Pocket super zoom for record shots (1 Viewer)

I have a DSLR with zoom lenses etc, so I know that will be better than anything in the pocket/bridge category. I am however a field birder and tend to travel light with my lovely Leica binoculars and that's it, but I would love to have a pocket camera to take record shots with (I'm thinking something of the size of Sony Cyber-shot HX80).

I'm looking for a genuine pocket super zoom camera that I could pull out and operate quickly to capture reasonable images of say a raptor overhead? Capable of 'burst frame'?

I guess what I'm looking for is a camera that could capture something like this (below) if that was 200 metres or so up.

129 views but no replies! Does that mean pocket superzooms are incapable of capturing birds in flight overhead?

nexstarneil said:

129 views but no replies! Does that mean pocket superzooms are incapable of capturing birds in flight overhead?

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I wouldnt say incapable but not easy and maybe folks have not tried it,i can get most cameras to come close to doing what i want but never tried a pocket camera for more than the odd static shot.

I would have thought a bridge camera could work but its not pocketable.

Others may be more optimistic, but IMHO you would be doing very well to get an image as clear and clean as your Honey-buzz example with any of the current bridge superzooms, and I doubt it would be possible routinely with any pocket zoom. Writing as someone who has tried and been disappointed. Currently using m4/3 which for me is a fair compromise between potential image quality and portability!
Brian

Thanks Brian, that's the kind of candid advice I was after, cheers.

This photo of a kestrel in a distance of 100m (according to Google Maps) was taken with a Canon SX50. Not so easy to beat this superzoom bridge with a camera weighing less than 560g or cheaper than 150 Euro.

I guess I can't answer unless you clarify..."pocket superzoom" is a non-camera. Do you want a pocket cam, or a superzoom/bridge camera.||

For bridge superzoom, I do just fine with an SX60 (1365mm equivalent), and you can check my gallery for results there, which include birds in flight. I've done it for birds out at 80m and at 130m.

For pocket cams, really I can only suggest the Sony RX100 series, especially the MK-III, MK-IV, and MK-V. But their zoom isn't very far (70mm equivalent). There are good consumer pocket cameras with better zoom (my Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS is 240mm equivalent), but I'm not going to claim it can do birds in flight at range easily if at all.

If you could find a consumer-grade, high-zoom pocket camera that let you have direct control over shutter speed you might improve your chances quite a bit for making one work for BiF.

Here's an article with an overview of some of the recent "consumer" long-zoom cameras, some pocketable and some not. It discusses the Sony mentioned by the OP.

https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/2016-roundup-consumer-long-zoom-compacts

The problem you run into is that any truly pocketable long-zoom camera has to use a small sensor to maximize the crop factor, which compromises image quality. So the trend now for "enthusiast" zooms is to use larger 1" sensors, but that means the zoom is not so super--at least not what is ideal for bird photography.