Suggestions? Reptile Photography

[swedishjeep]

i will mainly be using this camera for photographing reptiles in the wild, however all other types of wildlife also fall into the mix. occasionally need/would like a longer zoom, but will mostly be using it in macro situations. photographing both day and night.

Budget: looking to stay under $350
Size: mainly looking at 'megazooms', non-dslr
Features: 6+ MP's, zoom abilities, macro abilities.

What optical zoom will you need? megazoom, 10X or more
How important is “image quality” to you? quite important, 8 out of 10

Do you care for manual controls? am a photography newbie, but would like the option to use manual controls as i learn to use the camera.

General Usage

what will you generally use the camera for? nature and wildlife, some zoom but mostly macro

Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? mainly posing images online, and possibly larger than the normal 4X6

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? mostly outdoor, in sunlight or at night, using flash or outside light source.

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? not at all, possibly a bird in flight, but its a very low priority
Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? owned an olympus 5MP and (to my inexperienced eye) thought the quality was great on the viewfinder AND once downloaded to disk. currently own a Lumix DFC-FZ8 (thats been commandeered by my better half, hence im looking for a second camera), the images in playback mode were not sharp at all, and in some macro images there wasn't as much sharpness. again, this is to my untrained eye.

Are there particular models you already have in mind? here is my problem, seems different reviews have different 'conclusions'.. not sure if there's a biased base of scoring. im open to the best camera thats suited to my needs.

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD) would like optical image stabilization (have heard the digital stabilization isn't as true). beyond that, im sure most of you here with more knowledge would have more of an idea of what i should 'need' or be looking for.

this is my first post, hope i haven't overstepped any "newbie" laws. thanks in advance for your insight.

mike

[shahmatt]

If you want to take images hand held, you could consider the Panasonic FZ18. Its got a long range (28mm to 504mm). That's 18x zoom. A very solid Image stabilization system to go with it, and a very sharp lens as well.

But the image quality at higher ISO's isn't very good, so in poor light, in order to get decent image quality, you will want to stick with low ISO's and hence, longer exposure times. This can be done with this camera because of its fantastic IS, but your subject must remain still for the image to be sharp.

If your subject is moving, you must go for a camera with good high ISO image quality, which will allow for faster shutter speeds. The Fuji S6500FD is the most capable in this area, but its range is less (28mm to 300mm, 10x zoom), and no image stabilization. Meaning that even if you could take a long exposure image for a subject that's standing still, you would be forced to degrade your image quality by increasing ISO, or alternatively, you could use a low ISO while using a tripod. Will you be using a tripod? The Fuji also uses manual zoom rings which is more effective in composing a image.