Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.
Hi Mike!
Well, apart from obvious quality camera standards (lenses etc.) the most important aspect for the right camera in digibinning to me seems to be the adaptability to your bins, so the choice of camera depends entirely on your model of bins.
As you do not usually attach your bins to a tripod and cannot usually permanently attach an adapter to either the bins (you’ll need them for your eyes as well) or the camera (you’ll need it for your scope or landscape pictures), you’ll have to chose a camera whose lens fits almost exactly into your bins’ eye-cup.
And as digibinning is a hand-held and thus usually shaky business, I have found the zoom factor of a camera to be rather useless. I always had better results choosing a low zoom on the camera that allowed me to actually find the bird (and crop afterwards) than to zoom in and then try for minutes and minutes to get the bird into my viewfinder.
So I suggest you take your bins along to a photo store and try out different cameras, buying the one that fits best.
Sorry I can’t be any more precise.
Mike,
Being a Nikon DSLR user, I should recommend Nikon Coolpix. However, the Canon line has had tremendous reviews. I think the SD800 (?, check the model number) is probably one of the best point and shoot.
Renato
I have one of those cheap panasonic (LumixDMC-FS3 to be exact) and it works really great with my Monarch 8*40. Agree with Jochen, the most important thing is to have a good fit between the outside zoom and the eye cup. Mine fits exactly, luckily, so it is always perfectly centered.
I was somehow curious about the A 590, as it might allow good digiscoping too.