[shuttertalk]

Canon's newest superzoom compact, the SX40 HS, has a headline grabbing 35x zoom - that's 24mm to 840mm in 35mm equivalent terms. (Note, just saw that it's also on the SX30). It's amazing they can cram such a huge zoom range on a compact, but I guess the sensor is 1/12 the size of a DSLR sensor and they can make the lens smaller.

Another issue will be stabilisation - the built in one supposedly gives you 4.5 stops of stabilisation but I wonder how feasible it will shooting hand-held at the extreme end.

It must be handy though as a travel camera - almost every zoom range you possibly want or need in a compact package.

[Toad]

It must be handy though as a travel camera - almost every zoom range you possibly want or need in a compact package.

Particularly if you don't care about lens quality. Its hard to believe that any miniature lens with that sort of reach will be any good. Still, I suppose I should reserve judgement...

[Kombisaurus]

As much as I would love a convenient 35x quality zoom... Like Toad I suspect the compromise in IQ will make it a disappointment.

However I can't wait for this technology to mature a bit more. I think fluid lenses might be the breakthrough technology needed to be able to build quality super-zoom lenses that remain compact in the future. But there doesn't seem to be much info around about them yet, so I don't know how useful they might be in really high-IQ applications.

[shuttertalk]

Interesting link, Adrian... I guess fluid lenses can reduce the number of solid lens elements needed to traditionally focus, and reduce the number of moving parts too. Hope it makes it to the market sometime soon!

[matthew]

I had the SX20, briefly, a long time ago; it had a more modest 20x 28-560mm-e lens. The SX40's range is impressive – hopefully it improves on the SX30's horrid EVF, which itself was a big step down from the SX20 – but the 'x-times' ratings are boosted when the lens is just a little wider. The 40 is a 24mm-e, while the 20 was a 28mm-e; if the SX40 had the same 28mm wide end then it would only be a 30x zoom.

I've yet to see a compact camera with a really good zoom lens, so it might as well be useful. :/

[Zig]

Isn't it nuts that we can talk, in such a world of redefined superlatives, of a 20x lens as being modest..

Fascinating Ade....but I'd guess readers of Frank Herbert's 1960s Dune series would howl about how old-hat fluid-lens technology is: several of the characters including the main first protagonst, Paul Atreides, are mentioned as using a type of remote viewer that uses oil lenses.
I'm reminded of how often science-fiction has "created" an object, a word or world-view that subsequently becomes real in life. I'd guess that the actual observable mechanics of a fluid, as a prism and as a lens, have been investigated for many centuries, by both the medieval Arabs and the earlier 5th century BC Greek world...just my guess, but I wouldn't have put it past 'em.

[NT73]

Interesting link, Adrian... I guess fluid lenses can reduce the number of solid lens elements needed to traditionally focus, and reduce the number of moving parts too. Hope it makes it to the market sometime soon!

As long as photographers go on buying weighty( in both price and carryability ) lenses, then I would not think Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Tamron, et al, will forfeit the huge profits made from these aforementioned lenses. Why would they?

[Toad]

Interesting approach to lenses (the fluid lens, that is). Assuming that with sufficient time and money, you can solve the mechanical problems associated with rapid, selective focus and zooming, that still leaves the subject of lens "character". I never used to think much about that, but I've become convinced over time that some lenses exhibit distinctive visual characteristics that are not purely mechanical in nature, but are based on the interactions between specific properties of the glass, the lens barrel, and the coatings.

Perhaps fluid mechanics will allow a quicker method to iterate on lens characteristics, or perhaps it will simply be impossible to maintain a distinctive lens "look" when the mechanics are not static.

[NT73]

A bit of further reading sees infighting already.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/17/...enge_over/