Buying a camera for the Amazon Rainforest and the Galapagos Islands

Smilemon · Nov 6, 2011

I'll have recharging available in the rainforest, but in the Galapagos islands I'll be on a boat and very limited. The solar availability there should be excellent though.

I'm really not interested in point and shoot cameras.

Cameras that are powered with AA batteries are always an option i suppose.

Smilemon · Nov 8, 2011

I found a Nikon D90 for 475 (Body Only) with 19,000 actuations. It comes with an 8 gig card and i can buy a Nikon 18-70MM f/3.5-4.5D ED for an additional 150 bucks. Is this a decent deal? It's close by and within my price range, but I'm not sure if its a good used price.

I'm a little bit disappointed that there is no auto focus while shooting video, but it would be a small price to pay if the camera is a good one.

Any opinions as to the durability/weather resistance of a D90?

Thanks

Trever1t · Nov 8, 2011

Good price on the body, I see them in the $600 range around here. You're still going to have to deal with humidity but the D90 is a great body..

Smilemon · Nov 8, 2011

With a bit more craigslist shuffling I found another D90, with 4000 shutter clicks and a Nikkor 28-85mm 3.5-4.5 lens. This one is going for 700 bucks, but the lens seems nicer than the Nikon 18-70MM f/3.5-4.5D ED.

The D90 seems like a pretty decent camera, even at it's age it's still in production, and it's the most used camera on flickr (thanks wikipedia)

If I used a good gallon ziplock, a UV filter, and a few silica packs, do you think this camera would survive a week in the rainforest? I'd be willing to give it a shot. But I always like other opinions.

paulanton · Nov 9, 2011

I see a lot of recommendations for cannon, nikon, pantex, etc. I would look in to an olympus. I use an e-3, its very weather resistant, its knock resistant and you may be able to pick one up on ebay at a pretty reasonable price, I've used mine in heavy rain, snow, extreme heat and actually had to chase it a couple hundred feet down the side of a mountain once. It doesn't have video but it meats all your other requirements. Your using the om system so your already familiar with olympus quality. Take a look.