I live in south korea. there is a saying here - "don't write chinese characters in front of confucius" - seems appropriate for the bird photos I have been taking after looking at yours...
still a book publisher has seen my photos and is interested in publishing a book using some of the photos with Korean poems. the area where the birds live and feed is surrounded by a formidable fence and so I am usually frustratingly trying to get a decent shot from quite a distance. I currently use a little canon powershot s3 with a 1.4 tele converter. I am considering upgrading to a nikon d80 with perhaps a 70-300mm lens. unfortunately, I know little about this camera and how it will compare to the one i am using (other than it will be "better" which is pretty relative). I have posted the following question on a couple of forums but no good answer to date. Perhaps you have some suggestions. Also, before you recommend it let me say that I realize (especially after seeing your shots) that a prime with more reach would be better but money-wise it's a bit too much of jump right now (however, am open to any lens that you might recommend, provided i can afford it). Could you give me an idea of how much better will the photo quality be (considering the fact that I will likely have to crop more)?
thanks for any info or suggestions you have to offer (also, if you know of any photographers shooting birds with a similar camera and lens - nikon - I would like to take a look at what they are able to get).
john jackson
ps: below is the gist of the question I've been passing around:
my question is: is there a formula or rule of thumb to estimate photo quality between a photo shot with the s3 (with 700mm plus tele) and a photo shot with a dslr at say 450mm (35mm equiv) lens (am considering a nikon d80 with 70-300mm lens). considering that i will have to crop the dslr photo more, how much better will the final photo be in quality (printing at 300 ppi - which I have been told is what I should provide)?
i use a 1.4X converter (and have found a 2.4X that fits it) and so have quite a powerful lens (about 900 with the converter, i believe - 35mm. equivalent). Even with this lens i have to crop considerably (a typical distant shot will only be 6X5 or so inches at 300 ppi - I do get in closer shots but even so about the best I can do with the S3 is 10X9 (large enough for the book) at 300ppi - which i have been told is pro quality for publishing).
so ,all other considerations aside, i need to know if, after cropping the dslr camera's photo (which will be considerably smaller so will be cropped much more), will i have a 300ppi photo that is smaller, about the same, or larger (and if so, how much?) than the photos i now get with the s3 and its tele lens. if the photo will not be much larger then the $1,500 it will cost here in korea (more like $2,000 as i will probably need another lens for landscape shots) seems like a lot to pay (however, i am sure there are other considerations that i am not aware of - if you know of any i would appreciate that info).
