pdhenry

As I recall, a good rule of thumb (for 35mm cameras) is that you need a tripod if your exposure is longer than the reciprocal of the focal length -- hence about 1/60 for a standard 50mm lens, 1/100 for a 105mm telephoto, and so on. This works for digitals as well if you take into account the "35mm equivalent" focal length of the camera and lens.

In Kenya I got good wildlife pictures with a 3:1 zoom lens and a 1.7X telephoto adapter. The telephoto adapter is wide and bright (and bulky) but it can only be effectively used with the zoom lens at full telephoto (105mm equiv) or I'd get so much vignetting that tunnel vision is a more accurate term. So 105*1.7 makes about a 180mm telephoto lens. I rested my left hand on something solid to steady the shot, and the driver obligingly turned off the engine at each stop.

RSSrsvp

oz, one other consideration is the type of batteries that you can use on your camera. Even if you travel with a second rechargeable battery, you may get caught with a dead camera and some great shots that you wish to take. I would only look at cameras that can use a variety of store bought batteries as a backup. Based on your travel patterns and the possibity of being in a location that has no electricity. IMHO AA batteries are the easiest to obtain. However certain cameras like the Nikon Coolpix 3200 can use many different types of batteries.

AA-size Alkaline x 2 (included); AA-size Rechargeable Ni-MH battery (EN-MH1) x 2; CR-V3 Lithium battery x 1; AA-Nickel-manganese battery x 2; AA-size Nickle battery x 2; AA-size Lithium battery x 2; DC input

This gives you a great deal of flexability in your travels.

obscure2k

LeoB
Thanks so much for recommending that website. I went from there to Best Buy and bought the new CanonA95. Wow. I really love FT when I can get information like this, in addition to all of the help with points and travel. ^