The Best 50x Superzoom Digital Cameras of 2023

Offering a 50x zoom and 20.4 megapixels, the Cyber-shot HX400V is Sony’s flagship superzoom. Sure, the H400 has a longer reach, but this camera has all the coolest tech and can still bring all but the most distant subjects up close. It’s been in stores for a while (we first checked it out in early 2014), but it holds up to some of the newest superzooms on the market in terms of image quality and features. Oddly, though, the price hasn’t dropped much over time—there may be better values out there.

Perhaps our favorite thing about the HX400V is the comfortable, DSLR-style design, with a chunky front grip and a surprisingly grippy and silky smooth focusing ring around the massive lens barrel. The body itself is pretty plasticky, but in actual use it just melts into your hand. Other nifty features include a tilt screen, built-in GPS for geotagging, WiFi, and NFC. There’s no 4K video recording, but the camera can automatically scale your still photos for 4K displays, and will record all the 1080/60p footage you like.

We don’t love the FinePix S1, but there’s one very good reason you might: It’s the only 50x superzoom on the market that is fully weather- and dust-sealed. If you find yourself shooting outdoors in inclement weather with any kind of regularity, that’s kind of a big deal.

If you don’t, you’ll probably want to give this one a pass. Features like a tilt screen, 5-axis image stabilization, and 10fps burst shooting are nice, but the image quality just doesn’t cut it; reviewers and users universally complained that shots are way too noisy at ISO 800 and above. The price has dropped since the S1 debuted at $500 back in 2014, but even at $370 it’s a hard sell given today’s competition.

Here’s a real oddball for you. Samsung, almost completely out of the camera game these days, put out this “dual grip” 60x superzoom back in 2014. Styled like a professional DSLR (kind of a munchkin-sized Nikon D5 or Canon 1D X), it can be comfortably held in either landscape or portrait orientation. The extra grip space also provides room for a huge battery that delivers about 600 shots per charge.

But don’t be intimidated by the looks: This thing is best used on full auto (though you can shoot on manual if you want). Built-in WiFi and NFC make it easy to share your shots with Android devices (especially Galaxy phones), and you can also control the camera from your phone. Still, laggy performance, a low-res screen and electronic viewfinder, and disappointingly noisy results at ISO 800 and above keep it from being an easy recommendation.