And I thought the FZ50 had a far zoom. Yeah, maybe 10 years ago, but technology has progressed massively in the camera world since then. So, how does the Panasonic FZ80 compare to some of the other big zoomers in the world of Bridge cameras, like the Nikon P900, P950 and P1000. Well, it actually holds its own quite well. The test video below shows the capabilities of the FZ80's zoom by closing in on the planets. The planets are the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. The clip quality or closeness isn't that great for anything other than the Moon. But when it comes to zooming in on the same planets, like Saturn etc, even though they have more reach, it's similar with the big Nikon's mentioned above.
None of those can pick up clear or close footage of Jupiter, Saturn or Mars either. It might just be a bit closer with the Nikon's, but not by much. Which is understandable given how far away the planets are claimed to be away from the Earth. But when you consider the price difference, and also the difference in the zoom range length between the FZ80 and the Nikon's [Lumix 60 x optical Vs Nikon big three 83 - 125 x optical], the FZ80 is quite impressive. And its considerably smaller in size. But I should add. Looking at some of the birding sample images on the Imaging-resource.com website, I can't help but notice how bad they are. Lot's of noise. I know they were taken at far zoom lengths, but I expected much better quality than that. In RAW and JPG.
There are some real great Bridge Cameras out there. Some of the Panasonic's and Canon's have excellent zoom ranges in cameras that are affordable. That zoom range is usually limited a maximum of 60x optical zoom. However, there are some Bridge Cameras out there that far surpass this zoom length. Before we get into that, say hello to my little friend.
Those are, of course, the two big boys, the Nikon P900 and its big brother that's just about to be released (September 6th 2018), The daddy of Zooms, The Nikon Coolpix P1000. Have you seen how far its capable of zooming? Check out the videos below for an example. Close up footage of the Moon is no problem at all with this camera.
Nikon P1000 Extreme Zoom Test Video - Filming Jupiter and Saturn
The zoom range of the 16MP P1000 is the largest ever put inside a Bridge camera @ 125x Optical zoom (3000mm). If the camera itself wasn't so big (it weighs well over 1 KG) it would make one excellent spying device. It's capable of filming someone or something from so far away that the subject being filmed has no idea whatsoever that they are under the lens. But like I said, it is a big camera. With such a massive lens it has no choice but to be big. If you're looking for the furthest zoom ever in a Bridge, then it is well worth it. It'll give your arms a good bit of exercise too!
Nikon P1000 Zoom Example Video - Birding
There are a lot of other features built into the P1000. A manual focus ring being one. RAW mode, 2.3 million dot OLED viewfinder, Hot Shoe, a 39 foot flash range, 4K Ultra High Definition video, HDMI Port, external microphone option, USB, Bluetooth, WiFi and a battery life that's capable of taking around 250 shots per charge. Optional extra packages are also available for the P1000, including a bundle offer that comes with a memory card, one with a tripod, and one with a Bluetooth camera remote. Pre ordering is available on Amazon and other outlets online. Expensive but well worth the money.
