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Big zoom camera that can take stills during video

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EvergreenCO photos

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Hi all. New to the forum - seems like a great place to get info.

We have a very old digital camera, and it is time to upgrade. We are new to the all great features on the later cameras, and mostly want something to take pictures of grandkids, and for vacations. As long as I am doing it, though, I want to get this camera for a special occasion.

I am traveling to Florida later this year to watch the launch of a spacecraft that I have been working on for several years. The observation area is 10+ miles away from the launch pad, so a big zoom is important. In addition, I would like to record video of the launch, but also snap some stills that I can keep, and even blow up to 8x10 or 10x13. I am looking at 4 cameras right now, and am not sure if any will fill the whole bill.

Olympus SH-50 iHS. This one has the stills-during-video that I need, according to all the reviews. But it only has a 24x optical zoom. Compared to some of the big zooms, this is only about half. It also has a 2x "Enhanced Digital Zoom" to go with its 4x standard digital zoom. Will this Enhanced Digital Zoom make any difference (it would put me right back up to 48x), or should I just consider this to be an 24x optical with 8x digital? At 12 miles or so away, am I gonna be sorry if I use 24x when 40x-50x is available?

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300. This one has the big 50x zoom, and one review implied that you can take stills during video, but there wasn't much info. Does it halt the video (like the Canon, below)? Is it seemless? Nobody has said. Probably most people don't use that kind of feature very often. I was also concerned a bit when they described a slow "refresh", especially in burst mode - take 10 quick pictures and you wait 10 seconds before it is ready to take another one. Ouch. This is also the most expensive.

Canon Powershot SX50 HS. Top of the line in almost every feature. Has the big 50x zoom. Has great picture quality. Has quick refresh. Great video quality, and even decent video sound. But the consumer reviews say that if you are shooting video, and then capture a still, it essentially pauses the video, and you get blackout for half a second to a second. That would pretty much ruin a video of a rocket launch, when I am taking stills at exactly the moment of takeoff. If this is true, then I don't think that this camera will work. Shame. Everything else (including the price) seems perfect for me.

Nikon CoolPix P520. This one gets mixed reviews, so I am a little worried. Some say it takes great pictures for a beginner - that the bad reviews are just people looking for a higher end camera. But others give direct examples of where the CoolPix just isn't as good. I also don't know if you can take stills during video with this camera. The price is great. It has a 42x zoom, which is right where I need it to be. I just don't have as much confidence in this one - but that is based on reviews. It may be great.

I would appreciate any info on these 4. Or, if you know of another camera that I have overlooed with big zoom (40x or more, probably), where you can seemless take stills during video (like the Olympus - they call it multi-recording. Others call it Stills-in-video), I would appreciate the heads up.

This trip to see the launch is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. I can't tell you how important it will be to capture and record it, and how grateful I would be for info to help me get the right camera to do it.

Thanks,

Martin
 
EvergreenCO photos said:
EvergreenCO photos wrote:

Hi all. New to the forum - seems like a great place to get info.

We have a very old digital camera, and it is time to upgrade. We are new to the all great features on the later cameras, and mostly want something to take pictures of grandkids, and for vacations. As long as I am doing it, though, I want to get this camera for a special occasion.

I am traveling to Florida later this year to watch the launch of a spacecraft that I have been working on for several years. The observation area is 10+ miles away from the launch pad, so a big zoom is important. In addition, I would like to record video of the launch, but also snap some stills that I can keep, and even blow up to 8x10 or 10x13. I am looking at 4 cameras right now, and am not sure if any will fill the whole bill.

Olympus SH-50 iHS. This one has the stills-during-video that I need, according to all the reviews. But it only has a 24x optical zoom. Compared to some of the big zooms, this is only about half. It also has a 2x "Enhanced Digital Zoom" to go with its 4x standard digital zoom. Will this Enhanced Digital Zoom make any difference (it would put me right back up to 48x), or should I just consider this to be an 24x optical with 8x digital? At 12 miles or so away, am I gonna be sorry if I use 24x when 40x-50x is available?

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300. This one has the big 50x zoom, and one review implied that you can take stills during video, but there wasn't much info. Does it halt the video (like the Canon, below)? Is it seemless? Nobody has said. Probably most people don't use that kind of feature very often. I was also concerned a bit when they described a slow "refresh", especially in burst mode - take 10 quick pictures and you wait 10 seconds before it is ready to take another one. Ouch. This is also the most expensive.

Canon Powershot SX50 HS. Top of the line in almost every feature. Has the big 50x zoom. Has great picture quality. Has quick refresh. Great video quality, and even decent video sound. But the consumer reviews say that if you are shooting video, and then capture a still, it essentially pauses the video, and you get blackout for half a second to a second. That would pretty much ruin a video of a rocket launch, when I am taking stills at exactly the moment of takeoff. If this is true, then I don't think that this camera will work. Shame. Everything else (including the price) seems perfect for me.

Nikon CoolPix P520. This one gets mixed reviews, so I am a little worried. Some say it takes great pictures for a beginner - that the bad reviews are just people looking for a higher end camera. But others give direct examples of where the CoolPix just isn't as good. I also don't know if you can take stills during video with this camera. The price is great. It has a 42x zoom, which is right where I need it to be. I just don't have as much confidence in this one - but that is based on reviews. It may be great.

I would appreciate any info on these 4. Or, if you know of another camera that I have overlooed with big zoom (40x or more, probably), where you can seemless take stills during video (like the Olympus - they call it multi-recording. Others call it Stills-in-video), I would appreciate the heads up.

This trip to see the launch is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me. I can't tell you how important it will be to capture and record it, and how grateful I would be for info to help me get the right camera to do it.

Thanks,

Martin
Click to expand...
I'm no expert on bridge/superzoom camera specs, so don't know which might do the job, but I wanted to note that very few cameras of any class can shoot high quality stills without interrupting video. Even if the camera doesn't stop the video what you often get is a still in the video aspect ratio, and often at a reduced resolution. It's not much more than a video frame capture. Just thought I'd warn you about this. If you find one that takes uninterrupted video, make sure the stills will be at a decent resolution. The funky aspect ratio you'll probably just have to live with (it's no big deal), but you don't want a 1920x1080 image.

Oh, as for the 'Enhanced Digital Zoom' - it's still just digital zoom. Most of the big camera companies claim some form of super-duper digital zoom that can do far better, but I've yet to see that hold p in testing Optically, it's 24x, not 48x. No one has yet figured out how to magically turn one pixel into four.
 
I think that you have had so few replies to your post because taking photos at 10+ miles is something that none of us have ever done.

However, here are some general, but not very expert, comments.
  • At 10 miles the image quality is going to be severely affected by heat haze and atmospheric haze, but on the other hand we are all used to seeing this on TV when a spacecraft is launched.
  • You are looking at cameras that go out to over 1000mm focal length (or 40x zoom). At that focal length it is probably extremely difficult to hold the camera steady especially for video. You may need to shoot off a tripod or at the very least a monopod.
  • As Mark has already said, very few cameras can capture a full resolution still image during video although the Olympus appears to be one of them. It is possible that pressing the shutter release button to take a still during video will cause the camera to shake and thus affect the video.
  • As Mark has also said, Digital Zoom for still photos doesn't really do anything. You can do it on a computer but you finish up with a lower resolution image that may not be suitable for printing. However, because video only uses about 1/8th of the camera sensor's resolution, digital zoom for video can give you a real increase in magnification with no loss of video resolution. I have a camera (Panasonic GH2) that does this although I have never used it. You will be magnifying an extreme image to start with so any image defects will be magnified as well and you will certainly have to use a tripod.
  • I suspect that you will have to use separate cameras for video and stills with the video on a tripod. If several of you are going, perhaps one could use a stills camera and another a video camera.
I would suggest that you start by finding other people (in your company?) who have been to a launch and asking them what camera they used and what results they got. You could also try looking on sites like flickr for launch photographs and you could try googling something like "spacecraft launch photography".

Then go onto one or more of the forums for the cameras that you are looking at (Olympus Compact Camera Talk, Canon Powershot Talk, Nikon Coolpix Talk and Sony Cybershot Talk) and ask about people's experiences of shooting at maximum zoom and extreme range. Find out whether you need to use a tripod or not and what kind of image quality you will get.

Try searching all the forums for "spacecraft launch" and see if you come up with any threads. You could also try posting on the Open Talk forum with a title like "Photographing a spacecraft launch".

I would try to get information from people who have actually photographed a launch before deciding on a camera.

Best of luck.
 
Despite the obvious snarkiness of your reply, I will answer to clarify for others who may be serious about helping me out here.



I can't afford to purchase 2 cameras of the quality needed. It just isn't in my budget. I am paying for the trip to Florida for the launch on my own (my company is not funding it). Add to the the cost a of $300 - $500 camera, and that is all I have. I think I am better off getting a digital camera with a big zoom lens that can also record decent (but not perfect) video. I believe I will use that much more over the years than a video camera.

I only have 1 set of hands, and nobody will be traveling with me. I think it would be very difficult to control 2 cameras (stills and video) and have them both follow a moving rocket during a launch. Perhaps someone with more experience can do that with 2 cameras, but I think it will be enough work for me to keep a single camera on the vehicle, even with a tripod (which I do intend to use).
 
Thanks for the suggestions - both you and Mark. I can certainly ask around here - several people have been launches before, and may have good ideas. And I was so focused on "how", that forgot to search on the "what". Looking for posts about how other people have captured launches is a great idea.

The other ideas that you and Mark both suggested are also valuable. I kind of thought that would be the case with the "Enhanced" Digital Zoom, but wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. A tripod is a must - and even then, I have heard the ground shakes like an earthquake even 10 miles away.

I appreciate the input.
 
Two other thoughts.

Are there professional photographers at these launches who take photos from much closer and sell them? If there are, you could get a still photograph from them and then you would only have to concentrate on video.

The other class of photographers who take long distance photos are bird enthusiasts who want to take photos for bird identification. They use a spotting scope and take photos through it using a technique called digiscoping. You can google for more information. I am not sure whether this is suitable for video, though, because I think that they get vignetting - dark corners that can be cropped out for stills but maybe not for video.

The expensive bit of the setup is the scope, not the camera, so you would need access to a spotting scope.
 
EvergreenCO photos said:
EvergreenCO photos wrote: ...

The observation area is 10+ miles away from the launch pad, so a big zoom is important. In addition, I would like to record video of the launch, but also snap some stills that I can keep, and even blow up to 8x10 or 10x13. I am looking at 4 cameras right now, and am not sure if any will fill the whole bill. ...
Click to expand...
Just for fun. Go for a

http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/lens/singlefocal/Telephoto/af-s_800mmf_56g_fl_ed_vr/index.htm

a Nikon 1 V1/J1 and an FT-1 adapter.

With the V1's 2.7 crop factor the effective focal length would be 2160mm which is 216 X zoom for the 10mm lens. The price would be 18000 (lens) + 100 (J1) + 200 (FT+1) = $18300

:-)

Oh, you'd need a very sturdy and rock solid tripod either, but then, even auto-focus will work for you. With the J1 you can take 10M photos, with a J3 you can take 14M images. No other solution can deliver such a performance only Nikon 1 + the 800mm lens.

Have fun,

Miki
 
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Ah and the J1 can take 1080/60i HD videos, while taking 10M still images. With the J3 you can take 1080/30p videos while taking 14M still images without interfering the video. Up to 20 images can be taken during video recording, and the max length of a single video is 30 minutes or 4G. And remember that the photos taken with the J1 or J3 are very good quality images, way much better than the ones you can take with a Point and Shoot camera.

Miki
 
At a more down-to-Earth but still expensive price, the NIkon J1 with FT-1 adapter and Sigma 150-500 lens. 1350mm equivalent for $1400.
 
LOL. I would have to ask the wife about that one, and I am pretty sure I already know the answer. Wish I had the pockets to get something like that, but I will probably have to find a different route.

:-)
 
Hi,

I'm not a good photographer. So, I don't want to go in detail about the cameras.

On the other hand, I've watched a satellite launch. And I think it's very difficult to record anything other than the light without a professional camera if you zoom to the rocket during launch. Because there will be huge light coming out of the rocket. And camera will see only this light if you zoom it too much. But if you don't zoom, you may get a nice video, and you will be able to see/record a very impressive trajectory. I think none of the cameras you referred are capable to record a nice video if you want to record rocket itself by zooming. Because their sensor size is not enough. But as I said, I'm not expert. So, please check specs of those cameras.

One more point, another important thing is the launch time. Your record quality will be much better if the launch will be on day time.

As a summary, I think you need a camera that has a bigger sensor. Maybe I would suggest to look Olympus e-pm2 or Sony NEX-3N for example.

I hope I could explain a beneficial information for you.

Regards,
 
Here is a suggestion that you may not hear in a camera forum:
  • I gotta believe there will be several prosthere with 10's of thousands of dollars of camera gear, very precise camera supports (tripods and more) and years-and-years of experience.
  • Leave the camera in your car.
  • Stand there and experience the majesty and the beauty of the live event.
  • Soak it all in, live in the now, feel the power of the rocket motors against your chest
  • Buy a print/video from them and enjoy the fruits of your labor live.
OK, if you must, bring your P&S and snap 2 photos to prove you were there, put then put the camera down and watch this once-in-a-lifetime event with your own two eyes.
 
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dad_of_four said:
dad_of_four wrote:

Here is a suggestion that you may not hear in a camera forum:
  • I gotta believe there will be several prosthere with 10's of thousands of dollars of camera gear, very precise camera supports (tripods and more) and years-and-years of experience.
  • Leave the camera in your car.
  • Stand there and experience the majesty and the beauty of the live event.
  • Soak it all in, live in the now, feel the power of the rocket motors against your chest
  • Buy a print/video from them and enjoy the fruits of your labor live.
OK, if you must, bring your P&S and snap 2 photos to prove you were there, put then put the camera down and watch this once-in-a-lifetime event with your own two eyes.
Click to expand...
I think this is a very good suggestion!!
 
As others have said, photos at 10 miles and within your budget are iffy at best. I don't know what to tell you, but you will need a tripod - Don't leave home without one! For cameras, I know that the Panasonic ZS30 - a travel cam with a 20X (480mm equivalent) lens and an 18 MP sensor will take 13.5MP still while shooting video without disturbing the video. It has a "intelligent zoom" feature that lets you get pretty good picts at 40X zoom - or more. By reducing the MPs to, say 12MPs, you should be close to 50X. Panasonic has also just come out with the FZ70 bridge camera which has , I think a 50X zoom and more. By using intelligent zoom on that, you should get some serious "reach." Since it is a Panasonic, and using my experience with the ZS30 as a guide, it MAY have the ability to shoot pretty good stills while taking video. You might want to check it out. Both of these have small sensors, but should be within your price range.

My thought is this - At 10 miles with just about any consumer-type camera, you may only see and record the pinpoint of light from the engine, which will be MUCH brighter thanthe rocket itself. However, the Panasonics have a "high dynamic" scene mode which you can use with video also. It might help to "even out" the contrast. If you decide to try this, whatever y ou do - don't forget the tripod - and set up early, making SURE you are pointed in the right direction. With a long zoom you have to be dead on to start with or you may miss the whole thing while trying to find it in the viewfinder or on the LCD. Finally, you may have better luck with a video cam - but no stills then. Some of them have an incredable long reach. Good Luck and Best Wishes. If you gt something, please post the result. Thanks
 
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I own a Fuji HS 50. bridge camera. It has a 42x optical zoom. and will take stills at 1080dpi while recording. My long zooms are sharp but haven't tried a 10 mile shot. Bad air pollution here in Bangkok. You might want to check it out the HS50 or other long zoom bridge cameras. You will need a tripod. With all the advice you are getting I don't recall anyone saying they own or have used a long zoom bridge camera. Take their "expert" advice with a grain of salt. The air quality where the launch will be taking place is good and little haze. I have been there. Go ahead and choose a camera and have fun shooting.
 
Another camera that can take stills during video is the FujiFilm X-S1 and there are two modes that it has:

Video priority - This will take a lower resolution picture and the video will not be interrupted (around 5M)

Picture priority - This will take a higher resolution image (around 9M) and the video will be noticeably interrupted because of this.

The zoom range on the X-S1 is 26x optical with 2x digital magnification for a total of 52x zoom. Not as far as the four cameras that you've mentioned but the X-S1 has a much bigger sensor than all of them (2/3") and will therefore capture more light resulting in better image quality.

Here's one from today's Carnival.



Notting Hill Carnival
Notting Hill Carnival



--
 
You could try the Panasonic FZ70: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/panasonic_fz70_review.shtml

but I think you will be very disapointed in what you can capture from more than ten miles away, even if you had a telescope. There is so much mess in the air, and even slight changes in temperature will cause hazy images.

Another possiblity (I haven't read all the replies so it may have been mentioned already) would be digiscoping: that is attaching a camera to a spotting scope (a terestial telescope). Goodle 'digiscoping'.

Brian A
 
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