what specs for camera should i have for long distance photoshots

[blinkingmail]

Which camera should I buy for Line of sight verification?

the camera will be used as an aid in our documentation. Line of sight surveys involves 2 sites with 10 to 20 km distance between. the main goal is to capture an image of the remote site.

( site A ------10 to 20km------ site B )

the subjects would be 40 to 100 ft buildings( towers, high rise buildings)


The questions marked with a * are the most important.

Budget

* What budget have you allocated for buying this camera? Please be as specific as possible.

$400 to $700

Size

* What size camera are you looking for? Or does size not matter at all to you?

does not matter

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you?

* What optical zoom will you need? (None, Standard = 3x-4x, Ultrazoom = 10x-12x)

i need optical zoom that can capture images from 10 to 20 km distances

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10)

3

Do you care for manual exposure modes (shutter priority, aperture priority, manual)?

dont know a thing about this.

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for?

the camera will be used for Line of Sight verification as an aid in my
documents

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not?

no

*Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos?

the camera will be used for line of sight surveys

*Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos?

no

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate?

no

Are there particular models you already have in mind?

none

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? (Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD)

image stabilization

Hope someone could answer my queries
thanks

[Andy Stanton]

Buy a camera with the longest possible zoom lens. Here are some possibilities, from least expensive to most expensive:
Fuji S4000
Kodak Z990
Nikon P500
Canon SX30 IS
Sony HX100v
Fuji HS20EXR

[KCook]

From that list I would suggest the Fuji, as it will take filters, which sometimes can help cut haze. A more serious possibility would be a Nikon D3000 body (DSLR) plus a 50-200mm zoom lens.

Kelly Cook

[blinkingmail]

Thanks for the feed back Sirs. Can you recommend what camera specs should I consider for taking images from great distances. i hope that you can enlighten me with this one

[Andy Stanton]

Originally Posted by blinkingmail

Thanks for the feed back Sirs. Can you recommend what camera specs should I consider for taking images from great distances. i hope that you can enlighten me with this one

You'll need a long zoom lens, good image quality and an effective image stabilization system. It also helps to have a camera with a viewfinder, as holding the camera up against your face while using the viewfinder is much more effective at reducing camera shake than holding the camera out in front of you while looking at its LCD screen.

The cameras I listed earlier have the longest available zoom lenses (for non-DSLR's) and are good for shooting at long distances.

[Jim Keenan]

A big zoom and a tripod or some other form of camera support is what I'd recommend. If your subject isn't moving, you establish focus, and use the self-timer to fire the shutter of the camera on the tripod so you minimize camera shake. Use stabilization if you're hand holding, but if you're on a tripod you don't need it.

You're looking at about 6 to 12 miles from your subject, so to give you an idea of the view, here's a shot of space shuttle Atlantis on pad 39B from about 6 - 6.5 miles. The shuttle itself is about 122 feet long - the shuttle mated to the main fuel tank (the large orangish cylinder) is about 185 feet long. This was shot with a Nikon D300 and 400mm lens, so effective focal length in 35mm terms is 600mm. Shooting over these distances atmospherics can play havoc with the shot, so get as much lens as you can.

[blinkingmail]

thank you very much for the inputs sirs.