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| Nikon B700 |
Imagine a camera with a 60 x zoom lens spanning very wide to ultra long focal lengths, a built in eye level viewfinder of good quality, a nice monitor, a comfortable anatomical handle, a well designed thumb support, a comprehensive set of controls for the expert/enthusiast user, in a compact size easily carried in a small bag and all this at a budget friendly price.
In fact such cameras exist and are readily available to consumers.
So what is the catch ?
Why do interchangeable lens cameras continue to thrive in the marketplace ?
The answer is picture quality and specifically luminance noise which can be prominent in small sensor cameras.
These superzoom cameras have a very small sensor usually measuring 4.55 x 6.17mm. The diagonal is 7.67mm and the area is 28 square millimetres. This size sensor is often confusingly referred to a ‘1/2.3 inch’ for arcane reasons which need not concern us here.
To give some perspective to these dimensions, this sensor is only slightly larger than the buttons on the back of these cameras. A round button 5mm in diameter has an area of 19.6 square millimetres.
An inexorable rule of photography is that image quality is dependent on sensor size and bigger is better, given equally advanced sensor technology.
The sensor in these superzoom cameras is the same size as that commonly seen in smartphones.
Outdoors in reasonably bright light these cameras are capable of producing very good picture quality.
But indoors and in low light they are less impressive, giving way to cameras which utilise a larger sensor.
The trade off is versatility, particularly in the form of huge zoom range and compact size, against image quality, particularly in low light levels.
The good news is that most sensor R&D is going into the smartphone and industrial sectors where small sensors are dominant.
I expect, well anyway I hope, that this will deliver advances in small sensor technology to outstrip that appearing in larger sensors, giving a boost to the acceptability of devices using the small sensor.
Just to put this discussion about picture quality into perspective, I have been making photos for 63 years. For most of those years I used film, in all sizes from subminiature through 35mm to 4 x 5 inch large format.
I have hundreds of negatives and transparencies which I have printed to various sizes from A4 to 1200 x 900 mm.
Using RAW capture and processing in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop, I rate my recent shots made with the Nikon B700 as having picture quality equal to 35mm transparency film using a good prime lens.
I am finding that even when printed up to an actual print size of 410 x 540mm, pictures from the TZ80 and B700 look sharp and clear on the wall. Nobody who looks at them comments on any perceived issues with the technical quality of the prints.
My point is that for most of us, most of the time, these 7.6mm sensor cameras deliver good enough picture quality for almost any purpose.
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| B700 |
What’s available ?
As I write, the current players are Canon, Nikon, Sony and Panasonic.
Olympus, Fujifilm, Pentax and others appear to have dropped out of this market sector.
The pace of new model release has slowed with annual model cycles of the past being replaced by 2, 3 or 4 year cycles as sales and R&D budgets decline.
Models available in Australia in January 2017 are:
Canon: Powershot SX60
Nikon: Coolpix P900, P610, B700
Sony: Cybershot HX400V, HX350, HX90V, HX80
Panasonic Lumix: TZ80 (ZS60), FZ300, FZ70, (FZ80 coming soon)
Some of these are compacts. Those with the greatest zoom range are larger with a hump top, ‘SLR style’ shape.
I have not listed models without a built in EVF. I realise that people buy these things but I will not.
Maybe those people have ultra steady hands or maybe they just tolerate blurry pictures at the long end of the zoom.
There are two other features which I regard as important in deciding which, if any, of these cameras one might buy.
One is availability of RAW output. I often capture JPG + RAW. In my experience I can always improve on the JPG by working on the RAW file in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop.
The other is the availability of AF Continuous and the capacity to follow focus on a moving subject.
I have little interest in a camera which does not have all three of these features. Despite this I have been using the Nikon B700 quite a lot recently but am finding its limitations.....well......you know........limiting.
I realise that some users feel they have no need for them but others want to use those features frequently. If the camera has them the user can choose. If the camera does not have them there is no choice.
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| B700 |
Theparadox of small sensor cameras
The people most likely to use a small sensor camera are snapshooters. These users will often turn the mode Dial to the [Auto] setting then zoom, point and shoot.
The people most likely to get the best results from a small sensor camera are expert/enthusiast users who will set one of the P, A, S M Modes, utilise RAW output, use all the camera’s controls to optimum effect and post process each image in a top quality RAW converter.
I review and report on these cameras from the perspective of the expert/enthusiast user.
Canon Powershot SX60
This was announced in September 2014 so it is probably due for an update assuming Canon wants to stay with that model line.
On Canon user forums I read many complaints from users who updated from the SX50 to the SX60 then wished they had not done so, feeling the SX50 to be the better camera.
I bought and tested an SX60 and was not impressed. It has a nice handle and a good EVF but those are about the only positive things I could say about it.
You can find my reviews of the cameras mentioned in this post here.
Nikon Coolpix P900
It has an amazing 83x zoom lens of quite good quality. But it only shoots JPGs (slowly) and there are numerous ergonomic problems.
In addition I found it difficult to get decent pictures hand held at the long end of the zoom.
It uses the old, tediously slow Expeed C2 processor which desperately needs a major upgrade.
Nikon Coolpix P610 and B700
The B700 is an upgrade of the P610 using the same body and 60x zoom lens but with the addition of RAW output.
The 24-1440mm (equivalent) lens is about as long as I can manage if decently sharp hand held pictures are the desired outcome.
I have been using the B700 for several weeks and find it to be an appealing camera with some significant deficiencies in specifications, features, performance and ergonomics.
It works well for still subjects however with a good lens, very good VR (stabiliser) and generally good picture quality, although the lens gets a bit soft at the long end.
Unfortunately shot to shot times are slow and AF Continuous is not available.
Sony Cybershots
I did not buy any of these due to the absence of RAW output. I looked at sample images made with these cameras on various websites and was not pleased with the JPG rendition which appeared to me to have excessive noise reduction and sharpening.
Panasonic FZ300
If someone asked me to recommend the most versatile and capable all rounder of this group of cameras it would be the FZ300. Its 25-600mm f2.8 lens is the best optically and has the widest aperture of this group making it the most suitable for indoor as well as outdoor use.
It is weather sealed and can easily follow focus on moving subjects. It has very good ergonomics and is a pleasure to use.
It is an easy camera to recommend for all types of general photography including sport/action.
However the lens is a bit short for small birds and distant wildlife. For these subjects one of the models with a longer zoom might be more suitable.
The main argument against the FZ300 is the FZ1000 which is only about 25% larger and more expensive but makes better pictures.
An FZ400 with an effective focal length to 800mm might make a better case for the small sensor model.
Panasonic TZ80 (ZS60)
This is my favourite compact camera. It has a 30x zoom, all the latest Panasonic bells and whistles including zebras and peaking, 4K, AFC and much more. It can follow focus on moving subjects and does a decent job with a wide range of subjects from landscapes to small birds. It is nice to use with a decent handle and thumb support, a built in EVF and a good set of controls. Yet it fits into a Lowe Pro Portland 20 belt pouch with room for spare batteries and memory cards.
Yes of course the Sony RX100 series make better pictures if you pixel peep them at 100% but the Sonys cost a lot more and have one tenth the zoom range.
The TZ80 is a keeper in our family.
Panasonic FZ70, FZ80
I bought on eBay and have been using a banged up old FZ70 just to check out the lens. My copy is quite decentered making the pictures soft on one side at the wide end but quite good in the mid zoom range and acceptable the long end
The FZ80 due in mid March may be more promising although it uses the same lens.
These cameras have an interesting focal length range which goes from a super wide 20mm to a very long 1200mm. I find focal lengths longer than this are difficult to manage in real world hand held use.
I plan to buy a FZ80 when it becomes available in Australia and will report on its capabilities in due course. I will have to figure out some way of weeding out bad copies of the lens.