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Comparing SX50 1200mm shot to SLR crop

Started Oct 15, 2012 | Questions thread
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rd77 New Member • Posts: 9
Comparing SX50 1200mm shot to SLR crop
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Hi all!

I'm a beginner when it comes to anything above point & shoot photography, but recently I started digging deeper into it and think I have a decent understanding of many of the basics.

I have a G12 for about 1,5 years now but the 5x zoom just isn't enough for a lot of shots I would like to take. So I am looking at superzoom cameras for quite a while now and recently especially at the SX 50.

I do understand the differences between SLRs and the Point and Shoot Cameras but I have a specific question that you pros can probably answer quite easy:

People are always talking about the 1200mm Zoom on the SX50 an how expensive a 1200mm lens on a SLR would be.

But actually as far as I understand it, if you have, lets say, a full frame SLR with a high resolution, and you do NOT have a 1200mm lens, you could crop the SLR picture a lot due to the much higher resolution/sensor size and less noise.

So lets say I set up a tripod and put the SX50 on, zoom to 50x and take picture of a bird, where the bird would fill the whole picture.

Now I put the full frame SLR on the same tripod and take a picture of the same area where the bird is with a lens that does not have 1200mm.

Which minimum focal length would I need on the SLR, if I later crop the picture down to the bird and I want at least the same quality the SX50 gives me?

I hope you understand what I mean and I know it will depend on the exact model of SLR camera due to the different specs.

But maybe you can give a general, rough estimate which focal length would be required for a decent full frame as well as a APS SLR.

The reason I ask is that I actually would like to have a SLR for the better IQ at wider shots, but the huge lenses are just too expensive and inconvenient to carry if I want that zoom shot. So whats the minimum focal length needed for a compareable cropped photo?

My uneducated guess was around 600mm (based on no facts).

Would another option be to have a even shorter lens and putting on a teleconverter?

Thanks for your help!
Rene

ANSWER:
Canon PowerShot G12
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