Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I enjoy photographing birds and wildlife, and have a dslr with a medium range (70-300) lens. I was going to rent a longer lens (the new canon 100-400) for an excursion when I saw my rental company had the new Nikon P900 for rent so I decided to try it out. I had great fun with it, and was impressed with the quality of the photos and the zoom reach though I found as others have reported that at the far end the Nikon has trouble acquiring focus and even when it does it is difficult to hold the camera steady enough to avoid blurry images. It seemed the usable range on the Nikon zoom was only about 65x (except when focusing on bright objects that are far away, like the moon), so when I went looking for a superzoom to purchase I settled on the Canon SX 60 hs. I wanted a superzoom that allowed me to shoot in Raw, had a hot shoe, and most importantly, was cheaper than the Nikon. I also liked the fact that the Canon is considerably smaller and lighter than the Nikon P900 (only 22 ounces or 650 grams compared to 33 ounces and 916 grams). However, the added heft made the Nikon a little easier to hold steady when zoomed out to the max. Having used both cameras, I have found that what is said about the two brand's dslrs also holds true with these bridge cameras: the Nikon has the better sensor, and hence better image quality, while the Canon seems to have the edge with autofocus. The Nikon shots were sharper, but the Canon seems much less likely to hunt for focus and re-acqquires it quickly with the frame assist button so you get more shots. The additional zoom is not really an advantage for the Nikon, for reasons mentioned earlier. Also, to my surprise, Canon's 1.6x digital zoom is not as bad as you would expect for digital zoom and rivals the Nikon's shots at 85x zoom on those rare occasions when the Nikon can acquire focus at that length. Some of the shots I posted ate from a recent excursion where I happened to run into a man who had the Canon 100-400 lens on a Canon 7d. We talked about the fact that there weren't a lot of birds out that day, and when I mentioned the grebes and the plover he said that those were "too far" for his long lens (that costs more than 2k, btw, which is why I only ever can hope to rent it from time to time). We bemoaned the fact that my superzoom wouldn't yield shots of the same quality, but the point is, I DID get shots of the Beebe and plover. The shots do not rival a dslr and a long lens, but my used canon sx60 cost a small fraction of what a long lens would cost, is easy to carry and handhold, and is great for seeing birds and other wildlife at a great distance, though I found with both the Nikon P900 and the Canon SX60 that the sweet spot for great photos is more like 50-35 feet or less. The superzoom allows you to see and capture blurry images at a great distance, but it allows you to fill the frame with subjects that are closer. Both cameras have Wi-fi, which is nice and I was able to get the Canon wi-fi to work by first getting out of range of my own home wi-fi (my phone would automatically disconnect form the camera access point for the stronger and preferred signal from my home router). Below I list some of the pros and cons I have observed in comparing the two cameras: Pros of the Canon SX 60 (vs. Nikon P900) Cost and availability Lighter weight (though this is also a con, see below) Frame assist and decent auto-focus Raw support Hot shoe for external flash External mike jack for video (haven't used this) Plug for remote shutter release Lens markings to show how far out it is zoomed Cons (vs. Nikon P900) Image quality (Nikon's sensor is backside illuminated, as was the Canon SX 50, and that may explain its sharper images) Lighter weight means harder to hold steady when zoomed out No eye sensor (it is so easy with the Nikon to go from using the viewfinder to the LCD screen though occasionally a stray thumb will trip the sensor. On the Canon, you have to hit the display button twice to switch) The LCD screen seems noisier than the Nikon For now, I am okay with the Canon. If I had an unlimited budget, I might be willing to forgo shooting raw for the Nikon but with either I am able to get some shots I was not able to get with my dslr. I am trying to learn the camera to optimize what I can get from the Canon, and I'll update as I go.