Photography with Superzoom Cameras in 2021

Automatic transcript by Descript.com.

Tony: Hello and welcome to The Three Techs. I’m your host, Tony Tang. And I’m joined by the other two techs. Bob Fairbairn. Hey Bob 

Bob: Good evening.

Tony: and Steven Branson. Hey, Steven

Steven: hi there.

Tony: Tonight, we’re going to talk about cameras and specifically, we’re going to talk about a category of cameras. I think a lot of people don’t know about maybe have never heard of, or have never considered buying.

Tony: Now, there are cameras out there that are pocket cameras that fit in your pocket. Those are getting less and less popular because a lot of people just use their smartphone for photography these days. But then there are the interchangeable lens camera systems, the mirrorless systems, the DSLRs that let you choose the lens that you like, and you can have multiple lenses and change them.

Tony: As you want, but then there’s this category that kind of fits in between and some call it bridge cameras. And sometimes they’re called super zooms. Now, super zooms are interesting in that they usually have a zoom range that you cannot get with any other type of camera system. And the lenses are. fixed.

Tony: So you can’t change them like an interchangeable camera system. Now Bob and Steven, both of you own super zoom cameras. Is that right?

Bob: Yes, I do.

Tony: Yeah. So Bob tell. Okay, good. So Bob, tell me a little bit about your super zoom camera when you got it, which one you got.

Bob: All it’s been just a couple of months and I haven’t hardly used it at all. I’m just getting warmed up to it. I’ve been pretty busy. So it’s the Sony RX 10 IV which is a 24 millimeter to 600 equivalent, a one inch sensor single SD card. Both types. Autofocus. Contrast and phase detect really fast does not have a flippy screen, you know, that flips around.

Bob: I really miss that I could hide the screen. The electronic viewfinders really good. Overall I’m, I’m liking a lot and I’m getting some really nice photographs, but I’ve shot with several Sony cameras and I’m still getting used to the menu. It’s been a little bit of a challenge for me to remember it.

Tony: Yeah, that’s Sony RX 10 mark IV looks like a really interesting camera there. If that 24 to 600 millimeter equivalent focal range, that’s a 25 times optical zoom. So that is huge. You cannot find that in , four thirds APS-C or full frame. And not in pocket cameras. So that makes it pretty unique and pretty versatile because you get that wide angle and also extreme telephoto.

Bob: It’s a little bigger and a little heavier than some other cameras, but I’ve been carrying around a larger micro four thirds camera lot. So it doesn’t really feel much different to me. It balances out pretty well. And I’m getting used to it.

Tony: What compelled you to consider this camera?

Bob: Simplify, simplify, simplify. I don’t have to change lenses. I’m actually using three Sony cameras, so I have an rX 100. And the , uh, ZV-1, which we use for video recording and stuff like that. The RX 100 is just marvelous you take it wherever you want to go, but he doesn’t reach out long enough.

Bob: It doesn’t go far enough.