When choosing a digital camera for wildlife photography, there are a number of factors to consider, not least of which is the price.
But there are also other important considerations. Wild animals in general are wary of people, while many are dangerous, so in most cases you’ll need to photograph them from a distance.
The net result is that you’ll need a telephoto lens that will enlarge the subject and bring it closer. A small, budget compact digital camera with a 3x zoom lens (roughly equivalent to a 35-105mm lens on a 35mm camera) won’t cut it for wildlife photography as the zoom is simply not powerful enough. Therefore, the most important feature to look out for when choosing a ‘wildlife’ camera is a big zoom. In the past this meant huge telescopic lenses, but now there is a large variety of compact superzoom digital cameras to choose from with zooms that go up to 18x (35mm equivalent to over 500mm).
Battery life and what type of batteries the camera takes is also an important consideration to take into account. If you are travelling to remote locations there may not be any electricity to charge your batteries, therefore, buying a spare battery or two is a must. You could also consider getting a camera that uses standard AA batteries, but remember that some remote locations might not have a shop that sells batteries and it is for that reason it might be better to use rechargeable type batteries and carry a fully charged spare.
The size and weight of the camera is also something that shouldn’t be ignored. The camera should be compact, easy to conceal and carry as hand luggage. Lugging heavy and bulky equipment around with you is no fun at all. A small camera also decreases the chances of being targeted by thieves when travelling through towns and cities. A small, easy to carry camera is preferable if going on walking safaris or covering large distances by foot.
Taking into account the key features mentioned above in addition to the price, we think the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38 is the best compact digital camera for wildlife photography.
The FZ38 (FZ35 in the U.S.) is the successor to the very popular FZ28 and is our opinion one of, if not the best digital superzoom cameras on the market. The FZ38 brings more to the table than the FZ28, including an increased resolution of 12.1 Megapixels, direct access to HD video and is very competitively priced.
The FZ38 digital camera packs a bunch of features into a compact body, that includes the superb Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens with a very powerful 18x zoom (35mm film camera equivalent: 27-486mm) and AVCHD Elite high-definition movie recording capability.
Obviously the main reason to get a superzoom camera is for its zoom and the FZ38 has one of the best available. The super-powerful 18x zoom, equivalent to 486mm on a 35mm camera is great for getting closer to far away action as well as taking dramatic close-up shots. What is more, you can get even closer to the action, by using a 1.7x teleconverter.
One of the best features of the FZ38 camera is the very quick start-up time (just over a second) and super fast auto focus. There is a noticeable improvement between this and the older FZ28, meaning that you have a much greater chance of capturing that once in a lifetime photo that you may have previously missed. According to Panasonic their high speed AF is industry-leading and is twice as fast as that on the FZ28.
What is more, the new auto focus system helps keep focus on the subject while the camera is in recording mode even before pressing the shutter button halfway. This improves the chances of getting the shot because the focus is always near the subject and AF time is therefore minimized.
One of the main advantages of a superzoom camera versus a digital SLR is the much lower cost and with the Panasonic FZ38 camera you get plenty of camera for your money.
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