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

photos done with super zooms (1 Viewer)

nightheron28

nightheron28

Exterminate! Exterminate! Exxxtttteeeerrrrmmmiinat
Anyone have any pics of birds done with these super zooms. I would like to see the quality of the pics they can take. Can you include any relevant details, such as "Had to get really close to get this one." etc. Thanks in advance!
 
I've got a Panasonic FZ7 (12x zoom, increasing to 16x if you cut the image down to 4 Megapixels...)

I find that it is very handy for flight shots, small birds darting around in trees, pics from the car etc - in short, situations where digi-scoping is a bit of a challenge. I don't have the full DSLR set-up.

The images are not bad - tend to be a bit noisy, but usually removable with NeatImage - but the biggest advantage is that I can get some sort of image where none would otherwise be possible....

Have a look in my gallery and you'll see a few other examples....This one was taken from approx 5 metres and tightly cropped.


Ruby.
 

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A couple of images taken with the FZ50 with TCON17 attached.

The Nuthatch was taken on an overcast day in NE England in dense woodland and came out rather well considering that the light was poor. Taken from a distance of maybe 5 metres?

The Cirl Bunting was taken in Turkey and was flighty so I was pleased to get decent shots of it as it popped up on a bush. Taken from maybe 8-10 metres ?

The Rock Bunting (again, Turkey) was more distant as had I walked any closer I'd have been down a sheer drop and probably in no fit state to ever see the results (!!) - hard to judge distance but closer to 12-15 metres maybe?

I'm not sure if any of these will necessary blow the minds of our resident DSLR users but they're more than sufficient for my use and, having had the camera only a couple of weeks before the trip to Turkey, I was just learning how to use while over there........and I continue to learn as I speak.

ps: I can't vouch for accurate distances here as I'm hopeless with judging distances at the best of times and these were taken a couple of months back and I'm guessing from memory.
 

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Forgot to mention..... the camera is also quite robust.

I found this out a couple of months back by leaving it on the roof of the car and driving off... reached 30mph or so, and aware of a scraping sound on the roof, followed by the alarming sight of camera bouncing down the road in the rear-view mirror.

Heart sank - not alleviated by getting to the camera to find that the lens cap was off, it had turned itself on and activated the flash as well..... quite suprised and relieved to find that, other than quite a few superficial war-wounds, it was and still is in perfect working order!
 
Wow! Those are all amazing! I do not think the panasonic is very available to test in my area. What would be some other super zooms you all would recommend I get? Thanks.
 
nightheron28 said:
Wow! Those are all amazing! I do not think the panasonic is very available to test in my area. What would be some other super zooms you all would recommend I get? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think the FZ50 is arguably the best superzoom currently on the market although Canon S3IS owners may disagree of course.

Try Googling for 'FZ50 vs S3is' to find various debates on this and judge for yourself - here's one.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1010&message=23667042

......but be warned, its enough to drive a man insane.........;)
 
The problem with superzooms is that you have to have good light to take decent photos. In more average overcast or shadowy conditions they'll usually be a bit noisy, have more motion blur (from slower shutter speeds), and the colors won't be true. Fringing from bright backgrounds is also more of a problem. (Birds have this bad habit of sitting up in shadowy spots in the trees, with a bright sky behind them.) People will show you their best photos, but really it's the median quality or more challenging photos that are important to consider.

On the other hand, superzooms have a lot of nice features DSLRs don't have - electronic viewfinders, more weather resistant, more user-friendly size.
 
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A lot of it boils down to priorities I guess - do you want DSLR IQ & performance or superzoom portability, flexibility and cost?

For me, the FZ50 came into its own while on holiday a while back.

I spent a lot of time clambering over boulders and sliding down scree in mountains with it on my shoulder ready to use at all times.........not sure I'd be as keen on doing that had I had a DSLR and expensive lens combo dangling off my shoulder?

Horses for courses I guess?
 
Hi,

have a look at this thread as well:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=86797

I was considering a superzoom, but at the moment have concentrated on getting my digiscoping setup sorted out.

Still toying with the idea of getting hold of one before my holiday but will have to see how funds go. You might be interested to know that the new Panasonic FZ8 has RAW capability (one of the main criticisms of this camera was it's over-zealous noise reduction programme, but now you have a choice). I was very tempted by the Canon S3IS for the image quality - I studied a lot of bird pictures and in my mind I saw a lot more good shots taken with the S3IS than the FZ7. The S3IS is relatively cheap now that the S5IS has come out. The fZ50 I think was more expensive than the others and bulkier. There is also the Olympus SP550 UZ to consider.

Here are some shots:

S3IS: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bird&cm=canon/powershot_s3_is

FZ7: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bird&cm=panasonic/dmc-fz7

FZ50: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bird&cm=panasonic/dmc-fz50
 
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Wow! Thanks for all the examples! I think I might just have to take the plunge and get one. I really just want one for vacations and or trips to capture memories in order to show friends and relatives what I saw. It is a lot easier to show off a picture of an exotic bird then to describe it. It also gets a better reaction and I hope may turn some non-birders into birders.
 
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