Spotting

Thanks, Courtney

Beautiful series, Lars!

You're welcome, Emma

Thnx so much. That takes away the pain from deciding which camera.

Definetely macro.
Zoom is able to get you closer to objects, but with increasing the zoom, the quality decreases. That's simply a physical law. A macro is designed for capturing finest details - but you have to get the lens physically close to the object (more or less, depending on the size of the macro lens -> you have to get closer to object with a 40 mm macro than with a 100 mm)
So: Macro lenses for small object you really want to get captured in size as large and detailed as possible; and Tele lenses (zoom) for objects like birds, whales...species that usually do not come very close to you.

thanks a million for the precious info.
Good to know that more MP gives you a larger range for cropping.
Lastly ,I heard a pro saying that he prefers zoom and never uses macro?Which one do you prefer more?macro or zoom,especially if it has higher MP's?

I just switched to DSLRs myself - got the Nikon D3200 with 24,2 Mp.
Similar (but with 18 Mp) is the Canon 600D or 550D. The Nikon D600 is the equivalent to the Canon 600D. Since the Nikon D600 is quite a bit more expensive, you'd be as happy with the Nikon D5100.
That has been my researches on what to pick - for me the 24 Mp of the D3200 have been the criteria for the final decision...more Mp give you a larger range for cropping your pictures and keeping a high quality.

Here he is
http://www.camerawest.com/cwblog/tag/jim...

The link will not work.Just found out that he is not on Flickr anymore.

Thanks for your valuable feedback Lars!
The Nikon p500 was recommended by Jimages Images [wild life and nature)
Jim is all over the web.
www.flicker.com/photos/jimages.
He how ever uses DSLR and all kinds of lens for his nature photography.
He told me that he bought a Nikon P500 for his son-in-law.
Last question,do you recommend any DSLR's?Thanks for being so patient and not getting bugged by my questions!

Thank you, Emma.
It always depends on what you're going to shoot. The Coolpix series by Nikon is surely a decent camera for ambitioned amateurs - but that's avery very general claim by Nikon themselves. Forget about the zoom on those cameras - 30x zoom on a compact or bridge cam is way too much, aside from the fact that the p1500 has just a x3,5 optical zoom (and that is the important spec). These compact cams have smaller sensors than a DSLR and the anti-shaking stabilisators are not able to balance a freehand shot with 30x zoom. Within the digital-zoom they tend to get very grainy. There are very good DSLRs that are about the same in price-range, though you have to add the one or other lens. Overall, I'd suggest to focus on a real DSLR for a higher coverage of quality on nature shots in general. As for fungi shots - a compact like that is ideal, since you are able to get these smaller cam's lenses under the cap of at least medium sized fungi.
Hope I could help.

Beautiful, LarsKob!!
Lars, I am thinking of buying a Nikon p1500 ,12 MP and 16 x zoom.
i am going by the consumers report. initially I was planning on the p500 ,30 X zoom. it's rating is better than p1500, but the latter is also rated as good and the cost is cut down too. Any feed back?

Thanks Mayra

Beautiful!

Thanks Sachin

Beautiful,