Ultrazoom
The ability to take a close-up from far
away is kind of thrilling, whether it's catching someone's facial
expression from across the room, a key play from your bleacher seat or
a roaring lion from the safety of your car at the safari park. And you
don't need one of those enormous bazooka-size lenses you see along the
sidelines at a football game to get up close and personal; compact
ultrazooms deliver amazing flexibility with a weight that won't break
your back, and a price that won't break the bank.
Why the tremendous size difference between big-zoom power for an SLR
and a point-and-shoot? It's the size of the image sensor. Illuminating
an SLR sensor requires a much larger lens than the relatively small
image sensor in a point-and-shoot, meaning more expertly shaped glass
and and heftier mechanical systems to maintain precise control.
The ultrazoom category basically breaks down into two sub-categories:
the 20x and up group, which look like miniature SLRs, and the more
pocket-friendly compact ultrazoom group with lenses in the 10x-12x
range.. And just to be sure we're all on the same page, we're speaking
strictly about optical zoom here, not digital zoom. Digital zoom is a
mathematical rather than mechanical enlargement, and inevitably cuts
down on the quality of your photo. It lets camera marketers claim
unbelievable telephoto capabilities, but it's a feature you want to
leave disabled if you care about image sharpness.
20x and Up
Cameras in this class have zoom power that ranges from 20x up to the current telephoto leader, the Olympus SP-590UZ, with an amazing 26x zoom lens that's equivalent to a 26mm - 676mm on a 35mm camera.
As mentioned above, these cameras are nearly the size and shape of a
compact SLR, weighing in at about a pound give or take, measuring
roughly roughly five inches wide and just under four inches deep. They
offer both an LCD for composing shots and an electronic viewfinder
(basically a tiny LCD screen you hold up to your eye). The viewfinder
is easier to see than the LCD when shooting on sunny days, and a
handheld long-zoom shot often works out better if the camera is
steadied against your face.
Some models have hinged LCDs that pivot away from the camera body, and
then rotate up and down, providing a lot of flexibility when looking
for unusual shooting angles. We find these articulated screens (such as
the one on the Canon SX1 IS)
particularly handy when shooting with a high-powered ultrazoom: the
wider grip with LCD extended helps steady the camera. These
high-powered ultrazooms usually offer extensive manual controls,
including the kind of exposure flexibility and white balance adjustment
usually associated with SLR photography.
Long-range ultrazooms are often powered by AA batteries, which is fine
with us. Not that we're big on throwing used alkalines into landfills,
but for $20 you can buy a set or rechargeable AAs with charger, and
still have the freedom to use off-the-shelf AAs if your camera runs out
of juice while traveling.
Compact Ultrazooms
These cameras aren't much bigger than a run-of-the-mill compact with 3x
lenses, but they offer zooms in the 10x to 12x range (you could
arguably include 7x zoom models in this group as well). Unlike the more
high-powered ultrazooms, these compacts (such as the Samsung HZ15W)
generally provide more limited manual controls, smaller LCDs without
the hinged mounting, and run on proprietary rechargeable batteries.
They also tend to have slower shot-to-shot speeds when shooting
continuously.
Key Features
- Image Stabilization: Effective image stabilization is a major
consideration when choosing an ultrazoom camera, particularly if you
want to shoot without a tripod (and you know that you do). There's
really nothing in the camera specs that tells you how well the image
stabilization system will work, but we've developed a systematic test
procedure for our reviews.
- Wide-angle Coverage: Yes, the primary reason for choosing an
ultrazoom is that distant shot, but that doesn't mean you won't want to
shoot landscapes, or indoor group shots with the same camera, and those
require wide-angle capability. The width of coverage is indicated by
the smaller number in the lens' zoom range: the smaller the number, the
wider the angle. Figure a 28mm equivalent or better gives the camera a
wide-angle advantage.
- High ISO: We measure a camera's light sensitivity as an ISO
number: a higher figure means it's more sensitive to light, allowing
you to shoot in darker environments without flash, and equally
important for ultrazooms, raise the shutter speed to help reduce blur
caused by camera movement. The trick here is that the higher the ISO,
the more image noise will appear in your photo. For some cameras, the
apparently desirable higher setting yields photos so speckled and
littered with imperfections that they're just not usable. Our image
noise tests (complete with sample images) reveal the maximum practical
ISO speeds for each camera reviewed.
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Canon PowerShot SX130 IS First Impressions Review
The Canon PowerShot SX130 IS ($249 MSRP) is a less expensive camera in the PowerShot series, which means you'll get a lot more manual controls that from a Canon Elph, but you're still well under the $300 price point for advanced PowerShots. The SX130 has a 12x zoom, 12.1 megapixel sensor, OIS, and 720p HD video. Overall, it promises a good value.
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 Digital Camera Review
This compact 12-megapixel ultrazoom could be a perfect traveling companion, with fine wide-angle coverage, powerful telephoto and pleasing portaility.
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Kodak EasyShare Z950 Digital Camera Review
The EasyShare Z950 is a high-end point and shoot that captures 12 megapixel images and has a long 10x zoom. But we found that it had only lackluster performance, with slightly soft images and fuzzy video.
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Nikon Coolpix L100 Digital Camera Review
The L100 sounds like an incredible deal: $249.99 for a 10 megapixel point and shoot with a 15x zoom lens. And you do get a lot of zoom for your money, but that's tempered by the fact that the L100 has poor performance and is missing features such as manual controls.
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Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX1 Digital Camera Review
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 is a powerful ultrazoom camera that shoots decent pictures and good looking video, as well as being able to easily take night shots and panoramas. At around $500, It is expensive, but it does offer a lot of features.
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Nikon Coolpix P90 Digital Camera Review
While a competent camera, the Nikon Coolpix P90 doesn't distinguish itself from the ultrazoom competition, and has a disappointing video mode. Though the 24x lens is impressive, other cameras have better features and performance.
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Olympus SP-590UZ Digital Camera Review
The $450 Olympus SP-590UZ has the biggest zoom in town, a whopping 26x lens, but lacks the performance or features to distance it from the competition.
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Canon SX1 IS Digital Camera Review
It looks like an innocent compact SLR, but the Canon SX1 IS is actually a paparazzi-pleasing ultrazoom in sheep's clothing, with a 20x zoom plus high-def 1080p video. For the same $600, though, you could buy a highly rated interchangeable-lens SLR.
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Samsung HZ15W Digital Camera Review
The Samsung HZ15W packs a 10x zoom into a very compact camera, complete with impressive image quality, 720p video and plenty of manual control.
Canon introduced the PowerShot SD4000 IS today, combining a back-illuminated CMOS sensor with a fast f/2.0 lens for enhanced available-light shooting. Priced at $349.99, the camera is scheduled for May availability.
