I hope all you guys are utilizing these new digital camcorders readily available now. The cost anywhere from $300 to $600 and most have a 700 to 800 times zoom capacity. This could really help considering that most of the video we now have is blurry and the target is so far away that it looks like a blob. With these new cameras you can see a Sasquatch at 500 yards away and zoom in on its upper torso with great detail. Please everyone spend the few hundred bucks and always keep the camcorder with you and ready!!!!

Hm.. 800 times zoom is going to guarantee blobsquatch quality photos..

However, it's true that the new digital video camcorders do get vastly better picture and sound quality than the old analog camcorders.

And for those of you who still love Single Lens Reflex cameras, but want to switch to digital...

Canon has just released a 6.3 mega-pixel camera, which can use your Canon interchangeable lenses.

My sony video camera is great.It has a 700x zoom but nothing can be seen after about 500x.When I visited Fort Calgary I was checking the zoom feature.Standing at the front gate looking in to the fort,I zoomed in to an open door on a building on the far side of the enclosed fort area.About 100 yds.It looked as though I was inside the door.the once dark interior became lighter and I could see the people inside quite well.It was pretty cool.
A tripod is almost necessary to get steady film at even 3 to 400x zoom,even with the steady cam function.
With these cameras,you can zoom in to a taped scene after so you dont really need to mess around with trying to zoom in to a subject at filming time.You may only get a few seconds to film a sasquatch.If most of that time is spent zooming in,you might lose quality of the scene.Might lose him in the scope,so to speak and lose valuable footage.

]One of the things you have to remember about those digital zooms is that when you zoom into the digital range out of the optical range the image does get closer but it also pixilates like hell. Also it is incredibly difficult to hand hold it and stay on target when you start getting to the extreme zoom range.

Also a lot of newer cameras and digitals do not take the picture when you press the button...they do this auto focus thing that takes a second and then it lets you take the picture....maddening...when you photograph animals...a second is all it takes for an animal to disappear out of the frame.

What is always interesting about technology is that newer is not always better...the Patterson film was shot on 16mm film and can be enlarged quite a bit....try doing that with digital....even 6 megapixel will have it's limits when blown up. The other thing about digital is battery life...a battery in my manual camera lasts almost a year even with heavy use.

I'm not knocking digital...I have a digital camera...I like it for it's convenience. But if you are camping for days or over a week in the field...where do you plug in your battery charger if you are not near a car?

Out in the field I stick with a manual 35mm and a 100-300 zoom, I keep it in a holster around my waist...it's lightweight and durable in the rain...in the mud, cold and heat....it never fails me. Try dropping a digital several times and see what happens .....

I also have made a gunstock mount for my 400mm telephoto....I have an auto winder with an off camera remote wired to the gunstock handle...it fires and winds and fires and winds....I do not miss much with that.

I have photographed wildlife for years....and captive widlife...it does not matter what kind of equipment you have if you do not know how to use it. I have learned over the years that animals show up unexpectedly....I have not always ever really been ready for an animal's appearance or antic. I've just been quick enough to focus and fire when the opportunity arose. What is interesting too is the physical effect that happens to me when I am stalking wildlife and I know they are around....it is like an adrenaline rush...and when I actually see a deer or other animal and I bring my camera up...I swear my heart is pounding so hard I think it will blur the picture. It is like photojournalists under fire in combat....you have to really concentrate on what you are doing...you have to be ready and then get it into focus...steady yourself...control your breathing, especially with a telephoto lens....and all these things quickly...because sometimes seconds are all you have....then that moment is gone forever...you have to work on your reaction time...I spent a lot of time simplifying my eqquipment so I could have it at the ready faster and load film faster and just concentrate on being ready quicker. If I am out in the field...I have the camera on and ready....shoot I even have got into the habit of taking the camera to the bathroom with me after so many times camping a bird or squirrel or something is sitting right in front of me when I am either walking there or walking back. The point is....you never know where an animal may be.

I read a lot of reports of sightings...times where people had plenty of opportunity to take a photo...many of the sightings were close...even if the person had a regular 35mm point and shoot they would have gotten something. Ya know what I think?? Anyone who goes into the wilderness should have some sort of camera on them...even one that fits in the pocket...ya pull it out and ya shoot...I have gotten a couple of really nice point and shoots just to keep in the car for less than 20 bucks on ebay. Even the ones that have a built in zoom are cheap.

I remember going to a friends wedding once and they had all these kodak instamatic cameras on every table...so that people could just take pictures and then they turned them into the bride and groom at the end of the reception...maybe we ought to be pushing more hunters and hikers to take cameras with them...and not pack them away or have them out of reach...keep it in your pocket...

Wow. That's a nice picture.

And you're right about everything you said, though newer midrange digital cameras are getting a lot faster, operationally. Not as fast as a fully manual film SLR, with no startup time at all, but about 1 second from 'off' to snapshot. My 2 year old Olympus C-2040 takes a good 4-5 seconds from 'off' to taking a photo. I can never take candid photos with it. It's more like 'umm... wait.. wait.. ok.. wait a sec.. ok ok.... hey, where are you going?'

Any particular cheap point & shoot with zoom you would recommend? I have two Nikon SLR cameras and they're very heavy once you put on the zoom. Nothing lke a big huge heavy camera swinging around from your neck while you're trying to hike up a mountain. I'd like to get a small lightweight point and shoot to take along but I don't want to sacrifice quality. Something that I can keep out "just in case" and also wont ruin my day if it gets a little banged up.

Avoid 'digital zoom' like the plague

Okay I wrote a reply and then got disconnected and now it's all gone grrrrrrrrrrr

Anyway...right now on ebay are some good deals:

http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list...ex.html?from=R4

a cursory first page view and these look real good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewIt...7&category=3334

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewIt...1&category=3331

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewIt...7&category=3331


A point and shoot will never rival an SLR in my opinion...but then again...I have read where the wildlife photography "experts" have said to always carry a tripod into the field with the big lens and all that....geeez..I am not a weight lifter...and I wonder how many shots those photogs have missed while fumbling with their tripod
or while sitting wheezing from the effort of carrying that thing around.

Nah...I want ease of use and speed....I do also use a CAnon EOS Elan 2E that I like a lot...it has a 100-300 ultrasonic zoom on it....but I have tried that eye controlled focus and it is too slow for me....so I always just have it on manual...the autofocus is worthless in low light anyway...but it does have an image stabilization on it that is way cool. But I keep it in a zoom holster around my waist and it is ready at all times when I am in the field...I carry that usually and a point and shoot in my pocket for backup....hahahaha...I don't keep it in my sock

I really like thos Minolta Freedom Zooms...I've had very good results with them..but you have to remember the parallax problem with those rangefinders and know that what you see in the viewfinder is not really what you might get expecially with tight close ups. But I don't think that will be a worry with a BF !

I do have a 400mm lens with the gunstock and a zoom flash with a fresnel lens over the flash that focuses the beam for telephoto.. I use it sometimes....I am attaching a pic I took of a raccoon with that...it works well but is
bulky and awkward...the raccoon was about 20 or so feet away. ( I saw a raccoon here downtown in the city last night...how odd...in the middle of the city..lol ) I also have an 800mm lens that I can make a 1600mm with a teleconverter...but that thing needs a tripod no question...so that would have to be something I'd use while stationary someplace....or from my car..which I have used it to photograph birds at wildlife refuges...but anything closer than say 40 feet and it won't focus that close.

Reports I have read indicated that the BF was within the 50yd range in most cases....or even close enough to see the eyes....that is plenty close enough to get a good pic on film with a point and shoot. Most cases people stumble upon them, and are suprised....and shocked... That probably accounts for reaction time not being so great. I have read where a backpacker saw one and had his camera packed away in his pack...and I am thinkin..."what the hell did you do that for"???lol

OH well...I go into the wilderness now...and maybe even downtown now..with the idea that there is wildlife around every corner...and there is!!! And maybe even a BF ...ya never know.....

Oh..let me say this about film too.....get kodak...kodacolor 200 for the day....when it gets later put in 400 or even Fugifilm's 800.....once the sun goes down tho....you have to have a flash....but I plan on testing my rangerfinder flash out at the Sanctuary tomorrow just to see how far the flash will go....I recommend anyone do that....if the BF is 20 feet away but your flash only goes 15 feet...you aint gonna get much....me? I'd run up to him really fast...flash him then run away...LMAO!! hahaha yeah right....sureeeeeeee i would....
-Janice

Wow, thanks Janice. I'm going to save that one. Good stuff.

Sosha - do you have a web site ? Those images are wonderful. Have you ever considered entering the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year award ? It's quite a prestigious event, and by the look of it you could do well.

How did you get into wildlife photography ? If I had my time again, I think that's what I'd want to do. It's just the cost and technical barriers seem so great to a complete amateur.

Cameras: Canon's new Digital EOS looks like a big step forward. The benefit of digital is your ability to experiment, and to see the results instantly.

Because that's happened to me once or twice, I occasionally do a Ctrl-A + Ctrl-C to save what's in the text box. I also, when I'm creating a long reply, usually do it in Word, then do a Copy, then Paste it all into the text box. I apply the tags for italics, etc. while in Word.

]Geeforce...Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! and I do have a website....http://sosha.users2.50megs.com

It's a work in progress I have tons of images, just not a lot of time to scan them all.

I have not heard of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the year award...how would I find out about that?

I love nature photography, you might even say I am addicted! Some people work to buy drugs...I work to buy film....or larger memory cards I got involved mainly trying to identify birds...I would tell people I saw this really interesting bird and they wouldn't believe me. I told them it was yellow with a red head and black wings and they all thought I was crazy! But then I got a pic of it and found out it was a Western Tanager...beautiful birds! Well then I wanted to
photograph every bird I saw..which lead for a desire for bigger lenses (isn't that where it always leads??) and so I just kept buying what I could afford. I buy a lof of stuff on ebay...loveeeeeeeeee ebay!!

The main thing now is having the time to go out into the field...I love being out in the wilds...but...work makes me have less time afield. Although I love my job a lot...and I get to photograph those animals too so I really do what I love and love what I do I used to work in advertising....hated it!

and Roger...I am taking your advice...I am not about to retype this all again!!!

hey...speaking of great deals on ebay...I got this Olypmus Camedia 2020Z I just love..it's only 2.1 megapixel but I get great images off it...and it was only $104!!

I was testing the flash on this thing...which is really quite impressve in range...anyway..I was also checking the eyeshine of some of the animals I work with....attaching a pic of one of our bears...now in the dark I couldn't see a thing so I was relying on the autofocus...the funny thing is there was this domestic cat in with the bear! The keepers told me the bears don't bother the cats, sometimes they touch noses and check each other out..and the cats just wait for them to finish eating so they can have some food too...they also hang out with one of our Lionesses too! I thought that was very odd...but funny!

Anyway...the flash range on this 2020 camedia seems to be well over 20 feet...and look at the eyeglow on that bear....and there were also some little eye glows in the fence behind the bear up in the berry vegetation...I'm thinking mice or something???

-Janice

Here's another couple of pics I took to test this flash output....this bobcat enclosure is about 30 feet to the far corner and at wide angle you can see the cat sitting up on one of the elevated planks. Then I zoomed in..this Olumpus 2020 has only a 3x zoom...but that's okay..and enough output to light up the cats eyes like a Christmas tree...hehehe. I did not enhance or mess with these photos in any way. Just reduced the size for placement here. The camera on high quality gives you a 22.222x16.557 inch image at 72dpi..(1600x1200 pixels) that is at High Quality..it also has Super High Quality..which is even bigger..but just the HQ is great. I notice on SHQ it takes longer to save the image...so I don't use it as much...and it seems to defailt to HQ every time I turn it on anyway.

This was shot in complete darkness through a chain link fence...so I really couldn't see what I was aiming at...but I think the camera did good. I am saving up to get a Camedia 4040 which is 4.0 megapixel...

I also got a telephoto attachment that I will test as soon as I get it.

-Janice

Hi Sosha, nice deer and coon pics. I'd just like to talk a little camera talk - I also have an Olympus digital camera. I thought last year I better get caught up with the rest of the world (he he, long way to go before that happens) and get digital. My first procurement was a little 1.3 digital Olympus Camedia camera. Talk about fine investment. Most would laugh, "hahaha - its only 1.3 ??? but I tell ya, off a tripod and natual light, its been amazing. Has a four inch macro feature so bug photography, close up flower photography and general documentary field trip photography has been awesome. Since that camera can only put out an average but still nice enough for most people 8x10 I knew I had to get higher mgpxl especially for possible sales down the road. So low and behold I hit eBay and got a 4.1 mgpxl Canon C4000. I would take my 35 mm EOS and Minolta field cameras anyday but point and shoot simplicity of the digitals gets you images sometimes when you wouldnt get any because of set up time for the slrs. I am not a zoom guy, I like fixed lenses, (straight up 200, 300, 400, 500 for example) but with todays top glass and high tech, I am told that many of the zooms hold optical quality at a professionally high level and you having Canon EOS, heck of a hard system to beat.
On the other hand, if you are in a vehicle and the big boy visits looking in the window and your wide angle is already to go with a flash, same difference. But it might be that the digital was the best choice there for an often perfect quick fix auto flash you dont have to mess with.
So many factors to consider but I just thought I would jump in say hi, and say that I like so many others appreciate your comments on the thread.

Hi Streamrunner

Thanks jumpin in and sayin hi and for the compliments! I love to talk cameras and photography! I really enjoy photography and find it a very relaxing way to communicate the beauty I see all around me.

I really like my Olympus digital too...I think they did a great job making these cameras of quality and really simple to use. The time it takes to turn it on does frustrate me sometimes but now I try to anticipate and have it on before hand and I always keep an extra set of charged batteries and memory cards on hand.

It is actually the C4000 I want to get too. I see them on ebay too and am keeping my eye on them. One of the reasons I got the digital was because I wanted to try something called digital infrared. I loved shooting BW infrared film but the results were so unpredictable and the film is a pain in the ass to use. So I read about a special filter...The Hoya infrared filter and I got one..I am posting an example of a photo I shot up at McArthur/Burney Falls here in Northern Cali. I love the results...I am going to have a showing at a gallery here soon of just infrared stuff.

Yeah I do love my EOS too...but this digital is a kick. I was able to go out and shoot a pic of an animal we needed an "adoption" picture for..and was able to get it on the computer and print a beautiful 8x10 in less than 10 minutes...no waiting the next day or even an hour....heh...and no scanning....just put it in...resize and print. I loved it.

My big thing about digital has always been quality....now I see that they have that Canon Rebel that takes EOS lenses for about $800....dang I just have to win the lottery and I could be soooooooo creative!!

Thank you so much! For your feedback, I appreciate it.

Rebel ya dont say... I am lookin at her too. Hopefully this year to jive with the EOS lens system. The C4000 will do a l in macro as well if you like working macro. Good weekend to you

If those are mice with eyeshine in the first picture, I hate to see them in person..MAN!

Maybe Mickey ... ?

]Well I dunno what those glows are in the bushes on the fence....weird...I did not notice them until I looked at the pic on my monitor.....I don't know what the heck they are then. Those bushes are Wysteria I guess...or Jasmine vines growing up the side of the cage...I just thought maybe they are mice or rats or something..