So after a morning of dragging a scope, binoculars, a 50D, a 100-400mm L lens, a tripod, and two heads (one for scope, one for camera), a flash, a 100mm macro lens, and a few more pieces around Jamaica Bay in 25+ degree heat I think I need to get something smaller for casual use when birding, not photography, is the main objective.
Has anyone tried the Fuji Finepix HS10 yet? It's got long range (24mm-720mm), IS, decent macro mode, and manual ring focus which is the major feature missing on most point-and-shoots. In fact, I don't think there's been another point-and-shoot with manual ring focus since the FZ50 more than four years ago. I find manual focus critical for birds in bushes/phragmites/etc. and also for insect work.
On the downside, it hasn't tested as well as the other superzooms, has somewhat slower time from button press to photo capture, and places the manual zoom ring in a less than ideal position (right next to the camera body, a little blocked by the overhang.) The big ring on the barrel than should be manual focus is instead zoom. I'd much rather have my zoom on a button and the manual focus on the barrel. Still, at least it has manual focus.
Has anyone worked with this camera yet? I assume it's noticeably inferior to my 50D and an L-series lens, but how inferior? How does it stack up to other superzooms that don't have manual focus (or such poor ergonomics on the manual focus that they might as well not have manual focus) but likely have better sharpness, time-to-shoot, and autofocus?
