Which Superzoom? (1 Viewer)

Hi all. There appears to be a need for a thread for those undecided which Superzoom best meets their needs.

There is no ownership of this thread. It belongs to the beautiful people of Bird Forum:hippy: this thread is not geared toward one particular make or another. It is simply geared toward making comparison easier.

Feel free to present any views on why you think one maybe better than the other. Feel free to add any pictures taken. Currently I think I'll be looking along the lines of FZ200, HS50\ 30 or SX40 / 50. My own little point and shoot has gone to camera heaven having served me for 5+ years. I was hoping to put off a purchase until next years trip to Canada but I may try and get it past the boss a little earlier. It appears to me that the HS50 users are getting to grips with settings but that will come with time. Roy C (sx40)in particular has shown some amazing pictures and personally, I like Molly's (HS50)as well.

If anyone's found any good deals that would also be useful.

Throw them all in there people. B :t:

Rich

[ATTA H]436300[/ATTACH]

Just a few to get it going, from my Canon SX50, all shot in the last day or two.
Two in good light and two in dull.

I didn't think the panasonic HS20 focussed sharply, and I'm currently using the Nikon p150 which is a very pleasing and very small 42x
Chris

Nice pics FP. At the moment the Panny and Canon are quite a bit cheaper here in the Uk (than HS50). I guess the price difference will reduce over time. One of my friends has the HS30 and he gets some great results though none are of birds.

Rich

Cheers Chris:t:. The idea behind the thread was to give info. to people about any models available, and assist them make an informed choice.

Rich

scary-canary said:

I didn't think the panasonic HS20 focussed sharply, and I'm currently using the Nikon p150 which is a very pleasing and very small 42x
Chris

Click to expand...

Hi All,
As I am having a slight "medical difficulty" at the moment, I was looking for a small, light camera with a decent capability to carry instead of my DSLR kit. Being used to Canon's wicked ways and menu structures etc, I went for the SX50. This decision was in no small way influenced by the success that Roy C was having with his baby Canons, and the helpful guidance and experience he has posted.

I find it an excellent little camera, and my fingers are beginning to find their way around the buttons. I do, at the moment, largely use the EVF and handhold. Whilst the EVF may not be the sharpest it is perfectly useable for static (ish) subjects. For fast moving subjects, the EVF "lag" introduces a few problems. What I do like about both the EVF and rear screen is the ability to customise the information displayed. I don't find having to press the display button to change between Rear Screen and EVF irritating (as some reviewers have mentioned).

I have totally ignored all Face Recognition, Photographing Baby, Naming faces hoo-hah etc - so half the mode setting dial doesn't get used - each to his own!

I have been accustomed to shooting RAW with the DSLR, and that is what I mainly use with the SX50. Even in the poor light we had until recently the camera is turning in pretty good results at ISOs of up to 800 - I'm sure if I can hone my PP skills a bit they will improve further. That said, they aren't as sharp in the detail as the DSLR's output, but you wouldn't (or shouldn't?) expect that.

I haven't had as good a set of results with JPEG, but that may well be down to getting more experience with the settings. At the long end of the zoom I would definitely avoid "digital zoom" - stay within the optical zoom range and use the digital teleconverters.

Battery life so far hasn't been quite what is quoted in the specs, so carrying a spare battery is a good idea. Again, I may need to tweak a few more settings to improve battery life.

I suppose my reasons for going with the SX50 were;
1, A bit of "brand loyalty" and familiarity.
2. The size, weight and focal length capability.
3. The ability to shoot RAW,
4. Price (especially with the Spring Cashback)

It is cracking little camera which I am greatly enjoying using, and it certainly woke up the "opposition" (dare I mention the "F" word).

Hiya Rich,

I use a Panasonic FZ150 that has a maximum 600mm zoom (not including digital zoom) the FZ150 has been superceded by the Panasonic Lumix FZ200 with the same max 600mm zoom. I don't think we can justify calling 600mm Bridge Camera's Superzooms perhaps only camera's with a 1000mm minimum reach should be called superzooms. The current market demands more and more reach and it appears the manufacturers are capable of providing it, birders have never had more choice :-O

Panasonic missed a trick by not substantially increasing the FZ200 zoom range to compete with the models you mention above. I would be surprised if the company didn't bring out a new model to compete with their rivals offerings in the not too distant future...600mm is starting to look very old hat now :eek!:

That's great. Cheers Bill. I'm leaning toward the SX50. Best price I can find is c£290. Best price after a quick search for HS50 I can find is £375.

Rich

WHIMBREL said:

I use a Panasonic FZ150 that has a maximum 600mm zoom (not including digital zoom)

Click to expand...

FYI: The panasonic superzooms have a 2x teleconverter setting that is different from digital zoom. There is no loss of image quality from using this setting (as you would have with digital zoom), and on the FZ200 it gives a 1200mm equivalent magnification when using the small picture size (does not work with RAW though afaik). Have used this setting extensively with two different panasonic cameras; it is not a gimmick and is the real deal. Other cameras may have a similar feature.

Jim

This thread seems the place to share a few observations on the new Fuji HS50 compared with my old Panasonic FZ45 (hoping also to avoid the wrath of the Sturmbannführer on the HS50 thread ). I should say that I'm not a photographer and have no special interest in the kit except as a practical tool to generate decent, or at least useable, record images for viewing on a monitor. After using the Fuji for just a short period my main reaction is disappointment and I'm close to the point of returning it.

Good things:
- instant startup,
- instant autofocus (mostly),
- manual zoom is really useful, especially to re-find the subject if lost at the long end of the zoom,
- can easily produce really nice landscapes in the scene mode, and effective EXR modes.

Bad things:
- autofocus is instant in many circumstances but NOT all the time,
- image quality of birds in flight has been poor so far, mainly SOFT and lacking detail,
- heavy compared with the FZ45.

My requirements from an autofocus system may be a little different from many other birders. I'm mainly trying to photograph relatively large birds at a range of 50-100 metres or so, usually against the sky. Mostly the HS50 system works well but in single shot mode it will sometimes focus for, say, three shots in succession and then lose focus before the fourth and not find it again; it tends to behave better in continuous mode but still loses focus. This failure is not always at the extreme long end of the zoom. Sometimes it has failed to focus quickly on a relatively close and large slow-moving bird, say a buzzard soaring overhead (ie. highly distinct from its background) for no apparent reason at all. There is little advantage in having an autofocus that is lightning-fast in principle but erratic and unreliable in practice; my impression is that so far I have missed the same proportion of shots for this reason with the HS50 as with the FZ45.

Images captured once the camera reports it has achieved focus are typically more or less soft. Fans of the HS50 will probably attribute this to my inexperience with the camera or lack of photographic ability. Both may well be true; in fact I hope they are true, otherwise my purchase has been a bad mistake! This softness persists at several different settings (eg. image size, DR, sharpness, but always with noise reduction minimal and a shutter speed of 1/800 or 1/1000 in good light). I don't know what the cause is; eg. is the focus not quite exact, or stabilisation inadequate, or perhaps stabilisation should be off at fast shutter speeds? I still have different permutations to try but so far, and really surprisingly, my old FZ45 has so produced distinctly better BIF images. I've attached some representative images below (click to enlarge image to see IQ differences). I've tried to use images of similar birds at similar distances and in similar light, but of course these do not make an objective comparative test; all were taken at the same site, the HS50 ones in the last week, the FZ45 ones a few weeks ago.

Image 1 is a male Marsh Harrier taken with the FZ45, 2 same sex and species with HS50; 3 is a female Marsh Harrier with FZ45; 4 is a Red Kite with HS50, 5 is male Marsh Harrier with FZ45. In images 1-5 the FZ45 is sharper and more detailed than the HS50 (need to click on images to see differences).

Brian

I am directing this to people who are unsophisticated about the workings of Digital Cameras and other digital devices like I am. I have a good basic knowledge of photography from years of using film SLRs like the OM series of Olympus but I never got into digital photography.

I became intrigued with the Superzoom cameras as they appeared but when I looked at their instruction manuals written as they were in standard English digitalese I lost interest. Then I ran across this book in a Barnes & Noble store: PHOTOGRAPHER'S GUIDE TO THE NIKON COOLPIX P500 by Alexander S. White; White Knight Press. I looked it over, was impressed with it's organization, clear prose, photos, excellent index and purchased it. (A new edition for the NIKON COOLPIX P510 is now out and I expect it will be useful in learning how to use the latest NIKON COOLPIX P520.) I don't know of any similar book for other Superzooms.

After buying the book I bought a Nikon Coolpix P500. It greatly speeded up my learning curve on how to use the Camera.

These Nikons do not receive high accolades here on Bird Forum, but I found mine to be a very useful all purpose camera for my particular needs. I've taken some surprisingly good bird pictures with it along with many others of a general nature. I store the best of them in iPhoto in my MacBook.

For anyone reluctant to get into Superzoom photography because of a lack of experience with digital cameras I highly recommend these books and cameras as an excellent entry level education in their use.

http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Nikon-Coolpix-P510/dp/1937986055

Bob

And now Sony is introducing the HX300. Any ideas on pricing for this one?

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dsc-h-series/dsc-hx300

or

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sony-cyber-shot-hx300-digital-camera-black/p1536089

or

£400 on Amazon

ClarkWGriswold said:

That's great. Cheers Bill. I'm leaning toward the SX50. Best price I can find is c£290. Best price after a quick search for HS50 I can find is £375.

Rich

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Remember that Canon are currently giving a £50 rebate for the SX50 for UK bought Cams.

Roy C said:

Remember that Canon are currently giving a £50 rebate for the SX50 for UK bought Cams (I paid £239 for mine).

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Cheers Roy. Does that apply to DigitalRev etc.? The cheapest (£275) I can find is at Simply Electronics though they appear to have dreadful reputation on here.

Rich

iveljay said:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/dsc-h-series/dsc-hx300

or

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-sony-cyber-shot-hx300-digital-camera-black/p1536089

or

£400 on Amazon

Click to expand...

Cheers IJ:t:

Rich

ClarkWGriswold said:

Cheers Roy. Does that apply to DigitalRev etc.? The cheapest (£275) I can find is at Simply Electronics though they appear to have dreadful reputation on here.

Rich

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That I do not know Rich, as far as I can see you certainly need a UK invoice and you also have to give the Camera serial number.

Roy C said:

That I do not know Rich, as far as I can see you certainly need a UK invoice and you also have to give the Camera serial number.

Click to expand...

Cheers Roy. I had a quick look and it does not appear so.

Rich

There's some decent threads going on at the moment for the Fuji, Panny and Canon Superzooms. The Nikons and Sonys appear have less of a following here on Birdforum. IMO (subjective) they currently rank in this order:

1. Canon SX50
2. Canon SX40
3= Panny and Fuji

This opinion is based on the results of BF members. I like the idea of the manual zoom on the HS50 and have seen some great results with my mates macro (Hs30) photos. However, despite obvious improvements (Kenneth's etc.) in results I still feel its lagging behind the two Canons at the moment.

Given the price advantage of the Canons this likely to be the camera that I'll choose. We've got a short trip to Sutherland lined up so all I need to do now is find a decent price before the other half changes her mind.

Rich

Returned HS50, happy with FZ200 !

Just to add my tuppence worth again. In post #10 I mentioned some good and bad things about the Fuji HS50. The good things really are good (manual zoom, instant start, instant autofocus - usually) but the bad things stayed bad (erratic autofocus failures, soft images, weight & size more than preferred), so I returned it, and the Panasonic FZ200 has replaced my FZ45. I just could not get a satisfactory image from the Fuji, despite taking advice and using various recommended settings. Raptors in flight are my main interest, and I accept that images from a superzoom will rarely be high technical quality, but I'd like them to record some plumage detail and have some clarity. So, accepting the lesser zoom factor, I decided to put faith in the 2.8 constant aperture of the FZ200 as an aid to getting more consistent flight shots at high zoom. I'm happy to report that the very first images I took (a burst of three at 5.5fps, of a Common Buzzard) were distinctly superior to anything I got with the HS50 over several days testing! And I'm convinced the ability to use a 1/1,000 shutter speed in decent light, or faster in good light, will be crucial in getting a higher proportion of acceptable flight shots. If I needed a more generalised 'walkabout' birding camera, ie. ignoring my somewhat specialised interests, I'd probably go for the SX50. Certainly, none of the other relevant threads on this forum have such a high percentage of first class superzoom images.

A couple of sample images of Common Buzzards, taken within a few days of each other, are attached (you'll have to just take my word that these are representative, it is not a controlled objective test!). The differences are clear when the files are opened. HS50 image on left, FZ200 on right. The FZ200 image (one of the first three I took) is livelier, clearer, sharper (but some troublesome purple fringing!). Of course this may all stem from my own limited photographic skills and not reflect the relative merits of the two camera models at all...
Brian