I currently have an Olympus D360L digital cam, 1.3 Megapizel. Am looking to upgrade to something that will take better pictures and that will zoom in on my Purple Martins. Am considering the DSCF717 because of the 5X optical zoom and it has Carl Zeiss lens.

Anyone have experience with this camera or can recommend another good camera for someone who is not an expert or even a good amature?

Plinker603

The most interesting camera for zooming is the Panasonic FZ1 with a 12x Leica lens with the same F stop throughout the magnification range and a stabilizer. That's quite a lens and makes up for the fairly low 2.1 megapixels.

What about the Sony DSC-F828, at 7x optical. I have been considering this. I think it is worth a look.

I checked out both cameras. The Panasonic FZ1 is nice looking and now they came out with FZ10 with 4 megapixels.

I'm still leaning toward the Sony though, because of the lens. The DSC-F828, at about a thousand dollars is more than i wanted to spend, but it is considerable.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Plinker603