MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
So the wife wants a camera for Christmas so she can get better pictures of the kids but she doesn't want a point and shoot. She wants something that has at least a 20 x zoom, decent picture quality and a few creative / manual bells and a whistle to play around with. A bridge camera would fit the bill but it has to be small and light enough that she can have it in her bag / changing bag.
I have thought of one of the new compact SLR's but the cost racks up massively when you want a zoom lens and you still have the hassle of lugging different lenses around. The bit I hate about my SLR, you never have the right lens on when you need it. I guess budget would be up to £350
Any thoughts
My first question would be -[b] do you really want a 20x zoom?[/b]
It's the 20x zoom that is going to govern everything else about the camera. Especially image quality.
I've got an SLR with a 300mm lens (so 16x zoom from my normal walkabout lens). I carry it around with me loads, but only get it out for 1 in 100 shots.
I can actually look back in Lightroom and filter my shots by focal length and the number of 'keepers' (i.e. ones I've rated at 1* or above).
I have 22 - compared to 4300 taken with my other lenses over 5 years.
Many people coming into photography feel like they are missing out without a long zoom, but the reality is that quality is often poorer, a tripod is required more often, available light is less, subjects move, etc, etc.
Anyway - food for thought.
It would open the doors to lots of great quality compacts like the Lumix LX range, Canon G range, Sony RX100, etc, etc.
I have had a few Lumix TZ compacts with the superzoomery, is essentially point and shoot, great for what they are but limited creative potential. I think all superzoomery in compact form is similarly point and shoot.
Anyway I recently changed the TZ for a Sony RX100 and have had greater success. Long time SLR user (I make fine art landscape prints) and it is a steep learning curve, not the most intuitive for me, but for it's size it packs a big punch (IQ is near SLR quality, I'm not kidding, it really was a 'whoa aha!' moment when first reviewed the initial shots) and I don't feel at all limited by it's modest optical zoom. The other camera I considered when facing similar choice to you was the Pentax MX-1, think it is an overlooked gem and a real bar again at the moment ( down from over £400 to around £230) , and I would still like one. like the RX100 MII and MIIIs it has a tilting LCD screen, which is great for more candid portraiture/affording more creative shot framing.
Google 'Sony RX100 Flickr pool' and 'Pentax MX-1 Flickr pool' for a feel of what they can do?
For the budget, I'd forget any of the cameras with interchangeable lenses if you really have to get something with 20x zoom. You won't get one lens that will do it all, for a start.
If you are looking for something compact enough to go in a bag and be taken everywhere, then you are really looking at any of the ultrazoom compacts. Something like a Panasonic TZ60 or TZ40.
A couple from my RX100 (first experiment in the street so there is a little camera shake/ISO/shutter speed settings I need to work on for future efforts)
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Thanks all
I agree a 20X zoom is probably overkill but that's what the wife wants so happy to go along with her.
I'd be looking at a Panasonic Lumix TZ60 in that case, it has 30x zoom and should print up to A3 below ISO400.
TZ40 is pretty good, can be used fully manual and has good metering options.
Have had prints up to A3 with no problems.
And so another 'it's not about the length it's about the quality' debate is firmly settled! At least until the next one...
Mrs has been through a few Canon Powershot SX2_0s. Think 270 is current.
It's still a big lens compared to something like an Ixus so seems to grab plenty of light at sensible zooms.
Full zoom doesn't get used much but she likes it for concerts and the like.