, different angles etc. the digital will make it so-o-o much better and easier!

It's always better to have too many digital photos you can erase than not enough 35mm photos that aren't adequate (you always find out after-the-fact!)

Whew! Glad you asked a guy with no firm opinion!

Have a great time in Zimbabwe next month! I'll be in the Limpopo Valley clicking away with my .375 H&H Winchester Model 70 and our Olympus C765 UZ in June/July!

Unless you're hand carrying your camera back, remember to remove the memory chips and put them on your person or in your carry-on coming home. A friend haqd his camera stolen from checked baggage at Alanta and lost all his safari pictures.

The recently issued Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200 - digital camera is excellent. It is very compact, has 7.2 megapixels for those great landscape vistas that you'll se in Africa, and is priced within your budget at under $400. I've had 3 of these compact Sony cameras (their 4.0 and 5.0 megapixel cameras ) and now this this latest one which is the best. It focuses quickly, is easy to use, and takes the great pictures you want.




Main Features


• shot DSC-P200
• Digital camera
• 7.2 Mpix
• optical zoom: 3 x
• supported memory: Memory Stick
• Memory Stick PRO


The Sony DSC-P200 Cyber-shot digital camera gives you professional quality features in a compact, point-and-shoot design. With a 7.2 Megapixel Super HAD CCD with exclusive Sony technology for superb resolution, sensitivity and clarity, you'll get digital photos that are rich with detail. The Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3X optical zoom lens combines exceptional picture quality and ultra-sleek design.
Other standout features include a large 2-inch LCD monitor with 134K pixels that makes it incredibly easy to frame shots and review pictures. Sony's own Real Imaging Processor LSI provides fast startup, fast shot-to-shot times and extended battery stamina for extended use. It is even compatible with the Cyber-shot Station docking bay (sold separately) for easy picture transfers while you charge your camera's battery.

check a couple of old threads on them in the photo section. I di and ended up with this little minolta that took up less room than a pack of cigarettes, but took a bunch of nice pictures. Mostly because it had automatic settings and I had it along because it was so small

Some people say that you should actually have two cameras on a trip: A small one for quick snaps and a more professional one for the views etc. The X10 zoom is good for the wide open spaces.

I have a small Sony as mentioned above. The great benefit is that it's comfortable in a trouser pocket.



There are three crows in the grass above the oblong corn field. It lasers 450 yds. I suppose a better camera than 5.0 at 3X would show the crows. If it were bigger there would be no picture at all.

I highly recommend the Canon Power Shot S 500 Digital ELPH.

Deacon, you said you are comfortable w/ film, what kind of camera are you using now? You can get a pro or semipro digital body & use your slr lenses. This is really the way to go. I have a pocket digital for snaps but the pro bodies allow action photos & full size flash. Any of the pocket models out around $300 give great results w/ little learning curve.

I followed Saeed's suggestion:

Canon S1 IS.

Smaller than the big guys. Smallest one with 10x analog zoom.
3.5 MPix or so.

Takes great photos. Uses AA batteries, which can be important on long trips to the boonies.

Yowza!

Wow, second time in 2 hours I am going to recommend a camera. I have worked with quite a few here at work and overall I recommend the Casio Exilim. I bought four of them for administrators and they are easy to use, with easy to use software. very compact. good balance of features and magnification/megapixel capacity with size and price. Two of my cousins have them as well because they are such great little cameras.

If you look at them make sure you play with the best shot feature (I think that is the name of it) it lets you do things like take half the picture then move and take the other half. let's say for instance that you and your wife are somewhere by yourselves but really want a picture together for keepsake. You go to that particular BS (best shot) and it shows a divided screen. you take a picture of her in front of the background, then you go stand where you would have been next to her, and she takes the picture. puts them together for you.

Of course I just use it to stick my head on my female coworkers body. I even made a shirt that has my brother's head on my wifes torso to wear to his bachelor party. it was a big hit.

the docking cradle and transfer software are very user friendly.

Red

I ended up getting a Cannon G3 and a 10D Both are excellent though a bit dated now(about 18months ago). There may be much better out by now. Good hunting.

Last year I bought a Canon Powershot S410 and I absolutely love the camera. Because I liked this camera so much I subsequently bought a Canon Digital Rebel and a Canon Optura camcorder. This one compact digital camera sold me on canons. I'd recommend buying a large memory disk, say 1 gig. You should be able to take 500+ high quality pictures on your trip. I use my Powershot S410 for all of my hunting/fishing adventures including chasing hogs through the south texas brush. Very durable as well.

Deacon Dick,

I recommend you work from the printed images you want back to what you use to take them.

For example my wife wants a camera to snap grandkid photos and share them over the Internet with family. She has been using Niken Coolpix cameras for this, and they meet her needs.

I am still shooting film cameras because I need great photo detail and persistent prints. The digital way to do this is getting there, but you need cameras, computers, software and printers. I still have my film processed, printed and the images digitized to a CD-ROM for way cheaper, easier and faster that the all digital answer.

jim

Whatever you do, don't get caught up in the Megapixel thing !!! Practically nobody really needs more than 3.2 although 4 wouldn't be too bad. You only need 7 megapixels if you're going to make poster size prints !!! More pixels means less photos on a memory stick.Besides that, there aren't any printers out there with enough resolution to make use of all those pixels. Look for other features such as lens quality ( Nikon, Leica, Zeiss) and good analog zoom ( something over 3x). You should watch the Best Buy and Staples flyers every Sunday in the newspaper, you should easily be able to get a great camera for under $400. I personally use a Panasonic with a Leica lens. Takes great pictures, has good battery life. The only negative on it is a somewhat weak flash.

bowhuntrlr has it right -- 3.5 Mpixels is pretty damn good. Get at least 3mpixels, then spend your money to get image stabilization instead -- it makes for much sharper pictures than even 2 million pixels.

I bought the Canon S1 IS on Saeed's recommendation, and I am very pleased.

Don't overlook the advantages of a camera that will function on AA bateriers like the Canon S1 IS (get rechargeables, but if you do get caught short you can always buy AA batteries the easiest when travelling).

jpb

I also took Saeeds advice and took the Canon S1 IS to Africa with me and couldn't have been more pleased. Im my opinion the image stabilization if the feature you really need. The fact that it used AA batteries and Kodak makes a heavy duty Digital Camera battery that lasted 8 days before replacement being necessary was a pleasent plus. My whole family now claims it as their own. Get at least one card that will take 256 images and you will have all you need. Good shooting.

Like Savage99 and others have already said, get a compact camera that fits in a shirt pocket. You need it to be just as at-the-ready as your rifle. Believe me, there's something new and exciting 'round every corner. If the big, clunky digi-cam with all the bells and whistles is in its case stowed in your daypack, most of those chances will be missed.

Many of last years' models have been superceded with something new and improved. Digi-cam technology changes very fast. Go to some place like consumer reports.org for the latest info.

You can still pack your present 35mm for pics of all your trophys.

Welcome to AR. This is the greatest site on the Net.
All of the above is very good advice and of course the collective experience is worth any amount of personal research but I suggest you get it ASAP. Your own practical experience with this camera will be the factor that dictates how well you do with the camera when in Africa. BUY IT NOW!, and then start using it daily until you know every detail and button and program as well as you know how to use your rifle. Under field conditions it is easy to overlook a simple adjustment that could make the difference in your photo quality. Learn about backlight adjustments, fill-flash adjustments, flash over-ride, image protection, image transfer, ISO changing. In other words read your manual and then TAKE IT WITH YOU.
Of the above I would make only one suggestion. Rather than only one megagig card take several smaller cards. If any one is damaged you don't lose the entire trip. They are small and easy to store. I number mine and log the info in a little notebook after a day of shooting. Purchase a disk storage wallet to protect the media.
As a final suggestion, don't get caught up concentrating so much on the photography that you forget to enjoy the moment. I have done it many times and caught myself wishing I had spent more time "smelling the roses".
Frank

bowhuntrrl,

I have been looking at the Panasonic FZ series as well. The digital camera (cheapie 4xdigital 5M) I have at the moment was a bit of a wake up call compared to my 35mm slr (Nikon 401X). What I dislike most is the inability to take fast action shots. I did not even consider that a camera could have a delay between hitting the button and taking the picture

How do you find the Panasonic on action shots? How does it compare in handling to a 35mm SLR?

Gerard,

ALL small digital cameras have at least some delay between pressing the button and the picture taken.

You can lessen the effect of this quite a bit, but partially pressing teh button, and when you see it had focuses, press it again.

Digital SLRs do not have this problem.

Some of you might enjoy these photoes

I have always enjoyed taking photos on our hunts, but seem to enjoy it a lot more with digital cameras.