Beginner Bridge Camera

taffyboy

taffyboy

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David
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Can anyone suggest a bridge camera for my wife. She wants a long range to shoot birds, animals etc.
 
The Panasonic FZ1000 is probably one of the most versatile bridge cameras around. It is on the large side (medium DSLR) as it has a much larger sensor than typical bridges - the Sony 1" 20MP. This also curtails its maximum zoom to a bit less than 500mm equivalent.

If your wife wants a longer reach and smaller size, there are other options from all the major manufacturers.
 
There's a couple of choices that you need to make, do you want better image quality with better low light capability but less reach (zoom), or more reach but at the cost of IQ?

The Sony RX10 and Panny FZ1000 both have a much bigger than average sensor at 1" which will mean you will get better image quality and better low light performance. But the Sony only goes up to 200mm, albeit it with a constant f2.8 aperture, and the FZ1000 400mm at f4. However, for birding 400mm isn't quite long enough imo and you need at least 600mm, preferably more. In this case you might be better off with a superzoom bridge knowing that you'll sacrifice some IQ and really need to shoot in good light.
 
Thanks everyone for your help and comments. I am now leaning towards the Panasonic FZ200. It has a zoom to 600 and the lens is 2.8 through the range.
I might loose some IQ but it seems the best all rounder.
 
taffyboy said:
Thanks everyone for your help and comments. I am now leaning towards the Panasonic FZ200. It has a zoom to 600 and the lens is 2.8 through the range.
I might loose some IQ but it seems the best all rounder.
Click to expand...

Before you jump in - a 50% crop of a FZ1000 shot at 400mm will make it effectively 800mm and will still be higher quality than the FZ200. Just a thought.
 
Thanks Chrisphoter, another thing to think about. Well back to the drawing board.(n)(n)(n)
 
Chrisphoter said:
Before you jump in - a 50% crop of a FZ1000 shot at 400mm will make it effectively 800mm and will still be higher quality than the FZ200. Just a thought.
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure about this tbh, to crop to 50% and give a further 2 x crop factor you would cut resolution to 1/4 meaning that the FZ1000 would have roughly 5mp vs the 9.7mp of the FZ200. Of course, resolution is not the only factor in IQ though.

FZ1000 image dimensions 5472 x 3648 = 20mp approx. 50% crop = 2736 x 1824 = 5MP approx

However, if you did a 1.5x crop so that focal length of the FZ1000 equaled that of the FZ200 then MP would be roughly the same (FZ1000 about 1MP less). I wouldn't like to guess which would give the cleaner images, the larger sensor of the FZ1000 or the f2.8 of the FZ200 at the long end in this example.
 
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snerkler said:
I'm not so sure about this tbh, to crop to 50% and give a further 2 x crop factor you would cut resolution to 1/4 meaning that the FZ1000 would have roughly 5mp vs the 9.7mp of the FZ200. Of course, resolution is not the only factor in IQ though.

FZ1000 image dimensions 5472 x 3648 = 20mp approx. 50% crop = 2736 x 1824 = 5MP approx

However, if you did a 1.5x crop so that focal length of the FZ1000 equaled that of the FZ200 then MP would be roughly the same (FZ1000 about 1MP less). I wouldn't like to guess which would give the cleaner images, the larger sensor of the FZ1000 or the f2.8 of the FZ200 at the long end in this example.
Click to expand...

Yes, my "50%" was rather inaccurate as a term. I meant cropping out half the total AREA to yield the equivalent of an 800mm shot. That would of course be a lot less than 50% along either length or height or both. Your 1.5x crop is what I was meaning.

My estimate is that the FZ1000 would still yield a cleaner image. One of the factors of those very small FZ sensors e.g. on the FZ200, is that they yield much more noise at full telephoto than you see at lower focal lengths. I'm not sure why.
 
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