[Doublej]

A friend asked me for recommendation for a camera to take on safari. I said I am not up on cameras but what about one of the super zooms from Canon or Nikon.

Good idea or bad idea? It seems like a DSLR might be a better choice but I am not sure how to get a 60x zoom on a DSLR without a giant lenses.

The camera needs to be fully automatic including zoom.

What say you AC'ers?

[Maritan]

Budget?

Future use of camera?

Serious hobbyist or just wants to document trip?

Will or will not process process?

Some blind recommendations:

Olympus SP-100 - 50x zoom (focal range of 24-1200mm!). Has a built in dot sight that should help track moving subjects (birds, animals) much easier especially when zoomed in. I have never used that, so you might want to look into how useful it actually is.

Olympus SH-2 - 25-600mm

Panasonic FZ70K - 24-1200mm

Panasonic FZ1000 - 24-400mm

[newzooreview]

A friend asked me for recommendation for a camera to take on safari. I said I am not up on cameras but what about one of the super zooms from Canon or Nikon.

Good idea or bad idea? It seems like a DSLR might be a better choice but I am not sure how to get a 60x zoom on a DSLR without a giant lenses.

The camera needs to be fully automatic including zoom.

What say you AC'ers?

A good place to do some research: dpreview.com

[JohnR]

Oddly enough, I'd be inclined to suggest two cameras. One a long-zoom compact like maritan suggests and one a large-sensor premium compact.

Or wait a couple of years and get a a pair of Fuji X with a 14 and that 100-400mm that's on their roadmap