Is the sx730 or sx740 a good camera?

JohnHarlin wrote:

I am looking for a small compact zoom and I haven't decided between the Sony DSC-HX90V and the Powershot sx730 or sx740 and I haven't seen any other pocket sized cameras that have as much zoom.

What I like about both the Sony HX90V and the Canon sx740 is that they have some kind of stabilizer mechanism which is a really big deal to me for videos. Try keeping your hand steady while doing zoom shots. It's pretty hard.

If any one has any better recommendations or better cameras that just came out, then I'd like to know about that too.

You have the Sony HX99 now which has a lot of enhancements over the previous model but loses GPS. It looks like the 30x zoom is cropped a bit at the long end as it has a 28x optical zoom but the focal length at the wide end is a bit longer which seems like they are using a bit more of the sensor at the short end. The sensor may be a more recent one as Canon as far as I am aware use a Sony sensor and Sony only release 2 year old technology unless it is a specific build for the customer.

It hinges really on whether you can cope with these long focal lengths with no backup viewfinder. Personally I cannot so have the HX90V. Canon do not have an EVF not because it does not need one but they just appear to have no expertise here in corner or pop up EVFs or the patent drawer is empty.

Sx730 has stabilization just like 740. It works incredibly well. I shoot at 960mm handheld and it is amazing how good the IS is. Search this subforum or go through older pages in this subforum for sx730 threads to see lots of example pics. Pretty much all the examples I posted are handheld except for Saturn and Jupiter shots

i bought the sx730 and the 5 axis IS is really good even at 960mm handheld.

In the beginning i thought nice camera, especially at 960 mm, but after a while, i wasn't happy anymore. 1 serie at the beach was very good, the max zoomed in photo's far away filled the whole frame instead of filling the frame for 10% like my older cam.

But many other series i took aren't that good, they look more like a photo from a mobile phone, really soft images without details, my rx100 mk1 are much better but it has no good zoom (100mm).

in a zoo most of the photos were not good, a bit unsharp, could not focus on the target etc.

if i could bring it back i could.

So maybe the XV90 was a better deal but is was almost twice the price.

I've had the 730 for a couple of months. Like most superzoom-ish cameras the IQ is sketchy. Low light of course is a pain. The IS is ok through 30x but after that its a real test. But I live in Hudson Valley where there are large vistas and zoom worthy subjects. I knew what I was getting when I bought the camera and I'm not sorry about the purchase. The 730 seems better built than past point and shoots I've had but its also bigger/heavier. Its barely pocket-able in a comfortable way.