A young couple need a new digital camera to capture scenes on their travels. Could a 'Travel Zoom' meet their needs?
Our Canon IXUS has started to make grinding noises, and we'd like to replace it with something better. We're interested in a camera with a 10x zoom. The IXUS often comes up short when we're taking scenes on holidays.
Nonsuch couple
Before you asked, I hadn't realised there was a new class of compact cameras known as Travel Zooms, almost all of which have 10x or even greater zoom lenses. DP Review, an influential Amazon-owned website, has published an 18-page group review, Compact Camera Group Test: Travel Zooms, which says: "The so-called 'Travel Zoom' category was effectively invented by Panasonic, with the Lumix DMC-TZ1" launched in 2006. Now, it seems, almost every brand offers similar models.
The problem with Travel Zooms is that you are trading portability and versatility – a compact camera that covers everything from wide-angle to telephoto photography – for image quality. These cameras' compact 10x-20x zoom lenses are only possible because they use small image sensors to capture scenes. In DP Review's test, all six models have 1/2.3in sensors measuring about 6.1 x 4.6mm, from which the manufacturers are somehow wringing 12, 14 or even 16 megapixels. (Wikipedia has a diagram to show the different sensor sizes, along with a table and an explanation.)
This suggests manufacturers are pitching Travel Zooms at people who think bigger numbers are better, whereas they are quite often worse. Or as DP Review puts it: "We know from previous group tests that putting complex zooms of this type into such small bodies can lead to compromises in critical image quality."
You'd get better quality results from a camera with a bigger sensor, or possibly from a camera with the same size sensor but a less extravagant zoom lens, such as the Samsung WB2000. This has a 5x zoom, which is the equivalent of a 24-120mm zoom on a 35mm film camera. (The focal length depends on the sensor size. Since cameras have different size sensors, we convert them all to 35mm equivalents for comparison purposes.)
If you were happy with the pictures you were getting from your outgoing Canon IXUS, the closest upgrade would be a Canon IXUS 1000 HS. This has a 6.3mm to 63mm zoom lens, which is equivalent to a 36-360mm on a 35mm camera: it's not very wide at the wide-angle end. The image sensor is a 1/2.3 CMOS type, which is presumably much like the one used in Canon's Travel Zoom, the PowerShot SX230 HS. However, the SX230 pushes the zoom even further, to the equivalent of a 28-392mm (ie 14x) zoom.
Alternatives to the Canon IXUS 1000 HS include the older Nikon Coolpix S8100 and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55. These also have 10x zoom lenses. The much cheaper Canon PowerShot SX130 ISis a solid alternative with a 12x (28-336mm) zoom, and this model offers a CCD instead of a CMOS sensor. However, it takes two AA batteries and has a slightly bulkier camera body.
If you decide you'd rather have a smaller zoom range but better image quality, the most obvious choice is the 10-megapixel Canon PowerShot S95. This has a collapsible lens like the IXUS, which makes it similarly small and easy to carry. Its superior image quality derives mainly from the bigger and better 1/1.7in CCD sensor, but it also has other features that make it appeal to the more serious photographer. These include an automated high dynamic range (HDR) shooting mode, and the ability to capture the RAW sensor data in some modes. Larger sensors also perform better in low light.
The S95's major drawback – apart from its price – is that the optical zoom only covers 6-22.5 mm, which is around 4x. It's equivalent to a 28-105mm lens on a 35mm camera, but it's less than most people now expect of digital cameras. If your current IXUS is a model 90 or 95 with a 3x zoom, you will not see a lot of difference.
You can get a high quality 1/1.7in CCD sensor in a camera with a longer zoom range if you go for the Nikon Coolpix P7000 instead. This has a 7.1x zoom lens, equivalent to a 28-200mm on a 35mm camera. Unusually, it also has an optical viewfinder, which I find much easier to use in sunlight that the LCD screen on the camera back. However, it is quite a bit bulkier than the Canon S95, and more like the higher-priced Canon G12. It's not the sort of camera that you can slip into a back pocket, like the IXUS models or an S95.
To summarise, if you think you fit the Travel Zoom profile, then DP Review's top picks are the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS and the Nikon Coolpix S9100. (There's also a cheaper PowerShot SX220 HS, which is the same camera without the built-in GPS.) However, the Canon IXUS 1000 HS and Nikon Coolpix S8100 are good choices with slightly less extreme (10x) zooms, while the PowerShot SX130 IS has a 12x zoom in a less-pocket friendly body. If you want the small size but much better image quality, the Canon PowerShot S95 is just about unbeatable, but you're sacrificing a lot in zoom range. The Nikon Coolpix P7000 provides high quality results and a great zoom range, but not the same very compact size. All of these cameras will give you "something better", but not all in the same direction.
I have fairly extensive experience of travel photography, and I find that having a better wide angle lens – a zoom that starts at 28mm or preferably 24mm – is much more useful than having a zoom that goes much beyond 150mm or 200mm (in terms of 35mm equivalents). The wide-angle lets you photograph large buildings without walking miles, and is a huge advantage when taking interior shots of cathedrals and so on. The telephoto end of the zoom suffers diminishing returns because it's harder to hold the camera steady (the zoom doesn't just magnify the image, it also magnifies camera shake) and because you tend to lose contrast and sharpness with atmospheric haze, or sometimes heat haze. If a subject is too far away, you'll generally get a better picture not by extreme zooming but by getting closer.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/askjack/2011/aug/05/travel-compact-camera-zoom-lens
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