So how's the Lumix FZ20? Enough reach? I am on the fence with it or a higher zoom like the Canon so much talked about.
Jeff
To help counter this I have the camera set to give a 5mp picture which ups the zoom to 39x and frequently have the picture size set to 3mp, which give 47x.
Is that any different than taking the pictures with full resolution at 24x and cropping them later at the computer to 5mp or 3mp?
Hi Jeff and others,
I had the chance to use my new Lumix quite a lot during the past holidays, and I am extremly happy with it overall.
Unfortunately I cannot answer your question, as I know only the Lumix now and had no chance to compare with a 50x zoom camera. The zoom of the Lumix works very well, it's easy to find the birds with full zoom and the IS copes pretty well. As with the small sensor you can't crop the picutures very much, I think a longer zoom will certainly provide better image quality. That is if the zoom works, ie. if you manage to find birds and the IS is good enough to help a sharp image. Just if the Canon etc. do as good as the shorter Lumix zoon, I don't know.
I was mostly birding in rather shady forests, and there I think the f/2.8 of the Lumix at the long end of the zoom is a big advantage compared to all other bridge cams.
The camera works extremly well for small birds in dense vegetation, I was amazed how well the camera focussed on these targets. Flight shots are difficult, but I hadn't much opportunities to try. With soaring raptors it worked, with fast swallows not at all...
Here some of my better pictures from the first few weeks of using the camera.
Surely there must be some trade off between increasing magnification power and focusing / response time?
Also zoom lenses in telescopes seem to work better with a more limited range (hence the Swaro 25-50x) so I presume that the same will be true for cameras.
One other thing that I would look for would be a decent viewfinder (don't care if it's electronic) as I never get on with looking at a screen
I think for price and what I need, I have narrowed it down to the Canon SX50 or the Olympus SP100EE. There is about £80 difference (Canon being cheaper and bound to reduce when the SX60 comes out...?). Everything seems to favour the Canon, except that EE red dot sight. The ability of the sight to enable flight shots seems to step up the capability of a bridge camera to that (albeit reduced) of a DSLR. However, there is very little comment on the Olympus section on the SP100EE, whereas the Canon SX50 is well used and very well thought of.
I know it is possible to attach a separate red dot sight, but a built in one is awfully tempting. Does anyone have any thoughts, as I'm probably leaning towards the Canon as this will be my first foray beyond poor digiscoping?
Thanks,
Andy M.
Not much talk about the Nikon P600 I have seen a few pictures taken with this camera and I was very impressed, owners also have very good comments, 50X zoom I think and under $600 Can.
I think for price and what I need, I have narrowed it down to the Canon SX50 or the Olympus SP100EE. There is about £80 difference (Canon being cheaper and bound to reduce when the SX60 comes out...?). Everything seems to favour the Canon, except that EE red dot sight. The ability of the sight to enable flight shots seems to step up the capability of a bridge camera to that (albeit reduced) of a DSLR. However, there is very little comment on the Olympus section on the SP100EE, whereas the Canon SX50 is well used and very well thought of.
I know it is possible to attach a separate red dot sight, but a built in one is awfully tempting. Does anyone have any thoughts, as I'm probably leaning towards the Canon as this will be my first foray beyond poor digiscoping?
Thanks,
Andy M.
Hi Andy. I can only speak re. the SX50 but you'll need a memory card. I've used this site previously:When buying at Bridge Camera, is it necessary to buy an SD card or is there a memory on the camera itself for storing images?
They look pretty expensive.
When buying at Bridge Camera, is it necessary to buy an SD card or is there a memory on the camera itself for storing images?
They look pretty expensive.
When buying at Bridge Camera, is it necessary to buy an SD card or is there a memory on the camera itself for storing images?
They look pretty expensive.