Questions About The EX-ZR850 Is It The Best Travel Zoom Compact?

[Joakim Agren]

I am in the search for a replacement to my 4.5 year old Samsung WB650. That was a 15X zoom 12 Megapixel model that had some new tech for its time. I believe it was one of the first consumer devices with an AMOLED display with unusual 614K dot resolution. Also 15X at the time was market leading for such a small body only 10.5 cm wide and about 3.2 cm thick. I also liked the fact that you could pause video recordings and continue in the same recording. Most other cameras at the time only let you quit recording to start a new one if you wanted to pause. At first I also liked the GPS function but later turned out almost never used it because of very clumsy implementation where you had to create a special file structure and download map and GPS files from a special Samsung website and then put those on every memory card you used. To much hassle so never bothered with it. I also liked its build quality feels quite sturdy, like a pebble in my hand.

What I did not like about it is that it is rather sluggish in operation and also the UI is a little dumb and slow for instance to change between scene modes you must turn the program wheel to a different mode and then back to scene again to bring back the menu that enables you to choose a new scene. Very stupid design! I also was never a fan of the video it produces only 720P and not very sharp also slow to acquire focus during zooming when filming in nothing but bright daylight. Also very strange is that in dim light I can not zoom from wide to telephoto (15X) I have to start at the middle (7-8X zoom) before I start filming then I can zoom all the way out to 15X or else it will be out of focus past 7X and will never acquire it. Also did not like that I can not use digital zoom during filming for extended reach. So not happy about its filming capabilities. As for taking photos I have been satisfied with daylight photos, very natural looking results. But in dim light not so much. Have to use high ISO with to much grain or long shutter speed requiring a tripod or other fixed steady position for instance a table or wall. But long shutter speed also means that I can not get a moving object in sharp focus.

So why am I talking so much about my WB650 when this is a thread about this Casio Exilim EX-ZR850 well by telling you the things I did not like about it I hope you understands what I am looking for and can help me guide me in the right direction. I see some enthusiasm about this model in this forum so I am wondering if it would be a good choice for me or not?

Is it fast in operation?

Is the film mode any good? Can you pause and resume video like in my WB650? Can you change other parameters during filming? Is the quality and focus any good? Can you use digital extra zoom?

How about low light capabilities? Just by reading the F stop numbers on it F 3.5 to F5.9 is actually slightly worse then the F3.2 to F5.8 on my WB650. So perhaps it is not any good? Or perhaps it has some special tricks up its sleeve? I am also looking at the Fujifilm F770/900/1000 EXR model with 20X zoom and that one has the special EXR modes that can increase dynamic range and low light capacity by shooting with reduced resolution of 8 or even 4 Megapixels? Does this Exilim have something similar to improve low light shooting?

I am also curios about this Interval shooting thing how does that work? How many shoots can you take and what is the time limit? In what way does it differ from Time lapse?

I am also having my eyes on the market leader in this segment the Panasonic TS40 TZ60 with an impressive 30X optical zoom. Also the Nikon Coolpix S9700 with the same range have interested me. But perhaps I do not need that range and my budget is around $250 so the TZ60 is perhaps not an option. But perhaps the EX-ZR850 is a hidden gem. Perhaps it is better in many ways compared to the Panasonic?

Many questions but I hope some of you can help me with my confusion and help me make the right choice for me.

 

[Erik Ohlson]

I am in the search for a replacement to my 4.5 year old Samsung WB650. That was a 15X zoom 12 Megapixel model that had some new tech for its time. I believe it was one of the first consumer devices with an AMOLED display with unusual 614K dot resolution. Also 15X at the time was market leading for such a small body only 10.5 cm wide and about 3.2 cm thick. I also liked the fact that you could pause video recordings and continue in the same recording. Most other cameras at the time only let you quit recording to start a new one if you wanted to pause. At first I also liked the GPS function but later turned out almost never used it because of very clumsy implementation where you had to create a special file structure and download map and GPS files from a special Samsung website and then put those on every memory card you used. To much hassle so never bothered with it. I also liked its build quality feels quite sturdy, like a pebble in my hand.

What I did not like about it is that it is rather sluggish in operation and also the UI is a little dumb and slow for instance to change between scene modes you must turn the program wheel to a different mode and then back to scene again to bring back the menu that enables you to choose a new scene. Very stupid design! I also was never a fan of the video it produces only 720P and not very sharp also slow to acquire focus during zooming when filming in nothing but bright daylight. Also very strange is that in dim light I can not zoom from wide to telephoto (15X) I have to start at the middle (7-8X zoom) before I start filming then I can zoom all the way out to 15X or else it will be out of focus past 7X and will never acquire it. Also did not like that I can not use digital zoom during filming for extended reach. So not happy about its filming capabilities. As for taking photos I have been satisfied with daylight photos, very natural looking results. But in dim light not so much. Have to use high ISO with to much grain or long shutter speed requiring a tripod or other fixed steady position for instance a table or wall. But long shutter speed also means that I can not get a moving object in sharp focus.

I can't comment on the video aspects because I almost never use video - but I understand it does great slow-motion video.

So why am I talking so much about my WB650 when this is a thread about this Casio Exilim EX-ZR850 well by telling you the things I did not like about it I hope you understands what I am looking for and can help me guide me in the right direction. I see some enthusiasm about this model in this forum so I am wondering if it would be a good choice for me or not?

Is it fast in operation?

I come from years pf Panasonic cameras, and presently carry a Casio ZR700. The 800 & 850 are almost the same. The 700 is very fast, IMHO.

Is the film mode any good? Can you pause and resume video like in my WB650? Can you change other parameters during filming? Is the quality and focus any good? Can you use digital extra zoom?

How about low light capabilities? Just by reading the F stop numbers on it F 3.5 to F5.9 is actually slightly worse then the F3.2 to F5.8 on my WB650. So perhaps it is not any good? Or perhaps it has some special tricks up its sleeve?

It has special tricks up it's sleeve. First, the lens is always wide open - a good thing for sharpness with small-sensor cameras - and the "stop down" function is done with an internal neutral-density filter. This means no little blades to vary the aperture, so no "star-burst" pattern around streetlights and such.

I find that the ZR700 at full 18x zoom with it's extrazoom feature sharper at about 30x than the Panasonic ZS40 with 30x optical zoom:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3740959

Look for the white sign with black numbers - taken from the same location and straight from the cameras.

I am also looking at the Fujifilm F770/900/1000 EXR model with 20X zoom and that one has the special EXR modes that can increase dynamic range and low light capacity by shooting with reduced resolution of 8 or even 4 Megapixels? Does this Exilim have something similar to improve low light shooting?

Many Casio modes utilize fast bust shooting which the camera automatically stacks for better dynamic range and DOF (notice the increased DOF behind the sign mentined above)

I am also curios about this Interval shooting thing how does that work? How many shoots can you take and what is the time limit? In what way does it differ from Time lapse?

I am also having my eyes on the market leader in this segment the Panasonic TS40 TZ60 with an impressive 30X optical zoom.

See above about that - the Casio is better at long zoom.

As to the Panasonic ZS40 & 50, I - personally - much prefer this for an eye-level finder:





The folding magnifier attaches to the camera and provides a very large "Virtual EVF" while your hands automatically sheild the LCD from bright light. It's called a "Clearviewer".

Also the Nikon Coolpix S9700 with the same range have interested me. But perhaps I do not need that range and my budget is around $250 so the TZ60 is perhaps not an option. But perhaps the EX-ZR850 is a hidden gem. Perhaps it is better in many ways compared to the Panasonic?

The Casios are, indeed, hidden gems.

Many questions but I hope some of you can help me with my confusion and help me make the right choice for me.

I can address other issues you may have, as can other members of this forum.









--
"Measure wealth not by things you have but by things for which you would not take money"
www.flickr.com/ohlsonmh/ [email protected]

 

[JABB66]

Hi Joakim

I am in the search for a replacement to my 4.5 year old Samsung WB650. That was a 15X zoom 12 Megapixel model that had some new tech for its time. I believe it was one of the first consumer devices with an AMOLED display with unusual 614K dot resolution. Also 15X at the time was market leading for such a small body only 10.5 cm wide and about 3.2 cm thick. I also liked the fact that you could pause video recordings and continue in the same recording. Most other cameras at the time only let you quit recording to start a new one if you wanted to pause. At first I also liked the GPS function but later turned out almost never used it because of very clumsy implementation where you had to create a special file structure and download map and GPS files from a special Samsung website and then put those on every memory card you used. To much hassle so never bothered with it. I also liked its build quality feels quite sturdy, like a pebble in my hand.

What I did not like about it is that it is rather sluggish in operation and also the UI is a little dumb and slow for instance to change between scene modes you must turn the program wheel to a different mode and then back to scene again to bring back the menu that enables you to choose a new scene. Very stupid design! I also was never a fan of the video it produces only 720P and not very sharp also slow to acquire focus during zooming when filming in nothing but bright daylight. Also very strange is that in dim light I can not zoom from wide to telephoto (15X) I have to start at the middle (7-8X zoom) before I start filming then I can zoom all the way out to 15X or else it will be out of focus past 7X and will never acquire it. Also did not like that I can not use digital zoom during filming for extended reach. So not happy about its filming capabilities. As for taking photos I have been satisfied with daylight photos, very natural looking results. But in dim light not so much. Have to use high ISO with to much grain or long shutter speed requiring a tripod or other fixed steady position for instance a table or wall. But long shutter speed also means that I can not get a moving object in sharp focus.

So why am I talking so much about my WB650 when this is a thread about this Casio Exilim EX-ZR850 well by telling you the things I did not like about it I hope you understands what I am looking for and can help me guide me in the right direction. I see some enthusiasm about this model in this forum so I am wondering if it would be a good choice for me or not?

Is it fast in operation?

Any Casio ZR camera posterior to the ZR400 and ZR700 models are, simply put, the fastest cameras in its class, without a doubt. 0.25 s interval between shots, nobody gets close. Fast Autofocus and startup time, and the menu operation it's very responsive.

And equally are the fastest cameras in burst shooting, up to 30 fps at full resolution.

Is the film mode any good? Can you pause and resume video like in my WB650? Can you change other parameters during filming? Is the quality and focus any good? Can you use digital extra zoom?

I don't think it can pause/resume filming (would be a great feature), but can start to record 5 seconds before you press the Record button, has the better range of Slow motion recording in its class (and not in its class ;-) until 1000 fps at low resolution).

You can change zoom factor while filming, but I think only limited to optical zoom. You can't change aperture while filming, only before the start of the movie, as far as I know. About quality, others should respond, sadly I haven't now a ZR model to check.

How about low light capabilities? Just by reading the F stop numbers on it F 3.5 to F5.9 is actually slightly worse then the F3.2 to F5.8 on my WB650. So perhaps it is not any good? Or perhaps it has some special tricks up its sleeve? I am also looking at the Fujifilm F770/900/1000 EXR model with 20X zoom and that one has the special EXR modes that can increase dynamic range and low light capacity by shooting with reduced resolution of 8 or even 4 Megapixels? Does this Exilim have something similar to improve low light shooting?

As Erik said, have some special modes for Night shooting, some of them can improve shooting hand-held what you can see with the naked eye enormously. I even prefer to use the in camera HDR by night, depending of the light sources available. Or, you can use Premium Auto Pro and the camera will automatically detect the low light conditions and will shot multiple takes in a burst to merge them later without you having to select manually the scene. THis multishto thing is done too in the Night Scenes, HDR, etc when you select them manually, and being the fastest cameras in burst shooting, the result it's better than in other brands.

I am also curios about this Interval shooting thing how does that work? How many shoots can you take and what is the time limit? In what way does it differ from Time lapse?

Time lapse function it's similar, but here it refers only to video. About the exact specifications, better a ZR850 owner to respond, but the time limit is 20 days (yep, about 500 hours). Can't find some previous discussion about this in the forum.

I am also having my eyes on the market leader in this segment the Panasonic TS40 TZ60 with an impressive 30X optical zoom. Also the Nikon Coolpix S9700 with the same range have interested me. But perhaps I do not need that range and my budget is around $250 so the TZ60 is perhaps not an option. But perhaps the EX-ZR850 is a hidden gem. Perhaps it is better in many ways compared to the Panasonic?

The Casio has many advantages at lower price, obviously the Panasonic has its advantages (fewer ;-) ) too.

Many questions but I hope some of you can help me with my confusion and help me make the right choice for me.

Better ask before than repent later ;-)

--
José Antonio

 

[JABB66]

You can too take a look at this other thread:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3740253

 

[Marty Too]

I really like my 850. The only time I have reluctantly put it down is for indoor candids. Maybe I haven't found the right mode but the results in low light for people watching indoors were less than I expected.

Otherwise, it's the most "fun" camera I own. Very fast with amazing tele shots due to the digital magic that it performs.

 

[JABB66]

I really like my 850. The only time I have reluctantly put it down is for indoor candids. Maybe I haven't found the right mode but the results in low light for people watching indoors were less than I expected.

Otherwise, it's the most "fun" camera I own. Very fast with amazing tele shots due to the digital magic that it performs.

Hi Marty

You tried with Premium Auto Pro?

Of course, there are better cameras for that, but only if you spend much more money and forget about putting the camera in your pocket, but I honestly doubt any other similar camera could perform even close.

---

José Antonio

 

[telefunk]

I will wade into this thread, carefully as the pope did on the Paris killings.

The ZR850 which I imported as a replacement to my much appreciated lumix TZ8, thanks to the Casio forum, is a strange beast.

The good:

The battery lasts for ages.

It is quite fast

The glass seems pretty sharp

Some pictures come out pretty well, even with the extended 900mm zoom, if you're lucky. But not good for moving targets as in nature photography.

Good colours

The bad:

The 5 axis stabilization isn't as good as Pany. So lots of lost shots.

It's definitely a fair weather camera. I set iso to 80 and don't move it from there. Otherwise you get pretty paintings.

Unfortunately many modes don't allow you to fix iso. So for example ultra wide angle mode is unusable in low light.

Many modes are buried in one setting. There is a button for fast shooting, but it is mutually exclusive to the mode your dial is on. For example HDR + fast shooting. The mode dial is badly designed.

All in all I'm pretty happy. But maybe the new Pany TZ70 will be a better allrounder?

 

[Lisetta1]

Unfortunately many modes don't allow you to fix iso. So for example ultra wide angle mode is unusable in low light.

Many modes are buried in one setting. There is a button for fast shooting, but it is mutually exclusive to the mode your dial is on. For example HDR + fast shooting. The mode dial is badly designed.

True, but you -can- have 999 custom settings! (Have to also set/change them in the same BS mode though, lol.) Which mode do you stay in, BS-HDR? Except for a few forays into Triple Shot and Low Light, that's worked the best overall for me (with the ZR700).

The biggest drawbacks for me with the 700 have been CA and that you can't lock AE and AF separately. But I don't know that Panny is any better in either of those areas (and I think the CA on the ZR850 is much less of a problem).

 

[Joakim Agren]

After reading some of the stuff in the manual and finding it for just $154.50 shipped to Sweden from a Hong Kong supplier I pulled the trigger and went ahead and just bought the EX-ZR850 in the maroon red colorway. It was a very good price (hard to resist)and I think this camera seems to be a whole lot of fun compared to the competition.

I hope that they will deliver it before I go on vacation to Teneriffe on Feb 3. I want to use the camera while on vacation.

If it turned out to be the wrong camera for me then not to much money was lost and I just have to hunt for another one. But so far I have a gut feeling I will like it!

I also become a little nostalgic going back to Casio. My very first digital camera was a Sony DSC-P52 with 2X zoom and 3.2 Mpixel bought on New Years Eve sale in 2003. Built like a tank and still working after 11 years. But very tiny and poor LCD 1.5", also rather sluggish in operation and have an awkward shape making it difficult to hold and not drop it. Also very bulky over 5 cm thick so not very pocket friendly. But I held on to that camera for 4.5 years before I bought the Casio Exilim EX-Z77 a 7.2 Mpixels 3X zoom in pink, bought in the summer of 2008. The place I bought it was the same place I am now going to vacation again what a coincidence . It was heavily marketed with the YouTube functions it had so was one of the more popular cameras at the time. Loved how small it was compared to my old Sony. Also loved its "big" 2.5" LCD and I loved the many scenes it had and how fast it was to operate. Unfortunately that one did not last trough my vacation since I was stupid and not knowing any better bought an extra spare battery from a shady salesman in Puerto De la Cruz and it had the amazing capacity of 9800 mAh in the same size my old 700mAh had. So would last more then 10 times longer right? Errr WRONG! That thing was my biggest mistake as it blew up in my camera while on the beach completely ruining my swim towel. It was very strange all of the sudden my camera started smoking and I threw it down on the towel before It exploded. Fortunately I had just put a new memory card in so most shoots taken during that vacation was saved on the old card.

After that experience I was back to my old Sony for another year before buying the Canon Ixus 100IS in bright metallic red in the summer of 2009. The smallest camera I ever had just the size of a credit card, could fit inside my wallet. I still use it for some underwater shoots where I have it inside a Water resistant bag. For regular daylight shoots though it had horrible lens flare issues so was never happy about it, also did not like that you could not zoom during filming. So replaced it with my current Samsung WB650 in the summer of 2010.

That was my camera history!

 

[telefunk]

My settings are usually P and 80 iso and -1/3 exposure. When shooting at double the optical focal (900mm) I use the SR position on the dial (thanks Eric O). This takes a zillion pictures and combines them into one (usually) sharper one than on P. When shooting at 450mm, it is better to stay on P, they turn out sharper than SR.

As for BS HDR, yes I use that quite a lot, with -1 EV. The ART position HDR is too strong. I put ART on black&white now.

 

[telefunk]

I'm sure you'll be quite happy with the ZR850. It doesn't seem to have too much CA, but I haven't had a lot of sun yet to really check.

If you keep the iso low, you can get very sharp pictures. I think it is better than the other contenders out there that I tried: Canon SX700, Sony HX60V, Lumix TZ60.

 

[Eric928]

Dear agren

I use zr850 for 3 months and I like it in this class. In fact, I haven't compared with its competitors as I think the camera of such a small sensor may not have dramatic difference in the photo quality. I choose some of the major features which best suit my need such as high speed mode shooting. Wide angle. etc. I also study the manual before I choose it to ensure it has my desired functions.

Hope my selection methodology will help you to choose. You may view my photo posted in other thread

http://support.casio.com/en/manual/manualfile.php?cid=001012020

Eric928

 

[Joakim Agren]

Turned out I have to pay more to get it. Apparently since it contains Lithium ion battery they can not ship it with the Post office so will be shipping it with DHL so I had to pay an extra $25 for that. They will declare it a $100 value so I will probably have to pay around $40 in customs fee once it arrives in Sweden. So brings up the total cost to around $220. Still within my $250 budget but not quite as cheap as I had hoped but still acceptable.

Question about AE bracketing (taking 3 shoots with different exposure) I think I read somewhere that it does not have it. Is this true? I rarely use it on my Samsung but is sometimes interesting to use.

 

[Eric928]

Dear agren

You are right. It doesn't have bracketing

But it has a built in function to increase or decrease the brightness on the photos taken. You can create extra photos with different brightness may be a good alternative of bracketing

Eric928

 

[Marty Too]

I really like my 850. The only time I have reluctantly put it down is for indoor candids. Maybe I haven't found the right mode but the results in low light for people watching indoors were less than I expected.

Otherwise, it's the most "fun" camera I own. Very fast with amazing tele shots due to the digital magic that it performs.

Hi Marty

You tried with Premium Auto Pro?

Of course, there are better cameras for that, but only if you spend much more money and forget about putting the camera in your pocket, but I honestly doubt any other similar camera could perform even close.

---

José Antonio

I tried this last night and you are correct. It was better than what I have experienced in the past. But it was still hit and miss with regard to focus in low light.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[JABB66]

I really like my 850. The only time I have reluctantly put it down is for indoor candids. Maybe I haven't found the right mode but the results in low light for people watching indoors were less than I expected.

Otherwise, it's the most "fun" camera I own. Very fast with amazing tele shots due to the digital magic that it performs.

Hi Marty

You tried with Premium Auto Pro?

Of course, there are better cameras for that, but only if you spend much more money and forget about putting the camera in your pocket, but I honestly doubt any other similar camera could perform even close.

---

José Antonio

I tried this last night and you are correct. It was better than what I have experienced in the past. But it was still hit and miss with regard to focus in low light.

Thanks for the tip.

Hi Marty

If light it's too low for focusing, then you should try the HS Night Shot, the one at the first places of the Best Shot list.

Apart from being the better option for very dim lighten scenes, it boost the brightness of the screen, so instead an almost black screen in those occasions, you get a view on the screen almost like what you see with the naked eye and it's very hard not to get a good focus.

The resolution descends to 10 MPx and it's very noisy in extremely dark situations (but when it's almost impossible to see something, still gets a picture much brighter than what the naked eye can see) but for normal indoors light, should be more than sufficient to get a very decent final image.

--
José Antonio

 

[telefunk]

OK, here is some additional feedback.

Compared to my old Lumix TZ8, image quality is about the same, maybe a little less detail, more smudging of fine texture (@80 iso!).

Also tried some telephoto shots @ 300mm. Both failed to get a sharp shot, the Casio even with the SR multishot zoom position. So stabilization isn't great, as I already reported.

CA. Well now I really do see the blue and yellow edges on white objects (pieces of ice on green grass). So CA has not been totally conquered yet.

As for all the multi-image options, it gets quite confusing which to choose. Handheld night scene? SR zoom? Anti shake? HDR + all of that? HDR + all of that + multiframe speedshot?

Oh well, its still is one of the better travel zooms available at the moment. Maybe the Sony HX60V might be better if you get a well-centered lens.

 

[JABB66]

OK, here is some additional feedback.

Compared to my old Lumix TZ8, image quality is about the same, maybe a little less detail, more smudging of fine texture (@80 iso!).

Also tried some telephoto shots @ 300mm. Both failed to get a sharp shot, the Casio even with the SR multishot zoom position. So stabilization isn't great, as I already reported.

CA. Well now I really do see the blue and yellow edges on white objects (pieces of ice on green grass). So CA has not been totally conquered yet.

As for all the multi-image options, it gets quite confusing which to choose. Handheld night scene? SR zoom? Anti shake? HDR + all of that? HDR + all of that + multiframe speedshot?

Oh well, its still is one of the better travel zooms available at the moment. Maybe the Sony HX60V might be better if you get a well-centered lens.

Hi

Not sure if I understand you, but you can't mix the modes. If you use HDR, you can't use at same time Multi SR Zoom, night scene, HS anti Shake or High Speed bursts. If you tell exactly what modes or options are you thinking to use, maybe I could explain better.

By the way, when all those modes are "too much (and too many)", simply use Premium Auto to adapt automatically to most situations.

 

[telefunk]

Thank you for your help.

What I wanted to express was the difficulty of choosing between all the different modes that basically do the same thing: help counter camera shake.

I was also expressing the bad design of the Casio menu. It could have been an option you switch on or off in all modes.

I mean, my daughter would not like all those confusing settings. And the all Intelligent mode always pushes up iso. There is no control over iso in Superior Auto mode.

All this feedback to help the PO make a choice of travel zoom.

 

[JABB66]

Hi

Thank you for your help.

What I wanted to express was the difficulty of choosing between all the different modes that basically do the same thing: help counter camera shake.

Well, being multishot modes. all have the result of helping counter camera shake, but the main purpose it's different in some of them:

Multi SR Zoom: Improve the image quality when zooming beyond the optical zoom with respect to the pure digital zoom.

HDR: Reduce highlights, recover shadows.

HS Anti shake, and all the low light modes have as main feature to reduce camera shake, but apart from that, the main purpose of HS night shot, it's to obtain from very dark situations the brightest images possible.

I was also expressing the bad design of the Casio menu. It could have been an option you switch on or off in all modes.

I mean, my daughter would not like all those confusing settings. And the all Intelligent mode always pushes up iso. There is no control over iso in Superior Auto mode.

Do you mean the menu (from Menu button) ot the Control Panel (Set button , the central one)?

And don't understand what you say about being an option, do you mean to be optional to show or not the menu?

If you wanted an option to show a very simplified menu, it exists in some cheap Casio cameras, but not in the ZR series.

And an important question, about the ISO in Auto Premium:

On the multishot pictures, the ISO can be apparently pushed up because Casio adds to the resultant image an ISO value that results from multiply the ISO of each individual image by the number of images that compose the resultant image. Casio started to do this in the ZR series (not sure if from the first models or starting at some certain model). But while I was thinking this answer, I have noticed that this must be only done in the modes where the resultant image is brighter (When detects Low light levels in Premium Auto, or the Night Scenes in the Best Shot menu). Is in those modes when to put a "resultant ISO" has some meaning.

In the HS Anti Shake, multi SR Zoom and probably some other modes, the resultant images aren't brighter than the individual ones (or then you would get a very overexposed image). This is related to the different blend modes of multiple layers in an image, if you have used PS or similar programs.

So, really, in those modes the ISO isn't the ISO with which each image was taken, so it's not so noisy as the ISO value could make you think, and even the creation of an image from many individual ones should make the noise to be reduced with respect to an unique shot with larger exposure.

I hope all this have some meaning for you or someone who has the patience to read it

I have more comments about what you said about stabilization and long zoom, but that will be later

>>> There is no control over iso in Superior Auto mode.

About controlling the Max ISO, do you know the option "MAx ISO limit" (or similar) in the menu?

Is what should be used instead of leaving the ISO fixed at 80, if you ask me ;-)

Not sure if the option it's available un Premium Auto, now I don't have any ZR model

All this feedback to help the PO make a choice of travel zoom.

Let's hope ;-)

--

José Antonio