Prezzie ideas for brother's 60th birthday

[WTFH]

Bingo! We have a winner!

He travels quite a bit, so a decent camera that doesn't cost literally thousands sounds just the thing, like this bad boy:

Nikon COOLPIX B500 Digital Camera, 16MP, HD 1080p, 40x Optical Zoom, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3" LCD Screen, Black at John Lewis & Partners

But thanks to everyone who replied (and any subsequent ideas, in case I change my mind)

Eek! 40x optical zoom.
You know what they means? The quality of the lens needs to be high enough that when it's only using 1/40th of the glass it still produces a sharp image.

Take a look here:
2019 Buying Guide: Best cameras under $500: Digital Photography Review

[clearedforlanding]

Eek! 40x optical zoom.
You know what they means? The quality of the lens needs to be high enough that when it's only using 1/40th of the glass it still produces a sharp image.

Take a look here:
2019 Buying Guide: Best cameras under $500: Digital Photography Review

That is really interesting, but kind of hurts my brain. Could you please explain in simplistic terms to a simpleton why?

[GJABS]

Get him a trial flying lesson.
I often take people up in the air for free - I don't charge until they tell me they want to land.

[WTFH]

That is really interesting, but kind of hurts my brain. Could you please explain in simplistic terms to a simpleton why?

OK, let's say you have a lens which has a diameter of 100mm (and in the case of this camera, it's probably closer to 25mm)
In simplest terms:
At the widest angle, all 100mm of the lens is used to bring in light, for the autofocus to work through and to get the image onto the sensor.
When we zoom in to 40x, then instead of 100mm diameter, only 2.5mm of the lens is used.

Now let's talk about lens manufacture. You need a bit of "glass" that is shaped to be able to focus an image - and in a camera lens it's several pieces of glass. In professional lenses, different materials are used, such as fluorite, rather than normal glass. This leads to a sharper image. You also tend to get shorter zoom lenses in pro gear - maybe up to 4x, because the quality of each lens element needs to be good enough to produce the same size image on a sensor whether the full lens is used to capture it, or only part of the lens.


I could get even more boringly technical on it, but let's take an analogy that you might understand...
1 lens that covers a massive zoom range is like having a petrol engined car with 1 gear. It has to be able to work at low revs to get you moving and in traffic, but it also needs to get up to the speed limit, so it's got to work at very high revs too, just as well.
With an interchangeable lens camera, you get to change gear. You want slow, low speed, use that lens/gear. You want to sit at 100? Don't be in first gear.

[northernladuk]

Lifetime membership to pornhub. Cost you 177.95... Apparently..

[WTFH]

Lifetime membership to pornhub. Cost you 177.95... Apparently..

I notice you left out the currency!

[greenlake]

Lifetime membership to pornhub. Cost you 177.95... Apparently..

[NigelJK]

Tricky this. Firstly it's a bridge camera. These are (these days) aimed a people who have the 'photo bug' via their ever present phones,but sometimes wish they had some thing 'better' for trips out, relatives weddings etc. The 'zoom' capacity is a marketing point. Even the mighty iphone only has a single element so zoom capacity is limited (to 10X IIRC) by the digital zoom available, the Nikon (other bridge cameras are available) has optical elements that actually bend the light, although I take your point that 40X does sound far fetched and you would have to stop it down a lot to get even 20X decently. The lens, however, is orders of magnitude larger than the phone lens so it's light collecting capacity is far greater (is this one of those inverse square laws?) and for the same shot produce far better results. If you've seen some of the efforts people post up from their cameras you'll know how low the bar is in terms of fidelity that's acceptable. If the gift encourages a budding David Bailey then they will explore what's possible via their own purse.

I hope he likes it and takes it out often.

[BrilloPad]

I notice you left out the currency!

If it involves p0rn it has to be bitcoin?

[northernladuk]

I notice you left out the currency!

It's Yorkshire day. I'm trying to avoid talking about money.