The photos of Costa Rica accommodations and scenery were taken by me over a 20-year time frame. They vary from old, grainy scanned images taken by film cameras to new mega-zoom digital photos. Many of the bird photographs, however, were taken by friends who accompanied me with better equipment and better skills. Most of these are credited to Bruce Hallett. Some recent bird photos, however, are my own. Most of my bird photos are hummingbird and antbird pictures. All the sloth and monkey photos are mine - mainly because they are easier subjects.

There is now a selection of lightweight digital mega-zoom cameras that cost less than $500 and have 30x lenses. Fujifilm, Sony, Panasonic, and Canon seem to have set the standard. These digital cameras are in no way as good as the finer DSLR cameras, but they have improved image stabilization over the years and can take reasonable pictures at good distances. They are lightweight and significantly less expensive.

The better DSLR cameras by Canon and others come at the expense of much bigger size and weight. The trade-off has never been worth it for me, but photography, like birding, is a hobby with some addictive characteristics.

A small number of my own pictures were taken with a recent purchase - a Fujifilm HS20 shown above. It has a 30x zoom and good image stabilization. The banner picture of the hummingbird above on this web page was taken with this camera. I carry both the camera and binoculars around my neck while birding.

It is difficult to find a good camera review by someone specifically taking pictures of birds. The following review is interesting from that perspective.

Review of Fujifilm HS10 and HS20 cameras from a wildlife blogger

Photos over several years

Pictures of Birds of Costa Rica - taken by Bruce Hallett

Costa Rica Accommodations - taken by Jim and Gretchen Peterson

Wildlife in Costa Rica - taken by Gretchen and Jim Peterson