Buying advice: Compact superzoom for Asian birding (1 Viewer)

I know this comes up a lot but was hoping for some advice based on superzoom compact cameras available in the UK today (looking to purchase within the next 7 days).

I am going on a trip to Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. I normally use a 7D with Tamron(?) 600mm lens but I don't want to take such a large heavy lens for what will only be the occasional opportunity to go birding (family pressures!) So I am looking to buy a superzoom ~£450 that whilst not providing the same quality as my dslr still provide some decent equipment to get some shots of nice birds (as well as all the other touristy stuff).

If anyone can provide some advice as to what to go for it would be much appreciated. I see Panasonic FZ330 or Nikon P900 seems to get mentioned a lot.

Many thanks in advance.

vilbs said:

I see Panasonic FZ330 or Nikon P900 seems to get mentioned a lot.

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I think these are indeed the most popular superzooms, although there are some other options as well.

From these two, the FZ300 has the shorter range (600 mm vs. 2000 mm) but the larger aperture (2.8 all the way, versus 6.5 at 2000 mm for the Nikon). As most of your birding will be in tropical forest, I'd say light gathering is more important than reach, so I'd favor the FZ300. Somewhat more compact and lighter, plus weather sealing are other advantages of the Panasonic, compared to the Nikon.

But I have to add that I may be biased towards the Panasonic, as I own it's predcessor (FZ200) and quite like it.

Canon SX60 HS (or its predecessor SX50 HS) is also an option.

dalat said:

But I have to add that I may be biased towards the Panasonic, as I own it's predcessor (FZ200) and quite like it.

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One word of caution - I also owned the FZ200, before passing it on to my wife when I went down the DSLR route last year. It is starting to show its age a little (the zoom sticks sometimes), and I've been thinking of buying her the FZ330...however, I did read that the processing engine had changed slightly to optimise noise reduction over sharpness, and some reviews mention problems with 'soft' shots. It may be worth comparing them if you can - you lose the weather sealing with the FZ200, but it is a lot cheaper.