Super Zoom Camera Wanted!

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Keith Hampson

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Hi, I am wanting a camera with a large zoom,I have been looking at the Panisonic FZ18 which offers a 18x zoom (28mm to 504mm) I require a large zoom because I take a lot of wildlife but I want a decent camera, I am not looking for a dlsr am I looking in the right direction with the fz18 or are they others on the market that will fit my need better considering the most important thing is image quality.

Regards Keith
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Obviously you are looking for a compact camera. There are plenty of compacts with large zooming facilities, but beware, they utilise a digital zoom, not an optical zoom. optical zooms will maintain picture quality as they use the whole of the sensor. A digital zoom will cut into pixels thus degrading picture quality.

The best compact on the market in my opinion is the Canon G9 which in addition to having a 6 times optical zoom, has a fair digital zoom on a sensor of 12 megapixels.

You can get a G9 for less than £300 if you shop around.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Canon G9 can be had at various places for under £250.

In addition to the 6 x optical zoom the G9 has another 4 x digital zoom giving 24 x all told together with image stabilization. This cuts out camera shake for pictures taken at long focal lengths.

This appears to be the best general angler's camera on the market at the moment.
 
The Monk

The Monk

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for wildlife I`d go for a DSLR, used them for years for bird photography, the Nikon F5 was an excellent camera, in fact I think I have one lying about somewhere, you can have if for £399/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif, cost £1500 orginally, still in mint condition
 
Colin Brett

Colin Brett

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" Hi, I am wanting a camera with a large zoom,I have been looking at the Panisonic FZ18 which offers a 18x zoom (28mm to 504mm) I require a large zoom because I take a lot of wildlife but I want a decent camera, I am not looking for a dlsr am I looking in the right direction with the fz18 or are they others on the market that will fit my need better considering the most important thing is image quality.

Regards Keith"

Good choice Keith, my son has a Panasonic and the images he takes are just brilliant.

Don't listen to the Digital zoom stuff it's definately 18X optical which is pretty damn good. You will however need a tripod to get the best out of the long range lens, even with the image stabiliser.

Lieca lens takes some beating for top quality glass.

Nikon F5s are old technology that nobody wants anymore /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif as seen by the fact the Monk wants to get rid of his /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

Colin
 
W

Wolfman Woody

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Well, if Leica lenses are as good as they once were, that should be a brilliant camera, Keith.

If you go to full zoom though, stickit on a sturdy tripod. That's some long tom of a lens, once only achieved for pratical purposes, by mirror lenses.

Careful where you get it from, ensure it's a full UK version!
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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I often wonder if today Leica make lenses as good as they did years ago.

I remember in the 60s when Zuiko lenses made by Olympus were tested and rated as being better than Leitz. Old **** Walker once told me that Pentax were better lenses than Leitz!!!

As far as I am concerned, Nikon, Canon and Sigma lenses are as good as anything around in the world today. Leica are certainly behind in digital camera lens technology compared with those three.

And in the past, Leica's prices have been astronomical.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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By the way, my Nikon D300 DSLR is absolutely top notch for bird and wild life photography when coupled with a 200 - 300Nikkor DX zoom and set up the correctway to the 52 point autofocus system.

Wow, talk about sophistication!
 
Paul H

Paul H

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Pentax lenses are or certainly were cracking quality lenses, I think Pentax and Nikon made their own optics along with Zeiss, Leica and Shneider whereas some of the other manufacturers bought them in from other companies.

The only thing I canadd is that getting a tripod for use at long zoom ranges is very sound, if not essential, advice and optical zoom is far superior to digital which just enlarges the image on the CCD eventually making it look very pixelated.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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The word Nikon is derived from Japan's oldest lens maker - Nippon Kogaku which goes back to the 19th century. In the 50s, Nippon Kogaku made virtually all the lenses on Canon's cameras.

In 1966, I owned a Nikon F Photomic T camera. One of the lenses was a 50 mm f 2.0 with the words Nippon Kogaku on it. It was a brilliant lens and far better than the Leitz f2.0 Summicron.

At f2 it was sharper at the corners.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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In ca 1963, **** Walker acquired a Asahi Pentax SLR together with a couple of lenses. He was severely taken to task by some of his acqaintances regarding what the Japanese had done to our boys in WW2.

Walker counted it by saying that the Pentax was to replace a German camera he had been using for many years. I think he was talking about an old Leica IG.
 
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Wolfman Woody

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Interesting Ron, but I know Nikon better as 日本光学工業株式会社

/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Think you will find that in the 60s and 70s there were only 4 Japanese companies manufacturing lenses. One was Nikon and another was Rokkor (Minolta). Can't remember the other two now, but suspect one was Tokina who made lenses for a lot of companies.

"Tokina was founded by a group of Nikon engineers who left Nikon to concentrate on the development of high-quality Zoom Lenses, which were rare at the time. Originally an OEM manufacturer only, in the early 1970s they began selling lenses under their own Tokina brand.

In recent years, Tokina has enjoyed a partnership with Pentax, with whom they have jointly developed new lenses, such as a 12–24 mm zoom and a 10–17 mm fisheye zoom. These are available under the Pentax brand in<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_K_mount" title="Pentax K mount"></a>Pentax K Mount and under the Tokina brand for other lens"

Anyway, back to the main topic -

The camera Keith wants is perfectly acceptable and he, like the vast majority of us, doesn't have money to spend on flash bit of camera wizardry. The Leica lens on it seems to me quite superb although I would have to see some results. I'llhave a scout around TC's website.
 
pcpaulh

pcpaulh

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Try dpreview, I think thats whats its called, brilliants camera reviews.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Tamron is an old Japanese independant lens manufacturer but these days they seem to suck the hind tit behind Sigma.

Minolta stopped making cameras some 12 years ago.

Without doubt the two main players in the digital technology race is Nikon and Canon. In the DSLR stakes this is certainly true. I have looked at several other makes of DSLR and quite honestly they are not a patch on Nikon or Canon. Personally I would put Nikon in the lead, especially with the launch of the D300 which for the money is an incredible piece of equipment.
 
Morespiders

Morespiders

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My Kodak Brownie is still the best camera ever made, came out in the 50s , Leica and Nikon copied the lens, They never really caught up though, still trying to get it right, Minolta's were a cheaper copy of those three, cheapcopies like Pentax, Canon, Hasslelblad, have also fallen by the wayside. A good mate of mine H. R. H. Prince Charles still uses his wherever we go, Prince Phillip is always borrowing it when he goes to the seaside, got some lovely shots of Her Majesty on the beach, and at home.

P.S.

Anybody want to see them?.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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The box Brownie came out un the 50s!!!

You must be joking mate - more like the 20s mate, or even before. The box camera introduced the great hobby of photography to the ordinary man. Never laugh at this wonderful invention. I had one, my dad had one. It was the family's "magic box" out from which came a picture.

Photography was more or less confined to family holidays and weddings in those days. Film was very expensive, and so was the cost of developing it.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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Manywill probably not realise the contribution the angler has made to the photographic industry. And many of you today will probably not appreciate what one man did to get many anglers carrying cameras.

Who was the man who did this? Yes you have guessed - it was Walker of course.

In his book - "Stillwater Angling", Walker intimated that it was better to have a collection of photographs of the fish you had caught rather than their stuffed carcases. In the magazine "Fishing" Walker wrote a number of articles on angling photography. This set into motion other articles and letters which covered all aspects of photography from developing your own pictures to the best type of camerafor most angling pictures.

Walker stated on many occasions that he now preferred a Pentax single lens reflex with interchangable lenses. I wonder how many Pentax cameras were sold because of this.

My own first SLR was a Petriflex which wasrecommended to me by that great angling photographer and all round Yorkshire angler - Roy Shaw. At the time I also owned a Yashicamat twin lens reflex (Rolleiflex copy)which shot 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 roll film. Both these were eventually replaced with a Nikon F, the one with the TTL head.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)

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We were both wrong about the Kodak Box Brownie Spiders. The first one came out in 1900. used a simple meniscus lens, rotary shutter and shot 21/4 x 3 1/4 roll film.

245,000were made by the Eastman Kodak company and they cost$1-00 each!!

The Brownie box camera gave photography to the masses,just as the Ford Model T did with motoring.
 
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