bigbendmarine
5 year old buck +
Splitting this thread out of the "It's Spring!" post where questions popped up about the cameras I use to take photos/videos of wildlife at long distances using two different cameras, a Canon SX60 (max optical zoom of 65x) costing approximately $600 and a Nikon P1000 (max optical zoom of 125x) costing approximately $1,000.
In the "It's Spring!" thread I mentioned that though the P1000 has the higher zoom, that if walking (or even hunting from my stands) I tend to reach for the Canon SX60 (newer model is SX70 but has same 65x zoom). Think these pics will show why -- primarily due to both physical size of the P1000 being more cumbersome AND really big weight difference.


Before sharing pictures I took at known distances for comparison's sake, I'll also stress again that both do the same things pretty darn well -- take good long-distance shots, while they also have the same weakness with very small sensor sizes making low-light conditions their kryptonite. In dusk/dawn scenarios they struggle to focus at all in auto-setting modes, whereas the greater the light available the sharper images become.
So I'll start with the Canon SX 65x zoom.
This first picture shows the exact same view for BOTH cameras with zero zoom -- taken from a tripod in my home looking out towards a narrow mixed gravel/clover/grass road that leads to a pond with a sheltered dock 600 yards behind the house.

Next shot is actually one taken by distraction... noticed a blue bird sitting in the magnolia tree to the far left in the photo above... distance from house to the tree is approximately 45 yards.

Next shot is of a pear tree where I tried a few grafts... sure not sharing to show off the crude grafting, but more to compare images of the zip-log bags... distance of photo is 150 yards.

Next photo is of clover just in front of the start of the road down to the pond -- distance is just a couple yards shy of 200 yards.

And finally a few max range shots out between 600 yards and 800 yards.
This shot of my dock is a distance of 600 yards with the 65x optical zoom but no digital zoom -- digital zoom is basically just cropping substituted for actual optical zoom, so the greater the use of digital zoom the blurrier/less detailed photos get. While the picture is not ultra-sharp, you can still tell looking at the firepit right in front of the dock that if a buck walked out and stood still you would probably be able to ID it, and again this is at 600 yards. The lily pad field behind the dock is actually 800 yards from the camera. Look closely at the docu and though not super sharp, you can make out a tackle box to the left as well as a white bin used to hold fish food and the sliver of green visible at the end of the dock is the bottom of my canoe flipped over for storage on a step-down area at the end of the dock.

Final pictures include digital zoom ("cropping zoom") so are a bit less sharp. Still... stress again, the lily pads on the other side of the pond are 800 yards away and when taking pictures at that distance when it gets real hot, heat wave related distortion even starts to impact the quality of the photos with BOTH the Canon and Nikon cameras.


Up next photos from the Nikon P1000...
In the "It's Spring!" thread I mentioned that though the P1000 has the higher zoom, that if walking (or even hunting from my stands) I tend to reach for the Canon SX60 (newer model is SX70 but has same 65x zoom). Think these pics will show why -- primarily due to both physical size of the P1000 being more cumbersome AND really big weight difference.


Before sharing pictures I took at known distances for comparison's sake, I'll also stress again that both do the same things pretty darn well -- take good long-distance shots, while they also have the same weakness with very small sensor sizes making low-light conditions their kryptonite. In dusk/dawn scenarios they struggle to focus at all in auto-setting modes, whereas the greater the light available the sharper images become.
So I'll start with the Canon SX 65x zoom.
This first picture shows the exact same view for BOTH cameras with zero zoom -- taken from a tripod in my home looking out towards a narrow mixed gravel/clover/grass road that leads to a pond with a sheltered dock 600 yards behind the house.

Next shot is actually one taken by distraction... noticed a blue bird sitting in the magnolia tree to the far left in the photo above... distance from house to the tree is approximately 45 yards.

Next shot is of a pear tree where I tried a few grafts... sure not sharing to show off the crude grafting, but more to compare images of the zip-log bags... distance of photo is 150 yards.

Next photo is of clover just in front of the start of the road down to the pond -- distance is just a couple yards shy of 200 yards.

And finally a few max range shots out between 600 yards and 800 yards.
This shot of my dock is a distance of 600 yards with the 65x optical zoom but no digital zoom -- digital zoom is basically just cropping substituted for actual optical zoom, so the greater the use of digital zoom the blurrier/less detailed photos get. While the picture is not ultra-sharp, you can still tell looking at the firepit right in front of the dock that if a buck walked out and stood still you would probably be able to ID it, and again this is at 600 yards. The lily pad field behind the dock is actually 800 yards from the camera. Look closely at the docu and though not super sharp, you can make out a tackle box to the left as well as a white bin used to hold fish food and the sliver of green visible at the end of the dock is the bottom of my canoe flipped over for storage on a step-down area at the end of the dock.

Final pictures include digital zoom ("cropping zoom") so are a bit less sharp. Still... stress again, the lily pads on the other side of the pond are 800 yards away and when taking pictures at that distance when it gets real hot, heat wave related distortion even starts to impact the quality of the photos with BOTH the Canon and Nikon cameras.


Up next photos from the Nikon P1000...