In Search of: P&S for a hunter...

dreilly

dreilly

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Okay, my sister is looking to get her fiance a camera. He's a tracker and hunter in the adirondacks, and he sees all sorts of wildlife that he doesn't want to kill--but would like to photograph.

He needs a P&S that's:

very, very quiet
has a zoom lens
isn't expensive
did I mention quiet
is fairly compact

Any ideas? Silence is really the king here, followed by some sort of soom facility.
 
Most (all?) P&S with a really big zoom, takes crappy pictures. P&S are not meant for this kind of photography. True, you can take a P&S, or a rangefinder for that matter, on a wildlife expedition, but you aren't going to return with good results. You need an SLR, film or digital, and a lens that goes to at least 400, 600, 1000mm. That ain't gonna be no pocket camera.
 
Hmmm, I'm sure you are right about that.

I was hoping to get him into photography with a little P&S that would give good results--he definitely won't take to an SLR at this point.

Okay, so I will rephrase...the quietest P&S with a decent lens.

doug
 
Another thing to be concerned about with regard to a P&S used in the context you mention is the tendency of the flash to fire automatically when the light is low which is likely to be the case in the woods. One must remember to switch the flash off and as P&S's tend to turn themselves off automatically if they are not used for a few minutes most P&S's will reset themselves to auto flash when turned on again. This will frighten away wildlife more than a slightly noisy shutter. Perhaps Ray Supply in Queensbury can help your sister if she is located in the southern Adirondacks. They aren't as cheap as B&H or Adorama but I'm sure they deal with hunters.
Kurt M.
 
If you want quiet, compact and a zoom... you are going digital. Fact of life.

How close does he get? ANd what is he shooting?
 
dreilly said:
Okay, so I will rephrase...the quietest P&S with a decent lens.
Click to expand...
You need a long zoom for most wildlife. In a P&S, generally the longer the zoom, the slower it is optically. However, longer zooms need faster shutter speeds. But slower lenses need slower shutter speeds. The problem is not unlike trying to make a low calorie big greasy cheeseburger.

I would look among the digitals for a decent P&S zoom, but they generally are kinda pricey.
 
Sounds like digital will be the idea. All digital P&S have a "shutter noise" which I think can be turned off. Probably will want one with good high iso control as well, I would suggest the newer fuji's, they also have decent zoom. However, they are slightly larger than a pocket cam. I recall hearing the older Oly "uzi" are really good, too.
 
I agree that P&S will leave much to be desired for your brother-in-law. He's probably used to seeing game through a "scope" and a P&S will not be nearly as good. And I also agree that digital is the way to go in this kind of endeavor. He's not going to want to re-load film while on a hunt.

With those caveats, I'd recommend the Canon G-series of digital P&S's. My G3 is an "antique" these days but it has many of the features he'll need including a silent shutter setting and a 2x and 4x digital zoom option (that will get him up to an 200mm equivalent).

As mentioned - he'll have to pay attention to turning off the auto-flash turn-off, but it seems that he's capable if he knows how to click on and off a rifle safety.

And I think the Canon (or similar) may accomplish what you want - which is the "whet his appetite" for photography whereafter he can "graduate" to a SLR or DSLR.

You may want to "tempt" him by pointing out that hunting with a camera is a good way to "spot game" in the pre-season.

Good luck,
George
copake_ham
 
it's gotta be digital...

go with one of them panasonic lumix cameras with their monster zoom...the pictures are more than adequate for most people and the thing is very very quiet. i wouldn't call it compact though...but i still think it's pretty darn small for what you get...
 
Its gonna be hard to find what he wants but I will take a shot at it.

Film point and shoots with zooms make a lot of noise using the zoom, winding film, etc.
Plus you cant get a very long lens maybe 115mm max but best spotting of animals will
be at dusk or dawn so you need high speed film too so maybe thats not the way to go.

Digital point and shoots for instance the Canon A510 have a lens up to 140 mm then you
could activate the digtial zoom part. The A510 will get good shots even on its 400 ISO.
You could even shoot video with it. Again lens is not very long but much quieter than a
film PS. Cost $150.

Small video camera, good low light performance, quiet, long zooms, some with image stabilzers built in. This is the way I would go.

I dont think there is a cheap solution.
 
on this level, digital is the most compact and silent, i think. There are some olympus ones that go to almost 400mm on the long end (on the wide they suck - i think they are 38-380) and have fairly fast and decent optics (f/2.8-something), and produce reasonable quality shots. They are not the most compact but much more compact than any slr.
Otherwise, if compactness is not that serious, a canon s2 has a good lens and image stabilization which comes in handy, or some new ones from other brands.
 
i know this post is a week old so maybe the information comes a bit late.

every few months i get a free leica magazine (leica courrier) in my mail with news concerning leica cameras. in the last one i got there was an article about a special p&s mount for their telescopes. i'm sure it's way too expensive but it would be useful for a hunter since he may already have a telescope and would only need to buy the mount (i don't know, though, if it only works with leica products)

but then again...i don't support hunting so i don't really know why i'm giving this advice :)

EDIT: found a link...it's in german, though http://www.dasauge.de/aktuell/foto_film/e151
 
Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I'm going to suggest perhaps one of the panasonic ultra zoom digitals...they should go to the store together and try some out, sound, size, etc. He's not looking to publish in National Geographic, just capture some of the nice things he sees that are worth shooting with cameras and not lead.

I'm not a big hunter either, but he's a very serious and expert hunter/tracker, eats what he kills, lets lots of things go. He's got an environmental conscience that he tries to model on native americans, a topic he knows pretty intimately as well. So of all the kinds of hunters, he' s the kind I have the most respect for.

And he doesn't use a scope on his rifle, either.

thanks again everyone for the advice.
doug
 
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