Fixed Camera for Observing Cliff Nesting Seabirds

[MAJ8]

I need to capture reasonably wide angled views of cliff nesting seabird colonies from 50m distance. The camera needs to be fixed and capable of both video and timelapse so that we can leave it for several hours each day. The image quality needs to be reasonbaly high so that we can identify indivudal birds and identify their species. Has anyone got any suggestions for the best type of setup?

 

[ClintLloyd]

What budget are you looking at?

 

[MAJ8]

Probably a few hundred pounds

 

[ClintLloyd]

It's official, my mind is blown..!

 

[jeffashman]

What you have described may be difficult to find at "a few hundred Pounds." Since it is a camera you are going to leave in place for "several hours" at an outside location (along the coast?) it will need to be weather-proof unless you are setting it up in a hide that will provide protection from inclement weather. You also seem to want something that is wide angel and also has enough magnification to identify individual birds at 50m, and there is where the problem really lies. A camera and lens that meet that sort of specs is more likely to be in the thousands of Pounds range, possibly in the teens. Wide angle is going to make any birds extremely small, so you would need a camera that has very high megapixel resolution, and those things are not cheap.