Best superzoom compact?

IceBus

IceBus

IceBus

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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, Washington DC
Hey all,

Sadly my Panasonic Lumix TZ6 went missing at a party over Halloween and I'm in the market for a replacement.

The natural replacement would seem to be the Panasonic TZ20, but it seems like since it came out there've been a few new challengers (the Samsung WB750 and Fuji F600 EXR) with longer lenses and possibly better image quality.

Can anybody offer some opinions on them, or other cameras I could look at? The goals are image quality, portability and battery life (in that order).

Thanks a lot!
 
The TZ20 is not that great, a step backwards in many ways according to many sites.

The notable Superzoom compacts seem to be

Canon SX230
Nikon S9100
Sony HX-9V

(In that order), The TZ20 isn't terrible, but those 3 rate higher.


For a good review of this genre,
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/
(The ZS10 is the TZ20 in europe)


I was bought a Sony HX-9V for my birthday as I needed a carry around P&S to compliment my usual DSLR habits..

I am normally a bit anal about image quality, and would normally have plumped for the Canon SX230, however, I'm glad I got the chance to try the Sony, it's pretty much amazed me in it's massive feature set, which includes some really useful multishot modes (High ISO, HDR etc), panorama's done well in-camera, and the 1080p60 video is pretty amazing (for the money).. I've used this camera more then any previous P&S I've had and even the missus takes good pictures with it, the Smile/Blink detection and all the other gizmo features do make it quite idiot proof, not to mention the build quality and metal finish/grip area and motorized flash.

The Canon has the best IQ, the Sony has the best features, the Nikon is somewhere in-between.

The Sony still has the £40 cashback deal on it, making it under £200 from the rainforest, and if you read a lot of other reviews, e.g.
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_cybershot_dsc_hx9v_review/ it's amazing VFM.
 
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Thanks a lot :) Somehow despite scouring DPReview I hadn't found that group test. Having read through it I'm now torn between the Canon and the Sony, edging towards the Canon I think as it just seems to offer the best combo of IQ and features.

One thing I can't find is any statistics of how long it takes from startup to first shot and also how many fps it can capture in continuous mode. I really wish I could find a good test of the Fuji EXR600 as it looks brilliant features-wise but can't get a good impression of its IQ really...
 
IceBus said:
Thanks a lot :) Somehow despite scouring DPReview I hadn't found that group test. Having read through it I'm now torn between the Canon and the Sony, edging towards the Canon I think as it just seems to offer the best combo of IQ and features.

One thing I can't find is any statistics of how long it takes from startup to first shot and also how many fps it can capture in continuous mode. I really wish I could find a good test of the Fuji EXR600 as it looks brilliant features-wise but can't get a good impression of its IQ really...
Click to expand...

The Canon sure has the best pixel level IQ, that is why I would have started looking at it. However, it's almost devoid of features other then the basics, any more advanced stuff seems a but half-hearted.

The Sony has this odd trait in it's JPEG engine that smushes certain types of detail, yet retains high contrast detail fine, but it's almost up there. It's the extra features that are it's strength, every feature is top notch, done well and works nicely.

I did try the F550EXR, as I have a soft spot for Fuji, but it seemed to just not give good images everytime, some where soft due to the lens, some where soft due to the focus, metering wasn't always consistent, as a happy snapper, it seemed to just not quite be there. The F600EXR might have ironed these things out, and improved on it's feature set, which was second only to the Sony, but I just don't think it's enough to beat the Sony, which still edges it in many ways feature wise and on specs.

A review with some 'timings' that compare the Canon/Sony/Fuji might help,
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/fujifilm-finepix-f600exr-camera-review-17709

The F600/HX9V offer a different spin on extending the performance in dynamic range/high ISO, the Sony uses quick multishot, that allows full resolution to be retained, but isn't so good for fast moving subjects, or the Fuji that reduces resolution, but should work better if the subject is moving quickly.

But everywhere else, the IQ seems largely the same again, all seem rather good in this class, the Sony has 10fps vs 8fps, and 1080p60 vs 1080p30 video..

The timings seem awash, both are very fast, the Sony possible edging it on the shot to shot with flash, but it's still OK on the others..
 
You've done a very good job pitching the Sony :) Having looked at some sample shots it really doesn't look far off the Canon in terms of IQ.

I might take a shot into Jessops tomorrow and try them out in person. With the cashback the prices are pretty much a wash as well.
 
IceBus said:
You've done a very good job pitching the Sony :) Having looked at some sample shots it really doesn't look far off the Canon in terms of IQ.

I might take a shot into Jessops tomorrow and try them out in person. With the cashback the prices are pretty much a wash as well.
Click to expand...

That is the perfect thing to do, I tried about 6 different cameras there, if you can take an SD card with you, you can take images/video etc and reflect on it at home.

Let us know how it goes!
 
Hey all... Sorry ended up taking longer than expected to pull the trigger!

I've gone for the Sony HX9 thanks in no small part to Demon's sales pitch :D Using them even in Jessops the images just looked so much sharper when zoomed in that I was very glad I didn't get the Lumix. Trying to figure out how to get the best out of it now, as it gets so bloody dark these days outside shooting is a challenge. Also trying to figure out the best way to convert MTS video to MP4 for easy editing.

It certainly feels very solidly built and I look forward to properly field testing it in Nepal.
 
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