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Fujifilm’s newly-refreshed line of S series “bridge” cameras have some of the highest magnification zoom lenses out there. These cameras are for people who want big hulking DSLR cameras without all those complicated DSLR buttons for controlling things. But at least you can control the zoom SO MUCH.
Back in August, Olympus brought out a 40x zoom camera only to be one-upped by a 50X zoom on the Canon Powershot SX50 in November. The new Fujifilm cameras. How does 100x zoom sound?
The flagship HS50EXR sports a 42x manual zoom that’s basically tailor-made for people who want to be able to grab a telephoto lens barrel and twist it to zoom. It’s not quite as zoomy as the Canon Powershot SX50 zoom but you can control it manually. There’s also a manual focus, a flip-out 3-inch LCD, and fast hybrid autofocus. Yeah, you’re basically looking at ultra-simple DSLR. While a UK price hasn’t yet been revealed, over in the US our American pals can pick one up for $550 (£340), when it ships in March. There will also be a HS35EXR, a $400 (£245) version that only has a 30x zoom.
Annnnnnd then there’s the Finepix SL1000. The new flagship makes sense, but this thing takes the obsession to a whole new level. Like the Canon SX50 it’s got a 50x zoom—that’s a 24-1000mm lens, in case you’re counting. But that’s just the optical zoom. Once you’ve maxed out at 50, you can then use the camera’s digital zoom to then double the magnification again. 100x zoom. Of course, this will make your image quality suffer, but really, if you’re zooming to 100x instead of finding something closer to take a picture of, you probably don’t care at all. This bundle of zoom excess will cost $400 (£245) when it ships in March.
UK pricing and availability when we get it. [Fujifilm]
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I wish people would stop calling it digital zoom and stop putting it onto feature lists. Digital zoom isn’t a thing. It’s just cropping. Isn’t it time for that particular bit of marketing rubbish to die now?
I’ll be interested to see the quality of the images at each end of that zoom as well. If you could make lenses with that kind of range without serious quality losses, every DSLR lens manufacturer would be doing it. Granted the smaller sensor makes it easier, but they’re not going to get away without issues at 1000mm, surely?
Eliminating camera shake at 1000mm is going to require a gargantuan tripod drilled into the crust of the Earth. Then you’ll be able to to take blur free ultra zoomed photos, just hope there’s no seismic activity.
+1 for the Digital zoom thing, at least it should be disabled by default.
i think they are arent they?
i picked up the previous model with 30x zoom (optical) and i have to admit, its damn easy to take shots at 30x even without a tripod.
not sure why i’d use digital zoom. might as well just take it into photoshop
they are decent little cameras really. can be as simple or advanced as most need.
They are decent cameras. The purists like to bash them because they sport faux-DSLR styling and gargantuan zoom lenses that ‘no-one ever needs’. Poppycock. If you need the zoom (e.g. for sports or wildlife photography), these things have it in spades.
Perhaps the major downside is the compact-sized sensor with its relatively poor light sensitivity.
“Like the Canon SX50 it’s got a 50x zoom—that’s a 24-1000mm lens, in case you’re counting”
Yes, I was counting, and you got it wrong! It’s 24-1200mm.
When someone makes one of these bridge cameras with a fixed ( in place ) zoom lens but has the bright idea of sticking an APS-C sensor in there to make it worth while, then, then they’ll have something worth buying. My little Panasonic FZ-28 is great with its x18 zoom & 10fps burst mode, but the zoomed pictures are poor quality & the high speed burst shots are only at 3MP; I’d need to spend £700+ to get a real DSLR with the spec I want, plus a few hundred more on each lens…
*saves money like a mad man to buy aforementioned setup…*