Zooming Blackbirds

The top 2 pictures were taken with optical zoom only.
The bottom 2 were taken with the addition of digital zoom (x2).
Not bad... though I don't think the blackbird was terribly happy to have his picture taken
(and just what was a blackbird doing at the top of Murphy Hogback
in Canyonlands, anyway?)

Zoom Comparisons

On this weekend's visit to the Madeleine cathedral,
I took Camera A and Camera B.
I didn't have time for an in-depth tripod test,
but hand held and the stained glass showed some useful comparisons.
Above is Camera A and the north transept glass,
zoomed in to its maximum,
and then zoomed out- not quite to its full extent-
but enough to fill the frame with the window.

Camera B, below, does just fine and dandy with the overall view
(again, it too can zoom out wider than the whole window)
but the range of its closeup zoom is much more limited,
as you can see from the photo directly below.

More comparisons

The top two were taken with Camera A.
The bottom one was taken with Camera B.

Again, I see a slight blur on the 'foreward' blossoms
in Camera B's version (bottom photo)
and less blurring of the background than in Camera A.
I think Camera A wins the 'best closeup' in my book.
Now I have to try out A vs. B with some buildings,
and people, and landscapes,
and other scenes,
before I decide which one I will keep.
(I do have to say I like B's battery system better than A's... sigh.)

Comparisons

I am trying to decide between two cameras.
Camera A took the upper picture.
Camera B took the lower picture.
I am more used to Camera B's system,
but A, it seems to me, works better with close-ups,
in keeping the object fully in focus
and blurring the background
(as opposed to Camera B,
which will do a closeup of a leaf or flower,
but often with such a shallow depth of field
that part of said leaf or flower is not fully focused.)

For instance, see how the bottom photo has a center leaf
that projected forward and therefore is blurred,
because it protruded out of the realm of the camera focus.
The top photo is further away, true, but it doesn't appear to have that problem.