Haha, that’s a great explanation picture, thank you!
I’ve been watching camera reviews all day, wouldn’t the 42x zoom be kind of useless without a tripod? I’m thinking my hands would be too shaky to make the most of it. My shortlist is mostly based on what’s available cheap near me lol. A Canon SX30 has caught my eye also (mostly due to its being very near me, to the point that I could buy it conveniently and be out snapping turtle pics at my favourite spot within 20 minutes), do you know the good word on those?
The L320 is also a double-A camera, and I think I’m coming to realize that’s not better or worse, but I think I would prefer dedicated batteries. Just feels more… real, somehow.
For what it’s worth, I have fibromyalgia, which means that I get shaky hands …and I do most of my shooting handheld. (Not that I won’t take advantage of a stable point if one present itself.) Use your right hand for settings and shutter, left hand to support the barrel of the lens, and let the image stabilization handle the rest.
I haven’t used the Canon, so I looked up reviews at sources that I trust. The main criticisms that I saw were that the images get noisy when shot at more than 400 ISO, the zoom motor is a bit on the slow side, and write times could be faster; other than that, it’s a solid entry-level camera.
Oh, thank you! I suppose it was of extra concern to that particular person. Plus I guess I don’t need to use the maximum size setting if I don’t want to, but it’s nice to have it.
And thank you again! That’s mostly what I was hearing, too. Fortunately, I’m not trying to take pics of birds or planes (the write time concern), but rather turtles, which should stay… pretty still, as long as I don’t get too close lol
I have a camera with 65X optical zoom (I don’t waste my time with digital zoom), but it has to have “good lighting” to look good. Really bad in low light. That being said, when out in the field, when trying for a photo of something living, I never take a still .jpg. I always take a video. That way, I never run the risk of having bad pictures or not getting the best possible. Then I use a program, such as “Photos” that I have on my PC to open the video and take a freeze-frame of the object. I’ve tried taking photos of butterflies that land on a flower for one second and then are gone. But when I take a video of the butterfly, open it in that special software, like “Photos”, I can freeze the flight anytime. That allows me to take advantage of the butterfly when it does, just for a split second, freeze. That frame is then stored on my computer in fairly high resolution so I can post it here. I just started using that procedure, and it’s one of the “secrets”, besides a high-zoom camera, for getting acceptable stills.
I have the same problem. I have to use a flip phone to take pictures, and half of the time you can’t even tell what it is.
I used that until I dropped it in a stream in Palo Duro Canyon…RIP. Really good camera for a point and shoot! Honestly if they still made something like it I’d use it over a DSLR just for size and weight savings
I know you said you aren’t trying to get into birds, so I’m guessing you don’t have binoculars. But on the chance that you do, with some practice and patience you can get photos with your phone through your binoculars that will be significantly better than the phone could do on your own.
This photo was through binoculars with 10x magnification and the turtle is still small in the frame; imagine how small it would’ve been without!
One thing to keep in mind with telephoto lenses is that you are basically compressing all the atmosphere between you and the subject. Things like haze and heat distortion get compounded and there isn’t much you can do about it, it will cause blurriness in your photos. Time of day and temperature are big factors.
@star72 The canon SX series are great. Like @williampaulwhite17 my Canon SX is my preferred camera, even over my DSLR. They are all light weight, have a ridiculous zoom (65X optical) and nothing extra you have to carry with you. There is no really wide angle option, but I have not ever needed/wanted that for iNatting. I had an SX 30, then a 50 and now a 60. Canon is now up to SX 70, but the 50 & 60 (refurbished) are still avail online, in case your option to buy a 30 falls through.