Nikon P510 Offers Highest Zoom Ratio Ever Seen in a Compact Camera

PETAPIXEL ^ | Feb 03, 2012 | swampsniper

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Nikon has unveiled a new superzoom compact camera called the P510 that offers a ridiculous 42x optical zoom — the highest zoom ratio ever seen in such a camera. In 35mm terms, the lens goes from a 24mm on the wide-angle side to a 1000mm on the telephoto end. The 16.1MP camera also boasts a 3-inch LCD screen, 1080p video recording, GPS, 5fps continuous shooting, and ISO 3200. It’ll hit store shelves later this month with a price tag of $430.

[rustbucket]

Your thread got me to wondering what the equivalent magnifying power of my telephoto lens and camera combination was and how cropping an image increases magnification.

Here, for example, is a photo of some coots taken with a Canon EOS 7d and a 100-400mm lens set at 400mm. The Canon EOS 7d multiplies the focal length by 1.6, so the effective focal length of this photo is 640mm. I've read that you can divide the focal length by 50mm to tell how magnified the image is compared to a picture taken with a 50mm lens. By doing that I get a magnification of 12.8 compared to a 50mm lens of a full frame camera that doesn't multiply the focal length. A 1000mm lens like that Nikon camera you posted about would give a magnification of 20 compared to a 50mm lens.

Here's the photo:

I noticed that the coot in the middle was more or less in focus, so I cropped the image such that it was about 1/9th of the area of the original 640mm picture. Here is the resulting image blown up to the same size as the picture above:

If my calculatons are correct (always questionable), the magnification on this cropped image is 9 times 12.8, or 115 times that that a 50mm lens would give. Keep in mind I'm dealing with area of the image here, not its height or width, which would both be multiplied by a lower adjustment figure than I used in the area calculations above.

[golux]

A little trick Mr. Bunk taught me: get a pile of those plastic stackable food tubs and as you take stuff apart, put everything in the tubs, one by one, in layers. No need to use caps. Pretty soon you’ll have a little tower of nuts, bolts, washers, etc, layer by layer in the stacked tubs. Then, when you go to put stuff back together you just work your way down the tower. It really works... No more mystery bits.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

The figures released with point and shoots usually don’t correlate with DSLR ratings, there is some hype involved. To find out how this Nikon really rates you’d have to compare it side by side with a known lens and see which one gets “closer”.

[prisoner6]

DITTOS to that. I got some digital camera/camcorder at Rite Aid last year. It's kind of like a flip camera but not as good. IIRC I paid 10-15 bucks or LESS. I used it to see where the power steering fluid was leaking from the steering gear on my Durango. Also checked out stuff on other cars where I couldn't see otherwise.

It's been invaluable for stuff like that and documenting where things go!

Yup it gets dirty and beat up but it still works!

[PA Engineer]

If you really tried to take a picture, without a tripod, every picture would look like you’re in the middle of richter 9.

Normally. NIKON has handled it pretty well with certain lenses I have used. From their site:

Lens-shift vibration reduction (VR) function that effectively reduces the effects of camera shake

Equipped with a lens-shift vibration reduction (VR) function that offers camera shake compensation equivalent to a four-step increase in shutter speed, the cameras support capture of sharper images with less blur, even with hand-held shooting. This optical vibration reduction is effective not only with still-image shooting, but also with recording of full-HD movies.

I hope there are reviews, but I might just add this to my other cameras. I have a trip planned to South America and Antarctica in January of 2013.

[Vendome]

Doesn’t look like it’d fit in my pocket. Is it still considered Compact?

[Just mythoughts]

Do you give photography classes? I have a really nice Nikon, a gift from a few years back, and I still have yet to learn all its functions. IF I knew how to post some of my pictures I would but I have not master that either.

[abigailsmybaby]

We’ll be outside....the main things are a high school graduation and party, and softball games. A super zoom like that would allow me some really good shots. I’ll have to do some practicing first as you say or it won’t matter what camera I use. :)

[BigCinBigD]

I just happen to be in the market for a new camera. Have been loking at the Canon G12, but this looks interesting.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

It’s what they call a bridge camera, not a compact.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

http://www.photonhead.com/simcam/

[SWAMPSNIPER]

You can get a free gallery at Photobucket and upload to there. It will provide four formats. To show pics here on Free Republic you use HTML. You will find that other forums use different formats but Photobucket provides them all.

I'm no pro but I get by and I'm almost always around here somewhere. There are others here glad to help too, so just ask or PM someone.

I posted a link to SIMCAM a minute ago, it is a great tutorial.

[grame]

I want one, now! Is it too late to ask Santa?

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Amazon is taking pre release orders, $429.00.

[Just mythoughts]

[Las Vegas Dave]

Using http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/, your $500 1996 camera in 2011 dollars = $716.82.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Now you’re cooking!

[caver]

I just bought a Canon G12. The camera is a lot smarter than me and takes great pics.

[Portcall24]

Just did that with replacing rear (drum) brakes on my pickup. I didn’t want to take both apart at the same time as so used photos instead.

[FLAMING DEATH]

1000mm at f256.

Great for shooting photos of the sun.