OpticsEngineer

I did some more looking at the dog picture.  I have a hard time saying that there is a focus problem evident.  The grass in the foreground and background is clearly out of focus.  In the middle, in...

thanks for catching that.  just a typo writing XZ1 instead of XZ2. Yes I agree the cat is in better focus than the dog.  I suppose the AF was better because of the higher contrast of the black and...

The pringles lens cap and coffee filter sound pretty good.  I am getting the idea that a dome lens cap would identify me as someone with more money than brains.

I thought it might be helpful to show a few examples of things I posted about. All the shots are with AF center point, near full zoom. For the dog, it is about 20 minutes after sunset.   In one...

It is normal for a large corporation to have their marketing department rewrite the questions and send them back to the asker.    Basically they gently say, we don't like the question you asked. ...

I went out this afternoon and took a few test shot with my 18-55 on NEX7 against some target boards.  I was sure those would show the lens was not very good at full aperture.  Problem was, the...

I believe all the ruggedized models are a bit weak in terms of IQ, which you say is paramount. So, I would say Canon SX260.    A bit cheaper than the other travel zooms, a bit smaller than most so...

"Isn't there another option also that helps with the potential focus problem?" Steve's answer matches my findings as well. Otherwise, if using spot AF  I like to use the 5x5 AF area grid instead of...

Thanks for the improved translation. Reading a little further, even the wider audience who knows only a  little German can pick out the scores: Picture Quality HX300 67 points, HX200V 73...

When I photograph my daughters in school plays and dances performances, I mostly use a long zooms on a DSLR as you are thinking.  But there are also times when I need some wide shots, for instance...

I thought the OP was being a kind to translate to "even more pixels" when it might be more literal to say "thickly crowded pixels."   But I am sure his grasp of German is far superior to mine.

I think any AF issues with the NEX7 you may have heard about are exagerrations.    It is not as fast as a DSLR, but it almost is.  For travel photographs using a Tamron 18-200 I have had no...

The SX260 is hard to beat for the price.  It would be a safe bet.

The camera store in my city stopped selling Pentax a few years ago.  I remember they used to have the K5 at one time.   I noticed last week that they still have a dozen or so lenses on a high shelf...

It seems to me that the majority of the focus problems reported have been at full zoom, AF area center point and low contrast.. In my experience testing that condition, I would add full zoom,...

"Perhaps lost in this long thread is the fact that THE reason I'm shopping for a new camera is I want something lighter weight for a 210 mile backpack trip this summer (Yosemite to Whitney - John...

"Something I don't understand is that the Sony 18-200 looks way better than the 18-55 on SLRGear in the common range (even beyond the common range).  Is this really the case? " On my NEX7, that is...

Generally the concerns about hazardous materials are not so much about when they are distributed in the consumer market, but rather to the workers in the factories, or to workers later in recycling...

"Thanks again Optics.  Will you be purchasing the WX300? " Yes, I will be buying the WX300, probably this week or the next.  I have a few test shots in mind to compare it to the SX260 and WX150.

Thanks for the correction.  I picked up my misinformation off of Snapsort.  I should have checked the Sony website.