On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:27:47 -0500, Lew
wrote:


For whale pictures you need the longest zoom you can get that is
stabilized for hand holding. Tripods are not very useful on a boat. I
have not seen whales from the three cruise ships I have been on, but did
get good pictures from a whale watching boat during a port call on a
Hawaii cruise. I was using a Panasonic FZ-40 with 420mm equivalent, and
wished for still more length. Lighting is usually sufficient for noise
to not be a problem.

The FujiFilm has an 18x optical zoom and is equivalent to 486mm at
maximum zoom, or eqivalent to close to a 500mm zoom lens on a 35mm
camera, which I can remember was a LONG zoom years ago.

I have had no dealings with the sellers you mention. I have had good
results with B&H, Adorama, and Amazon.com. I know of at least two cases,
and have heard of others, where a company would sell cameras at a low
price but will be "temporarily out of stock" if you don't buy their
over-priced accessories such as memory cards, batteries, or expedited
shipping. For just the camera they will take the order but not ship.
Your credit card may be charged. You learn of the stock problem when you
check to see why you have not received the order.

Ended up buying the FujiFilm S8000fd from Beach Camera in New Jersey
via my son, who lives in Utah. He ordered it online on Monday, and
FedEx got it from Beach on Tuesday. It left New Jersey on Wednesday,
according to the tracking number from FedEx. It should arrive in Utah
on Monday or Tuesday of next week... and has to be signed for.

Beach has an excellent reputation these days, from what I was able to
find on the web, and the camera has a full FujiFilm U.S. warranty,
which is recognised here in Canada.

I will get it from him in late November and when I return to Canada
will have been in the U.S. and Mexico for 8 days, so it will be under
my exemption from GST and PST as it is [far] less than the C$400.00
import limit free of taxes and duties that I will be permitted. The
savings is $190.91 in Canadian dollars by having my son order it, and
since he gets cash back from his credit card for making the purchase,
he's happy too.