What's a Good Camera for Close-In and Zoom Shots? (Warning: Pictures)

My cheapo digital camera is dying and I'm going to need something else. I've had film-based cameras in the past, but the batteries always wore out so quickly that I got used to getting disposable cameras.

Anything good in the digital realm? Something that could also zoom in on a humpback whale off to starboard? (I love whale watching)










I took all of these with a disposable camera...can you believe it? The top two are humpback whales. The bottom two are Pacific white-sided dolphins, my favorite cetacean.

There's a wide range of prices and quality out there.. most will do much better that the photos you posted.

What's you're price range?

About $450

It is a digital camera with great features. You can shoot in auto mode, or you can adjust aperture, shutter speed, white balance--all those things adjustable on an SLR camera. Plus, the lens is threaded for macro or telephoto lens add-ons, and it has a hot shoe for a big flash. I highly recommend it...you can get one new for about 300 now. 5 megapixels...I have printed out 11X17 prints and the quality is EXCELLENT@ I took these with it:

Those are beautiful pics!

I will go look and see...BRB.

It's a black-and-yellow garden spider. Simple enough, eh? :-)

Also called an orb spider.

That's a great camera if it caught the hummingbird's wing in detail. I love the hummingbird picture...beautiful!!!

Arachnids and me...well, we have an understanding: please stay away from me. I've been bitten by too many wolf spiders to like them much. Also, I've been stung by a scorpion. That hurt like you would not believe. But even though I don't particularly like them, if I find one in the house, I prefer to let it live if I can.

Little Schnauzer? :) Cutie.

I wanna good camera. I could kick ass.

Canon Powershot G2, huh? 5 megapixels.

How long do the batteries last and are they rechargeable?

(I really should do the research myself...just too tired tonight and upset that my (probable) new governor is going to terminate my state.)

I can take 200 photos with flash and it holds up great without recharging.

Plus you don't have to buy a card reader. You just hook the camera up to a USB port with the provided cable and download. It comes with Photoshop and Canon software to manage your photo files on your PC. I love it, and I did LOTS of research before I bought it, and everywhere I looked, photo experts agreed that it was one great camera.

Go to www.dpreview.com for the best in camera reviews :-) There is also a discussion forum on all camera makes and models, so you can ask questions and owners of the cameras will give you honest, informed answers.

enough said!