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Thrifty Thursday: the best camera is the one you have with you

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500.

[Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 - $295]

10 pounds of camera gear is my typical burden when I go out photographing. That's small compared to what the big wildlife guys with their telephoto lenses lug around, but still a bit much when I'm on vacation.


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If I'm not planning to sell images, I often just grab a pocket-sized digicam. My Panasonic Lumix worked just fine for a pleasant evening walk around Bright, Australia. The sunset was lovely- it brought light levels within the limited dynamic range of the camera- and I was able to get a perfectly facebookable* image without turning a casual stroll into a full expedition.

*Yes, this is a real word.

Alex Wild is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies the evolutionary history of ants. In 2003 he founded a photography business as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work, and his natural history photographs appear in numerous museums, books and media outlets.

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