SU3ARU

I currently have a Fuji finepix 4800 which has 3x optical and some digital zoom (forget what exactly). Following recent exeriences at taking photos at tracks/rallys, most recently Japfest, I have decided to get a new camera that has a more powerful zoom.

Ideally I want to stick with a digital camera with 6x optical and 4x digital, budget around £500-600.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Cheers
Peter

Mark Miwurdz

This is one fantastic camera. If it does have a drawback, it's got too many features (but that's only because I'm a dummy)

Cheers
Kav

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

The best site I've found for digital camera reviews is www.dpreview.com - have a trawl through and see what takes your fancy.

One very important point to make is that digital zoom is completely useless - it does nothing that can't be achieved by simply enlarging the image in a photo editor, or printing it bigger. Optical zoom is the only zoom worth looking at.

When cameras talk about 2X zoom, 3X zoom and so on, all they're really describing is the range over which the lens will adjust. So, for example, imagine two cameras: one has a 2X zoom lens covering the range 35-70mm, another is 3X and covers 26-70mm. Here, the 3X goes wider than the 2X, but at the telephoto end they're both the same. The moral of the story is that you need to look at the focal length that's available and not the number of 'X'.

The field of view (ie. the amount of stuff that completely fills the viewfinder) also depends on the size of the sensor chip in the camera - obviously for a given lens, a bigger chip would be able to see more than a smaller one. For this reason, to allow meaningful comparisons to be made between cameras with different sized sensors, focal lengths are usually quoted in '35mm equivalent' - ie. they'll quote the focal lengths that you'd need on a 35mm camera to give the same field of view. (Clear as mud? Good!).

To give a feel for the figures on a 35mm camera:

15mm is extremely wide (about 180 degrees field of view);
28mm is wide;
50mm is normal - the camera sees things about the same as the eye;
100mm is a modest telephoto;
200mm is a decent telephoto.

So, what do you want for motorsports?

The short answer is, probably the longest focal length you can get. Do expect this to require a fair bit of glass, so you won't get a camera that's especially small or light. Your best bet if you're serious is to look for a digital SLR - there are some used Canon D30's (a truly excellent camera and my current weapon of choice) around your price range, onto which you can attach any lens you like. Try looking here and ask about the D30 and 75-300mm zoom lens.

Finally, don't listen to anyone who tells you to measure image quality by counting the number of megapixels - it's a common misconception that more pixels equals a better image. The vast majority of cameras are limited by the quality of their lenses, so more pixels just eats memory card space and shows you all the more clearly just how fuzzy the lens really is. I'm happy to send anyone who argues a 'mere' 3MP image from my D30 to print out at A3 size and then tell me there's something wrong with it.

Good luck and do post some photos

Andy.

ChrisB

Fine words from a man in the know.

I'd add that on the cameras I've seen, digital zoom chugs something rotten. If it's a non still shot, good chance of missing it completely whilst the camera sorts it's self out.. It's the first thing I turned off on my new Digital Ixus 400.

Chrisgr31

I have recently bought a new digital camera. I was looking at the Fuji Finepix S602 however eventually bought the Nikon 5700. I wanted one for taking general shots and motorsport ones hence the long zoom. Haven't use it for Motorsports yet.

Its a bi out of your price range, and the cheapest I could find it at the time (3 weeks ago) was on the net at £775. However was in Cribbs Causeway and Jessops had it on price-match at £725. I snapped it up.

Others to conider are the Minolta Dimage 7i or the Canon G3 I think it is but the optical zoom is small.

As has been said concentrate on optical zoom ignore digital zoom

Toonman1

Try:

http://www.steves-digicams.com/

DPreview's a good site, but Phil's sample pics are different each time. Steve uses reference subjects so you can compare the image quality of different Digi cams more easily. You'll also find that Steve reviews a greater number of Cams, and usually has reviews before Phil at Dpreview.

Cheers

frisby

I've got a Nikon CP5700. I think its a great camera, but not tried it out on Motorsport yet. Photo'd a speed boat which was going quite quickly...

Some resized samples below...










Crop from original:











[Edited by frisby - 5/21/2003 10:17:43 AM]

springbok

Peter,
I was in the same situation as you a little while back, my old Fuji only had 3 times optical zoom, and the more motorsports events I went to, the more annoyed I got that I could get close enough to the action.
I plumped for the Fuji S602. It has 6 times optical zoom which is equivalnet to 210mm on a 35mm scale. I also bought a 1.5 times telephoto adapter to take it to 9 times or 300mm equivalent.
They are now at a steal of a price at amazon HERE at £459. I paid £519 3 months ago and that was a good price then.
The telephoto lense is about £80 so with your budget, you'll have enough left over for another memory card.
Some pics taken with the 602 can be found HERE, all pics from the Wyedean rally onwards were taken with the 602.





[Edited by springbok - 5/21/2003 11:10:12 AM]

SU3ARU

Thanks for all the advice so far, as per usual for Scoobynet!

I will go away and do a bit of research, although am currently leaning towards the Fuji S602 as I have invested in 128MB worth of memory cards, a fast charger and spare battery for my current Fuji!! Although can anyone confirm if the 602 uses the standard Fuji rechargeable battery???

Also some great photos

Peter

Gordo

www.komplett.co.uk

is the best I've found for flash memory cards - faster and cheaper than any of the camera related sites I've looked at - just got a 512Mb card to feed mine for the time being .....

G