been looking for a new camera. Correction!

[airboatr]

Had a look at the super zoom class.

The Cannon SX 50 HS is impressive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6Qsvv4b6M8

warning warning whoop whoop warning! ... Music!

Saturn and it's moons even
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... EawtWokSF0

our moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... vG7E_sL4VA

some examples of stills
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tedsla ... hotsx50hs/

It'll be months before I make a decision
I like the Olympus too

The only thing lacking in the superzoom class is .. no bulb setting on shutter... and shallow Depth of field

Of course a SLR is the only option for some, ... been there done that.. at one point I was into a setup that cost over 10k
done with lugging all that around...

chow

[Garry Russell]

Cheers Joe

There are a lot of pics on the net showing the registrations of high flying overflights.

Amazing such detail can be seen

[airboatr]

Indeed mate ...
Amazing Saturns moons can be seen huh? .. That's extraordinarily good for something that fits in the palm of hand.

you can't pack up a telescope and go shoot macro , or wild life, or airshows, or what have you.

[TSR2]

I GOT THE Panasonic TZ40 (ZS30 in the US) recently and it is superb. I'm normally a canon man (Canon hadn't released their new model at the time I bought the Pana) but this is really very good indead and the 5 axis IS on full zoom is very very good.

[Tomliner]

Hi Joe.I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ45 bridge camera which I love.The 24x zoom can still produce pics with shallow DOF subject to the usual requirements of aperture,camera to subject to background distances.An SLR would do an even better job of course.When I get home I'll try and post of couple of shots to give you an idea. EricT

[tonymadge]

I use a Fuji HS10 which is excellent all the advantages of a SLR with a lens that goes from 24mm to 700mm optical, plus its a manual zoom unlike a lot of the bridge cameras. The HS25 is its replacement and can be found for under £200.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canon-powershot-sx50-hs

Just out of curiosity I popped outside to take a normal garden close up and then caught a jet flying over a fair few miles east of me at a level I could not identify it with the naked eye.
These two pics are just representative of the lens, not brilliant long shot but worked fine to see it was a BA747

[speedbird591]

Hi Joe.

One of the first ports of call for serious camera buyers is DPReview as you know. So I thought I'd do a scientific exercise to work out which superzoom I'd buy purely on their reviews.

http://www.dpreview.com/camerareviews?category=compacts

It's actually quite easy They award the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 a gold award with 80% marks - quite a bit more than anything else. What impresses me most about it is the reasonably wide aperture of f2.8 all the way up the zoom scale. It's also got a Leica lens.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panason ... -dmc-fz200

Still - doing it that way takes all the fun out of the search doesn't it? It's far more fun spending months going through all the different specs until you finally make a decision. And then two weeks afterwards they bring out the one you really wanted

Enjoy your search.

Ian

[Tomliner]

Hi Joe,As promised earlier here are three pics showing narrow DOF.The lens is 24xzoom(25-600mm) and it's max aperture is 2.8.



Hope they might help.EricT

[TSR2]

Here are a few for the TZ40 taken today...

[airboatr]

Hi fellas

Thanks so much for the thoughtful comments. Tony, Eric and Ben, thank you for taking time out of your day to show me images your cameras are able to produce.
Eric, I was particularly impressed with the first image you posted. Remarkable contrast and definition of the subject.

Ben of course, the watch is a stunner. ... Have you no shame man .. I mean really ..posting it here AND in your watch thread.. it's a beaut .. can I borrow it?? I'm meeting some one for a job interview..


Tony your image captured fine detail along the edge to the peddles nicely.

Ian, dpreview has been a great source of information for me for some time. Thank you for suggesting it mate.

And, if a manufacture wants to hold out on me two months after I've made my purchase. That's their loss. .. so there!
..


I appreciate very much the fine art of photography. To created an image that inspires appreciation for beauty, from the simplest of subjects we pass by everyday, gives me great joy. It's not easy as you well know. Some of mine have taken hours , days and months for all the needed elements to fall into place to capture a solitary image.
Lighting can change in seconds.
The old rule of photography is F/8 and be there etc etc........ which brings to mind something.
I don't see the smallest aperture range noted for a lot of the bridge cameras... It's very important to use the center of the optics rather than all the glass, as is used at 2.8. I'd very much like to have something around f 11.
That will certainly help DOF in macro photography


The following photographs are from the two cameras I own.
A Kodak z812, and the one of the last cameras made by Kodak, the z990 max

z812



z990 Max



z990Max

Gold star to the one who can say who this reminds me of ..(hint avatar and second part of username)



can't remember ... got the z990 around the time Kit came into the world.



Z812




I'm interested hearing more from you.


Cheers


Joe