Camera/lens for nature photography

[ultranewb]

I'm a natural resource professional who really likes to illustrate a number of things to clients with photographs. My cheap camera has done okay, but I'm looking to upgrade. My three main goals in upgrading are: 1) manual focus; 2) as seamless GPS geotagging feature as possible; and 3) compact design and durability for long hours outdoors. I'm hoping to keep the budget under $500.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[o hey tyler]

Don't know a whole lot about this myself. But good luck keeping it under $500 bucks... Here's a site describing some of the cameras that the GPS will function with on the Canon Lineup

GPS and Canon Cameras

The cheapest Canon body to use with a GPS seems to be the 40D, and that alone is over 500 bones. That's without the lens, the WFT-E3A, or the GPS.

 

[Vinny]

I that's a pretty big order to fill for the money. I guess you can get a camera/lens and if you have a GPS with coordinate capability somehow manually put it in the photo's description. Nikon also makes a GPS unit for their cameras as well.

 

[ultranewb]

My current set up has been using a GPS unit and camera separately and syncing those pictures later. That is far less than optimal and the most important feature is going to be the automatic geo-tagging.

The 40D with the GPS accessory unit looks to be about $500 + $200 on Amazon.

Another I've been looking at is the Samsung NX100 ($600) with the GPS accessory for $200.

Then there is the Casio Ex-H20G which has all functionalities I want for $350 but some obvious limitations.

Are there any good options between the 40D/NX100 and the Ex-H20G? Anybody have experience with the geo-tagging on the 40D or the NX100? I've heard there are some problems even with these setups.

Thanks!

 

[dylanstraub]

If I recall picasaweb.com has some geotagging function built in via Google Earth. If you download Picasa (another one of those Google freebie's) you can edit your pictures (basic) and upload them to the site where you can create albums for clients. The geo tagging is in there somewhere. It's not the best but if you need cheap this will give you the option to spend your money on the camera.