Bird photography and video with the Canon SX30 and Panasonic Lumix FZ100 cameras

Bird photography and video with the Canon SX30 and Panasonic Lumix FZ100 cameras
With the 834mm 35mm equivalent focal length of the canon sx30 would this camera be a worthwhile addition to the bird photographer rather than a dslr, long (aka expensive) telephoto lens and the need for a monopod/tripod. This demo video shows some of the issues with the canon sx30 when used for this purpose. The fz100 can't match the optical zoom of the canon and even with cropping the image is no where near as good as the canon image. for this purpose of long lens photography the Fz100 has to be dismissed. The only question remaining is the shortfalls I point out within this video. If it's just stills your after then this might fit your needs and for simple video again the results are pretty good for most users, although you need to be aware of all the issues when deciding. I wish the FZ100 had better zoom as the camera features are excellent with total control in manual mode, maybe an additional teleconvertor may give enough resolution? Filmed at heaton Park in Manchester, edited with canopus edius 5 and rendered as WMV file.

panasonic cameras