• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

The new SX30 IS (1 Viewer)

Agree, especially also because the same photographer has uploaded some Pana FZ100 shots as well, so there is direct comparison.

Niels
 
jogiba said:
I purchased the SX30 IS after seeing the images and videos posted and this camera is the one to get if you want the most handheld magnification available along with 24mm (35mm eqiv) wide angle IMHO.

Do you have any photos at full zoom that you can post ?

Looked at the youtube videos......................
moon shots look excellent.
Blue Tit was 'washed out'
Wader was under-exposed by backlight.....................so questions??

How do you compensate for backlit subjects ?
Can you select the ISO (or is it purely auto)
Click to expand...
 
David Smith said:
Do you have any photos at full zoom that you can post ?


How do you compensate for backlit subjects ?
Can you select the ISO (or is it purely auto)
Click to expand...

David

I got the SX 30 at the weekend. I am new to bridge cameras and haven't had much time to use the camera yet but here is an example of the cameras zoom. Given your location , you may recognize the level marker. I will post some bird pictures next

David
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0124 640s 4.0f iso160 03-10-2010 14-57-02.JPG
    IMG_0124 640s 4.0f iso160 03-10-2010 14-57-02.JPG
    105.8 KB · Views: 207
  • IMG_0125 500s 4.0f iso 160 03-10-2010 14-57-12.JPG
    IMG_0125 500s 4.0f iso 160 03-10-2010 14-57-12.JPG
    120.7 KB · Views: 146
  • IMG_0126 250s 5.0f iso 80 03-10-2010 14-57-25.JPG
    IMG_0126 250s 5.0f iso 80 03-10-2010 14-57-25.JPG
    98.4 KB · Views: 153
  • IMG_0127 200s 5.8f iso80 03-10-2010 14-57-44.JPG
    IMG_0127 200s 5.8f iso80 03-10-2010 14-57-44.JPG
    91.6 KB · Views: 245
Last edited:
Woodpecker and Jay both at 400 ISO in low light at full zoom, hand held resting on hide

David
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0504-1.JPG
    IMG_0504-1.JPG
    290.6 KB · Views: 385
  • IMG_0422-1.JPG
    IMG_0422-1.JPG
    157.6 KB · Views: 355
Last edited:
David Smith said:
How do you compensate for backlit subjects ?
Can you select the ISO (or is it purely auto)
Click to expand...

Need to work on the backlit issue as this photo illustrates.

Yes you can change ISO or have it set at auto
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0107 800s 5.8f iso 80 03-10-2010 14-48-1.JPG
    IMG_0107 800s 5.8f iso 80 03-10-2010 14-48-1.JPG
    47.2 KB · Views: 226
Squirrel at 800 ISO, blue tit at 1600
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0328.JPG
    IMG_0328.JPG
    236.7 KB · Views: 247
  • IMG_0309.JPG
    IMG_0309.JPG
    157.6 KB · Views: 277
David Smith said:
jogiba said:
I purchased the SX30 IS after seeing the images and videos posted and this camera is the one to get if you want the most handheld magnification available along with 24mm (35mm eqiv) wide angle IMHO.

Do you have any photos at full zoom that you can post ?

Looked at the youtube videos......................
moon shots look excellent.
Blue Tit was 'washed out'
Wader was under-exposed by backlight.....................so questions??

How do you compensate for backlit subjects ?
Can you select the ISO (or is it purely auto)
Click to expand...

It has spot metering and exposure compensation. So you'd cope with backlighting in excactly the same way as any other camera. Try to use the spot metre to reduce it, but if that isn't sufficient use the exposure compensation. Its specs are available from Canon website or dppreview.
Click to expand...
 
davids said:
David

I got the SX 30 at the weekend. I am new to bridge cameras and haven't had much time to use the camera yet but here is an example of the cameras zoom. Given your location , you may recognize the level marker. I will post some bird pictures next
David
Click to expand...
Looks like Pennington Flash??
Very impressive zoom.

davids said:
Woodpecker and Jay both at 400 ISO in low light at full zoom, hand held resting on hide
David
Click to expand...
Objective comment is that IQ is nowhere near DLSR with good lense but then again I dont think it's supposed to be. It's versatility is great and they are decent record shots.

Steve Babbs said:
David Smith said:
It has spot metering and exposure compensation. So you'd cope with backlighting in excactly the same way as any other camera. Try to use the spot metre to reduce it, but if that isn't sufficient use the exposure compensation. Its specs are available from Canon website or dppreview.
Click to expand...
I had a camcorder that had a dedicated 'backlight' button so wondered if this did-but if ex' comp' is easy to use it's just as good, maybe better as you can decide how much to allow.
Click to expand...
 
I have to admit I'm feeling more tempted by the Fuji now, mainly due the fact that you can take RAW pictures with it. I'm looking forward to head to head reviews.
 
jogiba said:
It fits in the pocket of my Nikon Vestrap photographers vest.
Click to expand...

I had a look at one at J Lewis, and no will not fit in my pockets :C

A very interesting camera, Jack of all Trades master of none.

But if you wanted a camera for ID's on birds at great distances its the one, even better than a pair of bins as you can take a image as well.
 
The Fuji has nearly the same zoom and sounds like it's better at 400. I'd love to hear from someone who has really compared the two. I'm going to dither for a while myself.
 
Lack of good burst mode a serious drawback

Steve Babbs said:
The Fuji has nearly the same zoom and sounds like it's better at 400. I'd love to hear from someone who has really compared the two. I'm going to dither for a while myself.
Click to expand...

I have the FZ100 and think that it is probably better than both of these cameras. In respect to the Canon it has a very slow burst mode of 1 fps. The Fuji is up there with the FZ100, but will only squirt off 7 frames at 10fps before it shuts down for 15 seconds. The FZ100 will fire off 15 frames at 11 fps and does stop after that, but you can still keep firing away almost straight away even if you can't rattle off the full 15 frames. And should you only fire off 4-7 shots you can still shoot off the extra 7-8 shots immediately, while the Fuji is still sitting there processing things. While the FZ100 doesn't have the zoom reach of the other two, you can get it to go out to 32x using extra optical zoom and it has the capability of adding a teleconverter as well. I use a 2x which takes it out to the equivalent of 1200mm on a 35mm camera. There are other shooting rates that will fire at 5fps/2fsp/40 and 60fps, the last two with reduced file size. In my opinion, the burst rates are very important if you want more than one shot of that bird on the branch. for me the Pana has it all over the other two. It is also the only camera in this group that allows you to adjust shutter speed and aperture in its video mode. That means when you shoot video of a bird say with a shutter speed of 4000/sec (it goes up to 20000/sec) the movement of fluttering wings will be captured beautifully when you stop to look at it frame by frame.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

A
Using Canon R6 in full frame versus cropped mode?
Replies
3
Views
5K
Aliks
A
Oregon John
What I think would be the perfect birding (rather than bird photography) camera
Replies
10
Views
2K
robinlanark
R
J
Help pls Which phone/ compact camera?
Replies
0
Views
714
Jhanlon
J
J
Which camera or phone for digiscoping?
Replies
1
Views
2K
Luca1970
L
T
Camera choice for birding around 3000 Euros with lens?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Tsvetan
T

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top