Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

For all talk about digital compacts or EVF-SLRs in the Minolta, Konica Minolta or relevant Sony ranges
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bakubo
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

Unread post by bakubo »

Birma wrote:(A very interesting article on Kirk Tuck's blog today about the end of the technology race in cameras.)
This one?

http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/20 ... amera.html

Very interesting and it sounds about right to me. I especially liked the part about what so many camera owners have been doing during the digital years and what they may be doing going forward. I figured out quite some time ago what I like to photograph and why. I still sometimes wonder what I am to do with all my photos, but little by little even that has become less important to me. I photograph because I love to and I have for over 40 years. Sort of what I wrote here:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =21&t=7821
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Birma
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Yikes Henry - I can understand you reticence to want to give gear advice :shock: . Duly noted!
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Birma wrote:Yikes Henry - I can understand you reticence to want to give gear advice :shock: . Duly noted!
I hope in your case your helping doesn't end badly. These days I just point people to websites where they can do their own research....which they almost never do. They want me to tell them what to do....and then blame me later if it doesn't work out. :lol: I never oblige them though and that occasionally annoys them. People really, really, really want to have someone to blame other than themselves. :lol:

It reminds me of the American political joke about a Republican and and a Democrat (by the way, I am an Independent and don't much like either of the 2 parties :lol: ):

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her
altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,
"Excuse me,can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an
hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air
balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet
above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude
and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically
correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm
still lost. Frankly, you've been no help at all."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're
going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot
air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you
expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position
you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."
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bakubo
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

Unread post by bakubo »

Birma, made any decision yet?
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Birma
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Hi Henry - not been near a shop yet. May be this weekend. The in-laws are also a long way from any large shops where they live on the Isle of Skye. They will be visiting us in about a month's time and so I'll discuss with them what I've found out on Skype, but I expect they will wait until they can see something in person before making a purchase.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
alphaomega
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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but I expect they will wait until they can see something in person before making a purchase.
That would be a good idea Birma. That is what I did with my wife and she absolutely loves her Panasonic DMC-FZ200. She bought it after handling the camera and discussing pros and cons with the salesman in Jessops.
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bakubo
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Birma, it is a good idea for them to look over the cameras themselves, if that is possible. Actually, if I found myself cornered and unable to get out of making a recommendation I would probably give 3 or 4 and then let the person make the ultimate decision. :)
bakubo wrote:It reminds me of the American political joke about a Republican and and a Democrat (by the way, I am an Independent and don't much like either of the 2 parties :lol: ):

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her
altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,
"Excuse me,can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an
hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air
balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet
above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude
and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically
correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm
still lost. Frankly, you've been no help at all."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you're
going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot
air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you
expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position
you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it's my fault."
And more along the same lines:

"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected." -- G. K. Chesterton, 1924
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

I liked the Republican-Democrat joke so much I printed it out and gave it to someone who also liked it lots. (it's transferrable and applicable here)
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Birma
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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I went to PC World last weekend which seems the best place locally for P&S cameras. No staff about and only the Canon SX 50 had any juice to allow me to try it. Wow - the VF is sucky. I hadn't realised how good I had it in fancy camera world! The Fuji model was much heavier. I think this may come down to VFs and weight.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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bakubo
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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If you want to stay with Sony I see that Sony has the HX300 with a 24-1200mm f2.8-6.3:

http://www.dpreview.com/products/sony/c ... y_dschx300
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Birma
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Thanks Henry. I was looking at that model, although it is quite new and not so well reviewed yet. Hoping to have a play with the Canon SX50 tomorrow.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Birma
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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An update on my search for a super-zoom.

Yesterday, my Mother-in-law and I, went to PC World in Worcester to get some hands on time with the various contenders. The camera is for my in-laws who are just casual snappers; they currently have a Canon A120. It is a very basic P&S but it does have a (tiny!) OVF and they have been very pleased with it. The only thing it doesn't provide is much 'range' in terms of telephoto ability.

The store had the Canon SX50 and all of the currently available rivals, even the new Panny with the 60x zoom range. On basic handling the SX50 seemed favourite. It was slightly smaller in the hand, but felt very well built; a real quality feel. (My mother-in-law said it felt like holding a 'real' camera!). The sales assistant was very helpful (once we'd found the one person in store able to talk about the cameras) and offered to power up the cameras so we could really try them out. He needed to charge up the Canon as it had been heavily used that day. There followed a short delay (20 mins) while we shopped else where and the camera battery got some juice. Ten we got to try it out. My mother-in-law really liked the EVF, the zoom range, and the floppy flappy (and therefore reversible) rear LCD. The assistant tried hard to swerve us on to the Sony HX300. We were told all about the wonders of the Carl Zeiss lens and the fabulous video abilities. For my mother-in-law the Canon won out as the Sony was bigger in the hand, didn't feel as well built (funny how these subjective design type issues make a difference isn't it!), and the rear screen didn't reverse. If the camera was for me I may have been swayed by the option on the Sony of using a control ring on the lens for either zooming or focusing (as that feels natural to me) rather than the rocker switch around the shutter button that seems more natural to P&Sers.

PC World had a fairly good store price of £349 (£305 was the best UK Internet price I could find yesterday) and my mother-in-law was so impatient to play with her new toy that she bought it there and then. Canon also have a £40 cash back on that camera at the moment suggesting to me it's probably due for renewal in the near future.

We've had a play with it this morning after the battery charged up. It is a nice little camera. The EVF would drive me mad after using big camera VFs but for my mother-in-law it is fine. Adjusting the VF diopter was fiddled but now it's done unlikely to need to do this again. The only default menu setting I've changed so far is to turn the electronic zoom off. We you've got 50x optical zoom then doubling this again make hand held use very tricky and it's easy to miss that you've gone past the optical limit.

A few more days testing before she returns home. So far so good :)
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Well done Birma, you might emerge in safe territory after all, it sounds like the deal was mainly between the camera shop assistant and your mother in law in the end, and it seems she likes the camera, that’s the main thing. 8)
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Re: Seeking recommendations for a Point and Shoot super-zoom

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Glad she is sorted out and chosen a camera for the trip. I have held the SX50 once a few months ago. Seemed to be fairly well made. For the fairly low price there are compromises, of course. EVF is so so. I doubt if she will shoot in raw, but if she does then the IQ is quite a bit better, I think. No doubt there is an SX60 coming along one of these days. These cameras never hang around for too long. Probably minor updates, as is usual, in the next version, but they might take something away too. :lol: Isn't that almost always the way? The G15 to G16 had some updates with nothing removed though and the 60D to 70D seemed to be the same though. I think Canon is less prone to that sort of monkey business, but they do it too sometimes. Also, the SX60 when new will almost surely cost more than the current SX50 price.
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