megapixels or zoom lense? Which is best for wildlife,landscapes?

Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

One camera has the longer zoom, one has higher megapixels. For shots of
eagles, elk etc, and landscapes, which camera will suit my purposes
better? I read a review at Stevesdigicams which states the digital zoom
on the e550 actual does not hurt image quality at all, which is
interesting. The review said you could get another 1.4x at 6 megapixel
mode, giving the camera an actual zoom of 5.4x.

So lets say you have captured an eagle with both the e550 and the
s5100. Would I in effect be able to get as good of a picture as the
s5100 by digitally zooming into the photo I took on the e550 in
Photoshop? Would the 6 megapixel clarity of the e550 allow me to zoom
in and get as nice of a shot as a 10x zoom 4 megapixel?

Thanks for any help, hints, etc.

In my experience you would be better of with the 10x zoom if it is optical.
A 4 meg camera will give you good 5 x 7 prints. Unless you have the
capacity to get very close to your wildlife the 4 times zoom will not
generally cut it. I have seen good wildlife shots with 70mm zooms but the
animals in question were bloody close and very used to people. However, if
you are trying to get shots of raptors then go with the 10x or spend a lot
of time at aviaries and zoos. I have a 400mm L series Canon on my 8 meg 20D
and even that is generally a little short for all the things I would like to
do.


regards

Don from Down Under
wrote in message
ups.com...
Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

One camera has the longer zoom, one has higher megapixels. For shots of
eagles, elk etc, and landscapes, which camera will suit my purposes
better? I read a review at Stevesdigicams which states the digital zoom
on the e550 actual does not hurt image quality at all, which is
interesting. The review said you could get another 1.4x at 6 megapixel
mode, giving the camera an actual zoom of 5.4x.

So lets say you have captured an eagle with both the e550 and the
s5100. Would I in effect be able to get as good of a picture as the
s5100 by digitally zooming into the photo I took on the e550 in
Photoshop? Would the 6 megapixel clarity of the e550 allow me to zoom
in and get as nice of a shot as a 10x zoom 4 megapixel?

Thanks for any help, hints, etc.

wrote:
Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

Let's look at the facts. First totally ignore any reference to digital
zoom. Only optical zoom counts. I just checked and it appears the 5100
does have optical 10X.

That leaves a couple of questions however.

You asked about two totally different situations. Eagles and
landscapes. Eagles, in the wild are going to take more than you are even
close to. Plan on some really expensive equipment. I would suggest that
10-20,000 dollars might do it. I just don't want you to be disappointed.
What you are looking at can take some very fine photos and you may even be
able to get some good wildlife photos if you are good at getting yourself
close to the wildlife.

The other end Landscapes generally calls for the opposite end where you
want not telephotos lenses, but wide angle. Consider looking out over the
Grand Canyon. Is the excitement seeing that one tree on the far side, or is
it seeing all of the great vista from side to side top to bottom as wide as
your eye can see.

So what exactly is a 10X zoom? Well it is not the same 10X that a pair
of 10X binoculars will give you. The binoculars will make the image look 10
times bigger, but a 10X zoom, who knows. What the 10X zoom means is the
telephoto end will look ten times closer than the wide end. But without
knowing where the wide end is or the telephoto end is, you know nothing. If
the zoom is bias towards the wide end the zoom any only be 2X normal That
would be great for your landscapes, but not so good for the eagle. If it
were bias towards the telephoto it might mean the eagle may be 5X normal or
about the equivalent of a 250mm lens on a standard 35mm, far from the 1,000
mm plus that would normally be considered the starting point for that kind
of photography.

Of the two cameras I would suggest that the 550 would have the edge if
you wanted many 8X10 or larger photos and the 5100 would have the edge
otherwise, based on what I do know of the two.




One camera has the longer zoom, one has higher megapixels. For shots
of eagles, elk etc, and landscapes, which camera will suit my purposes
better? I read a review at Stevesdigicams which states the digital
zoom on the e550 actual does not hurt image quality at all, which is
interesting. The review said you could get another 1.4x at 6 megapixel
mode, giving the camera an actual zoom of 5.4x.

So lets say you have captured an eagle with both the e550 and the
s5100. Would I in effect be able to get as good of a picture as the
s5100 by digitally zooming into the photo I took on the e550 in
Photoshop? Would the 6 megapixel clarity of the e550 allow me to zoom
in and get as nice of a shot as a 10x zoom 4 megapixel?

Thanks for any help, hints, etc.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

wrote:

Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

I hope I understand the math here and someone will point out my error
if I get this wrong. Call camera 1, 1x @ 6mp and camera 2, 2.5x at
4mp.

Just to make what I am thinking even easier, let me compare a 1x to a
2x.

On the 1x camera an object is from bottom of frame to midpoint of
frame, at 2x the same object is from bottom of frame to top of frame.
So, the number of megapixes to allow one to crop the 1x camera to
match the 2x camera would be twice height x twice width or 4 times the
megapixes of camera 1. So for a 1 megapixel 1x camera, you could crop
a 4 megapixed camera 2.

So, if I am right 4MP x 2.5 effective zoom ratio = 4 x 2.5 * 2.5 = 25
MP

I'd go with the 10x zoom assuming it makes good images.

Wes





--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

Let's look at the facts. First totally ignore any reference to
digital
zoom. Only optical zoom counts. I just checked and it appears the 5100
does have optical 10X.

That leaves a couple of questions however.

You asked about two totally different situations. Eagles and
landscapes. Eagles, in the wild are going to take more than you are even
close to. Plan on some really expensive equipment. I would suggest that
10-20,000 dollars might do it. I just don't want you to be disappointed.
What you are looking at can take some very fine photos and you may even be
able to get some good wildlife photos if you are good at getting yourself
close to the wildlife.

The other end Landscapes generally calls for the opposite end where
you
want not telephotos lenses, but wide angle. Consider looking out over the
Grand Canyon. Is the excitement seeing that one tree on the far side, or
is
it seeing all of the great vista from side to side top to bottom as wide
as
your eye can see.

So what exactly is a 10X zoom? Well it is not the same 10X that a
pair
of 10X binoculars will give you. The binoculars will make the image look
10
times bigger, but a 10X zoom, who knows. What the 10X zoom means is the
telephoto end will look ten times closer than the wide end. But without
knowing where the wide end is or the telephoto end is, you know nothing.
If
the zoom is bias towards the wide end the zoom any only be 2X normal That
would be great for your landscapes, but not so good for the eagle. If it
were bias towards the telephoto it might mean the eagle may be 5X normal
or
about the equivalent of a 250mm lens on a standard 35mm, far from the
1,000
mm plus that would normally be considered the starting point for that kind
of photography.

Finepix S5100: Fujinon 10x optical zoom (37-370mm equiv.) close to a 7x
binocular in "pull"
Finepix E550: Wide angle 4x optical zoom lens (32.5mm - 130mm equiv.)

You points are well made, I thought I would add the specs.

wrote:

On the 1x camera an object is from bottom of frame to midpoint of
frame, at 2x the same object is from bottom of frame to top of frame.
So, the number of megapixes to allow one to crop the 1x camera to
match the 2x camera would be twice height x twice width or 4 times the
megapixes of camera 1. So for a 1 megapixel 1x camera, you could crop
a 4 megapixed camera 2.

Darn, blew this.

So for a 4 megapixel 1x camera, you could crop
a 1 megapixed camera 2.

I hope I got it right this time.

Wes

--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

Hi,

If it is of any help, I was recently at Singapore zoo where they have three
gorgeous white Tigers. I would have given anything to have had a bigger
optical zoom on my canon A95. I used the dreaded digital zoom, which I knew
could never give me the quality I wanted, but had no other option to get
bigger images, short of leaping over the barrier into the water which would
have given me a cracking photo as the 3 Tigers were closing in! And if I
had time I could throw the camera back to my partner so at least she could
enjoy the picture. Not much use to me. Having said that, the digital zoom
images were better than expected, at least at 6x4 in print size. So I know
that they would have been brilliantly sharp with one of the 12x optical
zoom cameras such as the Panasonic FZ20, which has the same number of Mp,
but with a gem of a zoom lens, I believe.
I'm torn between getting a FZ20 to prevent a similar occurance, or going
down the Canon 20D route since with the latter I could also one day do some
really close up macro work which I find interesting, with the ability of
course to also stick on a 28-80mm (equiv) for landscapes and general
photography. Problem is canon lenses are not cheap and only canon lenses
can go on canon bodies, I think. So by the time you pay for that then a
possible teleconvertor it's a fair wad of cash, but the quality would be
there and would last a lifetime with options to add lenses bit by bit.
It's a dilemma. If I could afford it I would do both since the Panasonic
would be smaller (but not that much!) for use when you didn't want to carry
around a lot.

Mark

wrote:

Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

One camera has the longer zoom, one has higher megapixels. For shots of
eagles, elk etc, and landscapes, which camera will suit my purposes
better? I read a review at Stevesdigicams which states the digital zoom
on the e550 actual does not hurt image quality at all, which is
interesting. The review said you could get another 1.4x at 6 megapixel
mode, giving the camera an actual zoom of 5.4x.

So lets say you have captured an eagle with both the e550 and the
s5100. Would I in effect be able to get as good of a picture as the
s5100 by digitally zooming into the photo I took on the e550 in
Photoshop? Would the 6 megapixel clarity of the e550 allow me to zoom
in and get as nice of a shot as a 10x zoom 4 megapixel?

Thanks for any help, hints, etc.

On Wed, 09 Mar 2005 09:59:00 -0500, wrote:

wrote:

On the 1x camera an object is from bottom of frame to midpoint of
frame, at 2x the same object is from bottom of frame to top of frame.
So, the number of megapixes to allow one to crop the 1x camera to
match the 2x camera would be twice height x twice width or 4 times the
megapixes of camera 1. So for a 1 megapixel 1x camera, you could crop
a 4 megapixed camera 2.

Darn, blew this.

So for a 4 megapixel 1x camera, you could crop
a 1 megapixed camera 2.

I hope I got it right this time.

Wes

I have shot osprey in the nest with a long lens but unless you are
lucky all you will get is tail feathers hanging over the edge.

Trying to pan a tight shot on an eagle in flight is almost impossible
unless they are flying toward you or away from you in the open. You
need all the pixels you can get.

"Darrell" dev/null wrote in message
...


Finepix S5100: Fujinon 10x optical zoom (37-370mm equiv.) close to a 7x
binocular in "pull"
Finepix E550: Wide angle 4x optical zoom lens (32.5mm - 130mm equiv.)

You points are well made, I thought I would add the specs.


The OP will find that the S5100 is not quite enough of a telephoto for
animals such as bear, elk, moose, or deer. In fact, the OP could easily get
into trouble by getting too close.
The OP will find that the E550 is not quite enough of a wideangle. My best
shots have come from using a 24mm lens.
Jim

In article . com,
says...
Ok, I am looking at two cameras. They will be primarily for outdoor
shooting of landscapes, wildlife etc. This is just for personal
enjoyment.

The cameras:

Fuji e550 6 MP 4x zoom
Fuji s5100 4 MP 10x zoom

One camera has the longer zoom, one has higher megapixels. For shots of
eagles, elk etc, and landscapes, which camera will suit my purposes
better?

I'd go with the S5100 because of the zoom. I don't know what you want to
spend but some other cameras with long zoom a

Kodak DX7590 5MP 10x zoom ~$500
Kodak DX6490 4MP 10x zoom ~$300
Panasonic DMC-FZ20 5MP 12x zoom ~$600

I have to agree with others here, don't look at digital zoom when making
your mind as to which camera to buy. It tends to make pictures look
"grainy".

I disagree with some as far as more MP is better. If your not going to
be printing anything bigger than 8 1/2 x 11 then 4MP is enough. I'm sure
that there are those who disagree, but make up your own mind. Download
sample images from Stevesdigicams for the cameras your interested in and
print them out.



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