Reptile & Amphibian Forums

do you all have. What kind do you think is best AND easy to use for close up work? Let see some pics.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

I Have a Nikon Coolpix L1 6.1 mexapixel, i definatly dont think it is the best but it isnt too bad. the only thing i really dont like about it is i dont really get good snakes pictures indoors unless i am by a sunny window, or i set up a lighting arrangement. i hope to post some new pics tomorrow that i took the other day. but either way it is a pretty nice camera at a moderate price.

Adam

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4.5 THAYERI
1.2 SPLENDIDA
1.3 ALTERNA
0.0.1 HOLD BACK RUNT ALBINO CORN
0.1.1 PYXIE FROG
0.0.1 MEXICAN RED KNEE
1.0 CHILEAN ROSE HAIR

I've had several others from other forum reccomend the Nikon coolpix too. A couple of people mention that the coolpix really eat batteries. Does yours?
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Mine does if i use regular batteries, but i use the radio shack rechargables and i can use a pair for a few days
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4.5 THAYERI
1.2 SPLENDIDA
1.3 ALTERNA
0.0.1 HOLD BACK RUNT ALBINO CORN
0.1.1 PYXIE FROG
0.0.1 MEXICAN RED KNEE
1.0 CHILEAN ROSE HAIR

I've got an Olympus SP500UZ (6 Megapixel CCD w 10X zoom) that I'm pretty happy with. It's not SLR but it does accept additional lens/extensions and if I took the time to read the manual I could probably produce much better pics than I currently do. Oh yeah it's got MPEG capability too.

Here is a link to CNET so you can see what others had to say about this camera

http://reviews.cnet.com/Olympus_SP_500_UZ/4505-6501_7-31503523.html

Russ

How much did that Olympus set you back? I like the 10x capabilities. I could have used that about a month ago on a nice mule deer buck. I ended up getting some pretty blurry pics with this cheap Kodak. He was only about 70 yds away too.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

well it was a Christmas present but it retails for about $350 however CNET says it ranges between $250-360. IT has quite a few bells and whistles.

Russ

>>I've got an Olympus SP500UZ (6 Megapixel CCD w 10X zoom) that I'm pretty happy with. It's not SLR but it does accept additional lens/extensions and if I took the time to read the manual I could probably produce much better pics than I currently do.

I'm with you Russ,(AUTO MODE)is the only way to go. I use a Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom, 10 optical and 4 digital = 40 times total zoom and 4.0 Megapixel. It's about four years old and they don't make that model anymore, but it's a easy to use, point and shoot or you can study the book and become more advance in photography. It's the only digital camera I have ever owned. The only thing I don't like about it is you can't take a close up or macro with the flash, because the lense throws a shadow from the flash. Its got a hot shoe for a external flash, just havn't found one yet. I really prefer taking the pictures with the zoom from 3-6ft away because I don't scare the snake. It also came with a remote that works pretty well, but I have only used it for family pictures. All my pictures on my site were taken with this camera. It works great for me. If you can get any kind of zoom, I would get it. Or wait untill you can get a little more higher end camera. YOU CAN ALSO SAVE QUITE A BIT OF MONEY ORDERING OVER THE INTERNET .I got mine from electricsam.com and saved 200.00 on a $600.00 camera.

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R.BICHLER
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

I use konica minolta z6, I like the anti shake mode it has and the super macro setting, you can also add extra lens and a bigger flash. I use it to shoot short video's too.

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Michelle

it is pretty durable too, i have a 2 year old that has gotten her hands on it more than once. It has a few scratches but works perfectly still.

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Michelle

Nice pics BTW. Do you know the price range on that Konica?
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

last year I bought a Canon Rebel XT 8MP SLR. The camera is far better than I am and as Russ said, if I was to read the manual I could do much better with it. It works much better with a tripod for snake pics (your sugestion - thanks). Since I'm blind up close, I use auto focus most of the time. Baby snakes are tough on auto focus. It works great on lizards though and has night assist. Overall, I'm very pleased with it and the color reproduction is better than my Sony or Kodak. Here's a few pics with it.

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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

Rick those are some great pics. That Uro is super colorful. Michelle that is an awesome pic of that male. I haven't seen him since we traded. I use a Fugi Finepix 6.3mp. It's ok, but I wish I could take better close ups. It has a macro feature, but next time I'll get one with a super macro option. It is a good camera for general use.
Ken

np
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Michelle

you must have read some of the manual

Uro that is.

np
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Michelle

Very nice. So nice in fact that I can see you need to wash your hands LOL. BTW I agree that sure is a purty euromastic.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

she was cleaning bearded dragons (lol).

Thanks all for the complements the uro is a year old, last one I kept from a group of babies I bought last year (wanted to prove to myself I could raise them). From what I am told, he will not reach full size or color for two more years.

Other than manual zoom, I use the camera as a point and shoot most of the time, no I never read the instructions (it's a sign of weakness - lol)

Here's a pic of all the baby Uro's when I got them last year. The half log they are on is about 10 inches long.

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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

I have a SLR Cannon Rebel xt.I love it.
Shannon

point and shoot rather than an SLR. Mostly because of the $$$ issue. Anyone have anything good to say about P&S cameras. I'm looking fof something in the 150-225 $ range.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Well,the camera that this one replaced (because it was stolen from a car wash)was a point and shoot and took excellent pics.I still miss that camera as it was almost as good as this cannon.
Anyway,it was a sony 5.0 mega pixel and was just killer.I think I paid about $450.00 but that was like in (02 or maybe early 03).

L8r Shannon

this pic was taken by the older camera.

The one I use Konica minolta dimage z6 is a point and shoot but has settings to be used as an slr too. I just don't know how to use them yet or know if i ever will. I do like the fact that i can add lens and use it as a slr if i ever sit down and read the manual. It runs in the 450-500 range. I had tried several others and this one was very user friendly and easy to use one handed. I am not computer savy or camera savy so i needed something durable and quick to figure out. Here is the review i used to go out and look for one,
www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05081902kmz6.asp
take care,
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Michelle

I had someone else from another forum give me that link also. I need to spend some more time there.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Some from my wifes A700. Our friends have an older SD500 that takes fantastic pics, they use it in a housing for underwater shots too.

My Daughter, Elephant Keeper at Little Rock.

Oak grasslands on the way to Julian

An old and beat up Coastal Cal King

A Hypo Night Snake near Julian

Big Coastal Rosy, right after I drop kicked the camera getting out of the car

A "bubblegum" phase (I just made that up) Shovelnose snake (love those little bug eaters)

A small Desert phase Red Diamond

A Desert Banded Gecko

Okay, that's probably enough. They have newer models out now so I'm sure you can find deals on the older models and they all work pretty much the same.
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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

i'm so glad you said elephant keeper b/c i looked at he pitcure first and thought oh my! they are gonna step on that girl!!!! and then aww they're waving!!!
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SNAKIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corns:
.1 Normal (Gertrude) [just a pet...she started it all]
1. Orange normal (Romeo)
1.2 Miami Phase (Hector, Emily, Charlotte) thanks jeff!
2. Miami Phase part zigzag (Starkey, Mcvitty)[Emilys F2]
1. Amel het Blizzard (Dunesbury) .1 Blizzard (Detta)
1. Classic het Hypo, poss het Amel, Anery (Cobra)
1.1 Classics (Henry VIII, Cassy) [Emilys F1 babies]
.1 Amel (Pepperoni) .1 Orange Reverse Okeetee (Lonna)
1.1 Hypo zig zags poss HET Caramel (Bernard, Abegail)
.1 Hypo HET Stripe (Gracie Lou) 1. Hypo Stripe (Gideon)
1.1 Anery HET Motley (Lleroy, Persia)
.1 Candy Cane (Peaches HoneyBlossom) [Just a pet]
1. Abbotts Okeetee (Albert) [Charlottes son]
1.1 Snow (Crickle, Isis) .1 Green Snow (Maya)
1. Caramel poss HET Butter (Topher)
.1 Anery stripe (V) [husbands snake...he named it]
1.2 Bloodred HET Amel 1. Amel HET Bloodred

Others:
1.1 Black rats (Willard, Cecily)
1.1 Striped Cal Kings (Dweezil, Skunky)
1. High-white Reverse Spotted Cal King (Wishbone)
.1 Albino Stripe Cal King (Eve)
.1 Bananna spotted/stripe cal king (Speckle) Thanks Jeff!!!
1.1 Thayeri (Giuseppe[MSP], Cheyenne)
1.1 Creamsicle HET Motley(Orangejello, Genevieve)
1. Creamsicle motley (no name) Thanks Jimmy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LEOPARD GECKOS~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 Blizzard (Blitz)
.1? High yellow (no name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURTLES~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 white cheeked mud (Opel)
.1 snapping turtle (no name, ideas welcome)

I was a little worried the hole time I was watching though. I still think she should go for the safer "Bunny" keeper job; maybe humming birds too.
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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

Hi Vichris

I know how hard it is to decide on what camera to get. I had to do the same last year when my olympus broke down. First of all I would like to suggest to check out dpreview_dot_com. It will really help with your decision and you can check out their sample pics for you to be confident with your decision once you narrow it down. One of the benefits of the site is the comparison pics of each cemara reviewed to other cameras of its class. As for myself, I picked a panasonic dmc-fz7. I was looking for the longer zoom(12x optical) to use for whale watching, birding, and venomous close-ups pics etc. but it takes fairly decent close-ups in zoom or macro modes also. Like yourself, I can't justify the cost of a DSLR right now so I went for something in the middle that would give me enough features to experiment and learn photography. There's lots of stuff to consider so really try to think about what features would you really like to have. There's a lot of very good 3.2+ mp cameras that are very inexpensive if you just want something for close-ups but the higher mp cameras would also give you some croping room for even closer macro shots and also bigger prints. Anything around 5/6 mp would work very well for your needs.

I was also looking around for a nice P&S for my girlfriend and Canon's powershot line seems to be a stand out. I would look into those.

Here's some close pics from my camera.

Hope it helped a bit.
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Jonel M. Lopez

www.spsnakes.com

Great pic's Jonel, i especially like the beetle he is really cool looking.
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Michelle

Thanks Michelle. They're pretty aren't they? I love seeing these when I go herping in AZ. These beetles even come in red in New Mexico but I have yet to go and photograph those. Thanks again.
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Jonel M. Lopez

www.spsnakes.com

the pics that "viborero" posted on the kingsnake forum in his responds to me on the same question. He also has the same Panasonic camera. I'm going to do a little more research on that camera.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

Hi Vichris

I did see that post and I really love the frog close-up. One of the factors that made me buy this camera at that time is that it was the "best-bang-for-the-buck" considering what it can do and the features it has (although there's probably a better camera out there now). It's nice to have something that you can learn the basics from and experiment a bit on until you try to get a DSLR (which is getting cheaper and better every year BTW). And believe me, the extra zoom is really helpful and you'll probably love it in the long run. I've used it to get nice shots in concerts or very skittish lizards from a good distance (look below).

One thing to think about too is that its sometimes not the camera who can produce an awesome or lousy pic but the how the photographer uses the equiptment. I've seen pics from an old 2.0 mp $100 camera produce better pics compared to a newer 8.0 mp $1000+ DSLR because the photographer tried to lean how use his equiptment and set up the conditions properly. I'm still learning new things after buying this in early 06. Something to think about.

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Jonel M. Lopez

www.spsnakes.com

Someone on another forum also posted some great pics taken with that same camera. I like the 12X zoom also. I've seen some on amazon for as cheap as $250.

BTW I think I may have seen some of those red sliversmith beetles 2 years ago down around Silver City NM. I'm not much of an entomologist (sp) but they sure looked alot like that green one. They were more orange than red if I remember right.
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Vichris

Vichris Variables

amazing picture. Thanks for sharing.
Russ