Need Advice: first time to buy dSLR need it for wildlife safari in Kenya

Hi,

I need your advice to guide my through the dSLR world;

Want to buy a dSLR within a budget of $1000, i used to have Olympus 10x optical zoom camera.

i know that i should have powerful zoom capabilities but i don't understand for instance how many nX optical zoom can be equivalent to a 200mm lens??

also if any one could give me advice on what brand to choose and the lenses that can make get the best out of my trip with a dSLR?
Or shall i opt for the new ultra zoom Olypmus SP 570 UZ, as it has 20 x zoom and can add extender 2X? is this achievable with a dSLR with in my budget?

Thanks a lot in advance and sorry for being to long but sure you understand
Magdy

In an SLR format, a 50mm is roughly equivalent to how the human eye sees. So a 200mm is about 4x. A 20x for an SLR means 1000mm - a little out of your price range.

Don't get caught up in the extreme 10x, 20x advertised zoom capabilities of the P&S. Most are digital zooms which is simply cropping the already tiny image on a tiny sensor. Compare only optical zooms.

For SLR's, most people will rarely use/need anything beyond 300mm or 400mm. How soon is your safari? Learning one's gear completely is necessary to consistently getting high quality images. If you do go to SLR's, I would suggest several months of daily shooting before you go in order to learn its capabilities and limitations.

actually a 10x zoom in point and shoot can't really be converted to slr lenses. 10x means that it ranges from the smallest to the longest.... ie 10mm to 100mm would be a 10x, also 15mm to 150mm would also be 10x where as a 50mm to 150mm would only be a 3x lense.