Originally posted by spillway
I've recently converted from P&S, so I don't understand why a zoom lens had a negative stigma. I frequent a website that shows pics of birds taken with a 500 & even 600 mm lenses. What did they do before then?
I think you misunderstand the term 'zoom'.
Zoom means that there is the ability to glide across focal lengths from one end to another. For example, the kit lens is a zoom lens.
The focal lengths go from 18mm to 55mm. The other type of lens, a prime, is one that only has one focal length.
This would be the 500's & 600's you'd be thinking about, most likely. Even though they can capture something far away, they're not a 'zoom lens' because they are only to be used at 500mm.
x works in accordance with this, which basically means x is useless in the way P&S cameras use it.
My point and shoot goes from like 2.8-9. Meaning it's a 3x lens, however, on my SLR I have a lens that is a 70-300. That would be a '4x' lens, yet, it can reach ~33x farther then the P&S can.
Hope this clears it up!