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Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99

Started 6 months ago | Discussions
panoptic Regular Member • Posts: 257
Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99

Long time user of Panasonic ZS series, have just dropped and broken my second ZS80. Love the 30X zoom, pocket size, tilting screen, and already have several batteries and just the right case. Rarely use EVF.

I'm looking around at alternatives and see two candidates: Canon SX740 and Sony HX99. Canon has longer zoom, tilt, but no EVF. Sony has same zoom, tilt, EVF, and is smaller but more expensive.

I'm open to your thoughts and experiences with these cameras. I had intended to include Nikon's A1000 but it doesn't seem to be available.

 panoptic's gear list:panoptic's gear list
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80
Canon PowerShot SX740 HS Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX99
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User4286416121 Senior Member • Posts: 1,221
Re: Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99

Which focuses best, manual included? Is a mint sx50 too big?

Main photo use?

OP panoptic Regular Member • Posts: 257
Re: Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99

User4286416121 wrote:

Which focuses best, manual included? Is a mint sx50 too big?

Main photo use?

Yes, sx50 too big. Main use is to carry along always inconspicuously on the belt loop case and not be in the way of other activities.

Focus at infinity is also a concern, as I’ve had trouble with that while trying to capture bird and astronomical photos.

 panoptic's gear list:panoptic's gear list
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25 Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80
User4286416121 Senior Member • Posts: 1,221
Re: Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99
1

So manual focus quality a must.

Sofia Lucas New Member • Posts: 8
Re: Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99

Sony is expensive because of additional features that canons sx740 lacks.  Sony Hx99 is touch screen, have nfc, longer battery life, higher extended iso, slowmo videos. Moreover, long exposure at the nighttime. So if you want these features, then you should go for sony. Otherwise, both are good cameras. so choose the one that fits into your budget.

OpticsEngineer Veteran Member • Posts: 7,822
Re: Canon SX740, Panasonic ZS80, or Sony HX99
2

I have had all three.

Autofocus on the SX740 is poor if you are moving at all.  So shots out of a moving car (my wife drives) just don't happen.  Colors are good though.  I have gotten a lot of good photos with SX740.

ZS80 I felt had poor colors.  And the zoom lever broke.  Very light weight though.

HX99 is the best overall.  Good AF in all situations.  Not as good of colors as the SX740 though.

 OpticsEngineer's gear list:OpticsEngineer's gear list
Fujifilm XF1 Olympus XZ-2 iHS Canon PowerShot G7 X Olympus Tough TG-4 Pentax *ist D +27 more
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