This is How Powerful a 65x Optical Zoom Is

It’s not just the megapixel war that’s raging in the world of digital cameras. One of the big competitions going on is the battle of powerful zoom lenses on compact cameras, and the zoom capabilities on the latest “superzoom” cameras are pretty ridiculous. The video above shows what the new Canon SX60 can do with its 65x optical zoom (and 4x digital zoom tacked on at the end).

Here’s the same test as a sequence of still frames:

Here’s a second test showing what the camera can see when you point it at the moon:

So here’s the kicker: if you thought this 65x optical zoom was crazy, Nikon’s newly announced P900 has an 83x optical zoom!