Which Compact Camera

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Steve Whiting

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Steve Whiting
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Hi this has probably been asked before but I cant find an answer
I want to purchase a good compact camera but dont know what would be better for Birding and Macro photography, should I go for a larger sensor but most have these have short zoom capabilities or do I go for the smaller sensor but with the higher zoom capability. Cant seem to work out if you had say a heron at 50m which photo would have the better close up shot of the heron after cropping and editing.
Hope that makes sense.
Willing to pay upto £1000 if necessary but would be more happy at around £500

Steve
 
I've had a few compacts but I was always disappointed with the image quality so some while back I bought a Panasonic TZ100 which is a 1" compact with as far as I remember a 25-250mm zoom. For close up shooting it's best at about 90mm. The TZ100 is old news now and there's a TZ200 out. These are bigger than those credit card footprint shirt pocket type compacts but still very compact for what they are, IMO.

There are other smaller sensor compacts with up to a 700mm or so zoom which would be better for birds but you won't get the image quality out of those that you'd get from a 1" sensor camera.

So, I suppose a lot hangs on what you think is compact and the image quality you want.
 
Thankyou for your reply, yes dont mind a larger compact but still not clear if the image quality of the 1" sensor would crop down and be as good as the small sensor with a big zoom.
 
Unfortunately I don't take pictures of birds so I can't really help but hopefully someone will be along shortly who does.

Just another thought. As you have a reasonable budget would you consider a larger system such as Micro Four Thirds? I have a couple of range finder style MFT cameras and although not compact camera sized they're considerably more compact than a DSLR. These cameras offer a step up in image quality over 1" sensor cameras.

Anyway. MFT might be something to think about. They're available in RF style and SLR style bodies.

Here's a picture taken with a Panasonic GX80, an RF style camera, fitted with a cheap and cheerful 45-150mm lens. It's a x2 crop system so 150mm gives an equivalent of 300mm.

Whole picture and heavy crop. He was at one end of the garden and I was at the other.

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You may not be tempted :D Just a thought.

GX80 v TZ100 v TZ70 (24-720mm)...

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Thanks for reply and a great photo, I have not long bought Olympus Micro four thirds with some lenses but have not as yet got the best out of it. The compact is for the wife who has much smaller hands as well as a touch of Arthritis so struggled to hold the Olympus this is why we want a compact but to still get as best quality photos at a distance as we can.
 
ah, I see.

I'm sorry I can't really help Steve but I suspect that the long range compact may be the better option as as far as I know the 1" compacts don't have such long range zooms and really the 250mm of the TZ100 is pretty pants for the likes of birds unless you're quite close.

Hopefully someone with experience of compacts with long zoom range zooms will pop in soon and give you some useful advice.
 
found a very good youtube video Review Panasonic Lumix TZ220 where he compares 2 very similar cameras one with a big sensor but shorter zoom and one with small sensor but long zoom and basically in good light they produced very similar results for the same size image but in lower light conditions the bigger sensor was better (although more expensive). So I think I have my answer
thanks for your help
 
I didn't know that existed. It looks like an updated version of my TZ100 but with a longer and slightly slower lens.

I hope you're happy with it and I hope you'll come back, brag about it and post some pictures :D
 
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