Somewhere in-between the point-and-shoot and ILC categories falls the superzoom, and it doesn’t get much love. Often nearly as bulky as an entry-level DSLR, superzooms present a mix of features that only endear them to certain consumers. Sony’s newly announced Cyber-shot aims to expand that market by shrinking down the traditional superzoom to tiny proportions. Read more…

We’ve been saying that the “compact” camera will still have a spot in the camera market, even after cell phones drink most of its milkshake, due to the fact that they can be specialized in ways phones can’t. Here’s another example: the new Olympus Stylus SP-820UZ is a super-zoom compact camera that packs an absurdly long 40x zoom lens. In 35mm terms, this lens reaches from 22.4mm to 896mm — wide angle to super telephoto. In case that’s not enough reach for you (“we need to go deeper!”), the camera also features a “super-resolution zoom” that uses digital zoom to offer up to 80x.
Read more…

Canon has added two new beefy compact cameras to its SX (“superzoom”) line: the PowerShot SX500 IS and the PowerShot SX160 IS. The main features of these two cameras is snappy autofocus speed and powerful optical zoom. Both cameras feature a 1/2.3-inch CCD 16 megapixel sensor, an ISO range of 100-800, 720p video at 25fps, a 3-inch LCD screen, and Canon’s Intelligent Image Stabilization (which helps you shoot sharper images even when zoomed in, panning, or walking).
Read more…

Love to zoom? Samsung has launched a new camera for you. The WB100 is a new superzoom camera that features a 16-megapixel sensor and 22.3-579.8mm equivalent lens. Features include dual image stabilization (i.e. both optical and digital), 3D photography, live panorama creation, 720p video recording, ISO 80-1,600 and the option of being powered by either AA batteries of lithium-ion rechargeable ones.
Read more…

Alongside a big photo leak of the Nikon D600 comes the official announcement of a new lens from Nikon, the NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.6-5.6G ED VR superzoom lens. Nikon are calling it an all-in-one lens and you can see why: the ability to shoot f/5.6 at 300mm could get you some pretty impressive closeups; and with a focal length that goes all the way back down to 18mm, you probably won’t find too many reasons to swap it out.

Set to arrive later this month hand-in-hand with the NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 ED VR, which was also announced today, she’ll cost you $1,000. But for that you get, and we quote, “Nikon’s longest focal range ever, with an astounding 16.7X ultrahigh-ratio zoom range.” Click here for the full press release complete with all the juicy details on both lenses.

Sony has just announced two new 16.2-megapixel cameras that pack a lot of zoom into compact bodies. The DSC-HX100V (on left) includes a 27mm Carl Zeiss lens with 30x optical zoom, or the equivalent of a 27-810mm lens on 35mm film. The DSC-HX9V packs a smaller 24mm Sony lens with 16x optical zoom, but is still the equivalent of a 24-384mm lens.

Aside from the monstrous reach, these cameras also shoot 1080p HD video, focus at DSLR speeds, have 3-inch LCD screens, and include many of the features standard on sony CyberShots now (e.g. 3D Sweep Panorama, GPS, and Dual Recording for shooting video and stills at the same time). The cameras will be available starting in April, with the HX100V priced at $450 and the HX9V at $350.