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Comparing Superzooms (1 Viewer)

I wonder if the Sony HX100 will have better IS than the Canon SX30. It's important at long zooms.

For various reasons my choice is now between the Canon SX30 and the Sony HX100. I've ruled out the Fuji and Panasonic superzooms.

I'm attracted to the Canon's 35x zoom but the Sony 30x is still a step up from my Nikon P100 26x zoom. My experience with Canon Pocket cameras have been very positive so I guess I have an experience bias there in favor of Canon.

Alternatively I don't like Sony as a company but the features of the HX100 seem attractive. 10 full res shots per second beats Canon's 1 and I can see using that.

The Sony provides no specs on shots per battery charge whereas canon says 400 with the EVF.

I strongly suspect that both will be an improvement over the Nikon P100 but what I really need is better spot focus to tell the bird from the bush or tree that it's in. It appears to me that Nikon's real "spot" is an order of magnitude or more larger than the "spot" in the EVF.

And so I wait for the HX100 to be released to read actual usage reviews. But I hardly expect that reviews will talk much about the specific focus need that I mentioned.

And who knows how the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear problems in Japan might change shipments for any of the camera manufacturers. I hope Japan bounces back. I've been there over 20 times and have friends and customers there. They are good people.
 
crazyfingers said:
I strongly suspect that both will be an improvement over the Nikon P100 but what I really need is better spot focus to tell the bird from the bush or tree that it's in. It appears to me that Nikon's real "spot" is an order of magnitude or more larger than the "spot" in the EVF.

And so I wait for the HX100 to be released to read actual usage reviews. But I hardly expect that reviews will talk much about the specific focus need that I mentioned.
Click to expand...
(Lots of things cut out from the above)

If that is your main concern, then you should go back and take a second look at the panasonics. That is exactly the point where my Pana FZ18 was (and is) excellent. I do not know if the Canon or Sony is head and shoulders above in other aspects - as I have no experience with them.

Niels
 
Niels

I don't recall exactly why I ruled out the Panasonic. It has been a few weeks. It might have been the that I don't want a step back from 26x zoom, but I will review my thinking on your recommendation.
 
crazyfingers said:
Niels

I don't recall exactly why I ruled out the Panasonic. It has been a few weeks. It might have been the that I don't want a step back from 26x zoom, but I will review my thinking on your recommendation.
Click to expand...

More important than the X times zoom is the equivalent reach at maximum zoom, which for my old FZ18 was 504 mm equivalent.

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
(Lots of things cut out from the above)

If that is your main concern, then you should go back and take a second look at the panasonics. That is exactly the point where my Pana FZ18 was (and is) excellent. I do not know if the Canon or Sony is head and shoulders above in other aspects - as I have no experience with them.

Niels
Click to expand...

One illustration of this point: this photo of a wood thrush was taken with the FZ18. It has been cropped to about 1/4 of the original area (so ½ of the length along each axis). It is slightly soft, but I believe that to be due to a shutter speed of 1/60 and not due to focusing problems. Attached here is a non-cropped, non-sharpened version of the photo (reduced in size to max 900 pix).

Niels
 

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Niels,

I thank you for your efforts. I did review the Pana ZX100 vs the Canon again. I'm not keen on going to less zoom. The Pana ZX100 is only 24x and the canon is 35x while my unsatisfactory Nikon is is 26x.

Actually I took the plunge and ordered the Canon SX30 about 45 minutes ago by Amazon. I'll admit that I made the choice before I wanted to make the choice. I wanted to wait and see what the reviews say about the new Sony HX 100.

But I'm looking at the reports of damage to Japanese Camera companies from the quake and tsunami, not to mention nuclear and power outages, and the speculation of reports of delayed shipments and short supply of certain cameras. Canon was hit and so was Sony among many other companies.

The news is not detailed in most cases about which products are made in which specific plants or where the components are sourced. But I finally decided that I don't want to chance being without a replacement for my disappointing Nikon P100 by May.

As a family we have moved up the beginnings of our various trips to the coast of Maine to late May. I really want a replacement by then.

I recognize that I could easily be overreacting. I realize that it might not be the best choice if I could wait.

I think that the Canon is a better choice for my needs than the Panasonic. I decided to go with the Canon because of the zoom and because of my excellent satisfaction with their pocket cameras.

I also went with Canon because they have been clients of mine for 20+ years. I have been to Japan to visit them at last 23 times and some of the Canon people in Tokyo have become friends. I work with the printer side of the company, not the camera side, but it's still a connection. They have been by customer for over 20 years. I feel a loyalty in their times of trouble. I don't know anyone at Sony or Panasonic.

If the SX30 isn't the best for me I'll make a change in a couple years. For the moment, it will be delivered in about 5 days and I need to focus on making it work and being happy about my choice. I do think it's a good choice.
 
kenn3d said:
Hi all,

We have been pretty happy with the results we're getting photographing our backyard birds with the Canon SX30. You can see quite a few examples here:
http://kenn3d.smugmug.com/Nature/SX30/15050225_a88Zy

Kenn
Click to expand...

Kenn3d, I want to let you know that your photos, which I found and looked at in admiration on my first visit to this forum early this month, convinced me that the Canon SX30 is at least a real good choice for me. Your pictures weighed heavily in my decision to go with the Canon.
 
crazyfingers said:
Niels,

I thank you for your efforts. I did review the Pana ZX100 vs the Canon again. I'm not keen on going to less zoom. The Pana ZX100 is only 24x and the canon is 35x while my unsatisfactory Nikon is is 26x.

Actually I took the plunge and ordered the Canon SX30 about 45 minutes ago by Amazon. I'll admit that I made the choice before I wanted to make the choice. I wanted to wait and see what the reviews say about the new Sony HX 100.

But I'm looking at the reports of damage to Japanese Camera companies from the quake and tsunami, not to mention nuclear and power outages, and the speculation of reports of delayed shipments and short supply of certain cameras. Canon was hit and so was Sony among many other companies.

The news is not detailed in most cases about which products are made in which specific plants or where the components are sourced. But I finally decided that I don't want to chance being without a replacement for my disappointing Nikon P100 by May.

As a family we have moved up the beginnings of our various trips to the coast of Maine to late May. I really want a replacement by then.

I recognize that I could easily be overreacting. I realize that it might not be the best choice if I could wait.

I think that the Canon is a better choice for my needs than the Panasonic. I decided to go with the Canon because of the zoom and because of my excellent satisfaction with their pocket cameras.

I also went with Canon because they have been clients of mine for 20+ years. I have been to Japan to visit them at last 23 times and some of the Canon people in Tokyo have become friends. I work with the printer side of the company, not the camera side, but it's still a connection. They have been by customer for over 20 years. I feel a loyalty in their times of trouble. I don't know anyone at Sony or Panasonic.

If the SX30 isn't the best for me I'll make a change in a couple years. For the moment, it will be delivered in about 5 days and I need to focus on making it work and being happy about my choice. I do think it's a good choice.
Click to expand...

Hi there
I can certainly understand, from what you've written, why you opted for the Canon. It's always fun when the new equipment arrives in the post and I'm sure you'll get to grips with how to make the most of it. I shall look forward to seeing the results you get - keep us posted ;)
Hobbes
 
crazyfingers said:
Niels,

I thank you for your efforts. I did review the Pana ZX100 vs the Canon again. I'm not keen on going to less zoom. The Pana ZX100 is only 24x and the canon is 35x while my unsatisfactory Nikon is is 26x.
Click to expand...

As Niels noted earlier, "x" multiples in cameras are not a measure of "zoom", i.e. magnification. They are just a function of the difference between the low and high zoom ranges of a camera. You can significantly increase the multiple not by adding magnification but by increasing the amount the lens can zoom "out", i.e. decrease magnification to less than the human eye.

What you want to compare is 35mm equivalent magnification. However, I don't think any of this changes your rankings. But note for example that the Canon (840mm max) has more magnification than the new Nikon (810mm max) even though the Nikon is 36x and the Canon 35x (the Nikon has a higher multiple because it has a lower low end zoom range--22.5mm vs. 24mm for the Canon).

(BTW to translate 35mm equivalents to approximate "powers" used in binoculars and scopes--divide by 50, which is the appx. magnification of the human eye. This yields appx 17 power magnification for your new Canon.)

Hope this helps,
Jim

PS: I'm taking the figures above from Hobbes' nice spreadsheet supplied at the beginning of this thread. Thanks for sharing that Hobbes.
 
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I have my doubts about the usefulness of a so-called 800 mm zoom in these compact type cameras. The objective diameter is so small that one gets very slow exposures only. Plus, there is a tendency to lose that crispness as one zooms to get a "closer" impression. Or is it only the Panasonic models that have the latter problem?
 
Swissboy said:
I have my doubts about the usefulness of a so-called 800 mm zoom in these compact type cameras. The objective diameter is so small that one gets very slow exposures only.
Click to expand...
I was under the impression that most of them were around the f5.6 mark on full zoom. That's not slow in my books.

The lenses may not necessarily be as sharp as those for an SLR, and they might have fringing, and the small sensor may be noisy, but I didn't think speed was such an issue. I had a Canon S3 and upgraded to an Olympus E-520 and an f5.6 400mm lens, and I'd say I gained about 1 usable stop because of the lower noise.
Swissboy said:
Plus, there is a tendency to lose that crispness as one zooms to get a "closer" impression. Or is it only the Panasonic models that have the latter problem?
Click to expand...
If you're talking about digital zoom then I'd agree that's always going to happen with any camera.
 
pshute said:
I was under the impression that most of them were around the f5.6 mark on full zoom. That's not slow in my books.

.........If you're talking about digital zoom then I'd agree that's always going to happen with any camera.
Click to expand...


I'm not talking about digital zooms. I never use them.

f5.6 might not be "slow", but the longer lenses are so much more susceptible to blurring/shaking. Meaning one needs faster shutter speeds when one basically gets slower ones due to the longer extension without a wider objective lens.
 
Swissboy said:
I'm not talking about digital zooms. I never use them.

f5.6 might not be "slow", but the longer lenses are so much more susceptible to blurring/shaking. Meaning one needs faster shutter speeds when one basically gets slower ones due to the longer extension without a wider objective lens.
Click to expand...

Many of us use teleconverters on our older superzooms, which setup gives the equivalent of 800mm plus magnification. I haven't noticed any problems different than w/o the teleconverter. Image stabilization still works well. High shutter speeds are mostly necessary because the bird is moving, not the camera.

Best,
Jim
 
Hi, Hobbes2 did you go and look at the Hx100v ? The more i read about this camera the more i like the sound of it.I have not found a proper test on it yet, but i would have thought it shouldn't be too much longer to wait.On paper it seems to have everything i am wanting.
 
J.D said:
Hi, Hobbes2 did you go and look at the Hx100v ? The more i read about this camera the more i like the sound of it.I have not found a proper test on it yet, but i would have thought it shouldn't be too much longer to wait.On paper it seems to have everything i am wanting.
Click to expand...

Hi JD,
Unforunately not had a chance yet. It'll probably be May before I can go into town to take a proper look. If I hear anything or have any further news, I'll post it here. :t:
Hobbes
 
Thought I'd just post on here that, for the summer/autumn, I'm sticking with my Panasonic FZ8. Having read numerous websites/research/reviews etc, it seems that not enough is to be gained by buying something new, at this stage. I've not seen any images that persuade me to change. I did consider opting for the FZ38 but, again, I don't think I'll gain enough to warrant the price. Reading this thread clinched it for me: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=35891638 (Chris(Kten) you'll maybe be interested to read here that some actually think the FZ28 is better than the FZ38).

So, I've ordered the Panasonic T-CON17 and adapter and I'll see how that goes.

....perhaps by the end of the year there will be more evidence on which to make a decision.

I'll keep an eye on this thread to see how others get on.
Hobbes
 
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