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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

SX40 Super Zoom (1 Viewer)

Hi Guys,

To answer the questions, the wader shots were cropped slightly, to re-frame them. I'm used to cropping a lot so I would say that probably about 40% of the background has gone. The Buzzard pic is cropped a lot, probably down to 25% of the original.
The "teleconverter" is just yet another form of digital zoom, as far as I can tell. I haven't used it. The images just lose pixels, there is no "real" magnification.
 
I've just found another amazing feature (well it amazed me!).

I connected the camera to my full-HD 37" tv with an HDMI cable. The picture quality is superb. The quality of the HD movies is stunning. I had a movie that I shot yesterday in very poor light of a couple of male Red-breasted Mergansers, displaying. It looked rubbish on the back of the camera but on the big screen it could have been straight out of a BBC broadcast. Still pics too look superb.

Even better, the camera responded to my TV remote (Samsung) via the "Anynet+" connection. I was able to control all the playback functions of the camera.

(Apologies for the repeated superlatives - I ran out!) :eek!:

Adrian
 
I also looked at the photos on Flickr by Adrian together with the Starling video and was very impressed with the quality. THis camera seems to be quite amazing and has a lot going for it.

Is this going to be more of the future? Surely with a bigger CMOS sensor, better glass and noise control it could challenge the DSLR's.
 
Is this going to be more of the future? Surely with a bigger CMOS sensor, better glass and noise control it could challenge the DSLR's.

... but with a bigger sensor it would need a bigger lens ...

As the technology improves for the small sensor camera, there will be knock on effects for the bigger stuff too. We'll all win in the end.
 
Adrian, I am no tech expert but surely more pixels can be squeezed onto the sensor (which is what I meant when I mentioned a bigger sensor) and as for the lens glass without increasing diameter this could be made up to "L" grade I would think.
 
Adrian, I am no tech expert but surely more pixels can be squeezed onto the sensor (which is what I meant when I mentioned a bigger sensor) and as for the lens glass without increasing diameter this could be made up to "L" grade I would think.

Usually, additional pixels (for same size) mean additional noise and poorer low iso performance.

Niels
 
Being Xmas day I have finally opened the Canon SX40. I have not been able to take side-by-side shots with the 30 vs the 40 yet as I needed the SD card from the 30 to put in the 40. However, it's clear that low light is far better on the 40. Today is overcast and I was still able to take crisp photos of a squirrel on the ground in the shadows under the shrubs where the bird feeder hangs. The 30 is not typically able to take a photo of that spot even on a brighter day without complaining that it's too dark and ending up fuzzy.
 
I found a spare SD card and have done a simple test of the Canon Posershot SX30 vs the SX40.

I'm just sitting in my chair and took a photo of my desk. No zoom, fully Auto with a flash.

I cropped them to show the same area of the desk.

IMG_0029a is the SX40 and IMG7000a is the SX30.

The 40 is certainly superior in this test.
 

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Back on March 21, the day I got the SX30 I posted this Here

The Canon SX30 came today. It's snowing outside so no outside test shots but....

This is a simple comparison shot. Sitting here in my chair I took a photo of a model sailing ship about 10 feet away. Flash in both cases. I cropped each photo to show the same roughly 1.5 by 1.5 inch section of the ship.

One of these is clearly very nice while the other one is not.

The nice one is the new Canon SX30. The not nice one is the Nikon P100. Both are set to best image quality. Both are on full auto.

Notice the good one is only about half the file size as the not good one.

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=314126&d=1300737633

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=314126&d=1300737633

Above I inserted my old attachments as links. Not sure what will happen.

Today it's a test between the SX30 and the SX40.

SX 30 below
SX30
SX 40 below
SX40

The difference is not as large from the larger distance shot. (Why I don't know) but the 40 does have finer detail of the cobwebs on that model that's set there for 10 years or more.

Hopefully tomorrow I can do some comparison shots outside.
 
I got my SX40 a couple of days ago. I've been playing around with it, but still not sure of the best setting for photos of birds. When I've managed to increase my shutter speed, the photos are pretty dark.
Adrian's photos are excellent, I wonder what setting he uses most
Allan
 
I got my SX40 a couple of days ago. I've been playing around with it, but still not sure of the best setting for photos of birds. When I've managed to increase my shutter speed, the photos are pretty dark.
Adrian's photos are excellent, I wonder what setting he uses most
Allan

Allan,
Canon cameras are usually good at getting exposure right. What are your settings?
Neil
 
Hi, I have just taken the plunge and ordered the sx40, to be honest I was intending to go for the panasonic fz150 but the fact that its very difficult to buy one in the uk at the moment led me to look around at other options and I came across this camera. Having read some reviews and looked at some sample photos, especially doing some comparisons on steves-digicams I decided to give this a try. The high iso looks really good. Should be delivered tomorrow morning hopefully. :) How is it at full zoom? small birds etc? this is what I shall mainly be using it for. Thanks, jacqui.
 
Hi, I have just taken the plunge and ordered the sx40, to be honest I was intending to go for the panasonic fz150 but the fact that its very difficult to buy one in the uk at the moment led me to look around at other options and I came across this camera. Having read some reviews and looked at some sample photos, especially doing some comparisons on steves-digicams I decided to give this a try. The high iso looks really good. Should be delivered tomorrow morning hopefully. :) How is it at full zoom? small birds etc? this is what I shall mainly be using it for. Thanks, jacqui.

Jacqui,
Go back to Page 3 of this thread and your questions should be answered.
Neil.
 
new sx40

Well I decided on the sx40 and got it today, had a chance to take it out to the local nature reserve this afternoon and really pleased with the results. The photos are looking really good, cannot believe how good some of the full zoom shots are and it's a great camera to use. Had read quite a bit about slow focus, lcd not being great etc. but had no problem at all with the af even managed to get a couple of half decent shots of bif, and the lcd seems fine, really enjoyed using it and enjoyed seeing the images even more! Great little camera! :)
 
at full zoom

Went out yesterday with sx40 and thought I would just show one photo taken at full zoom, he was way up high in a tree a fair way off, and I was surprised at how well the photo came out considering the distance. Not a wonderful photo or anything but just to show it at full zoom :) jacqui.
 

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