Dear Wirecutter: Which Camera Is Best for Surf Photography?

Q: Which camera would you recommend purely for filming a sport like surfing? I’m not worried about photo quality but zoom is a major factor for me, along with exceptional low-light video. I’ve been looking at the Nikon B700 and the Canon Powershot SX60 but would love to hear your thoughts.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000

Low-light video and surf photography

The FZ1000’s comparably huge sensor provides low image noise, and the camera also has a lens that gathers a lot more light. You can find longer zooms, but this should be enough for shots of surfing.

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A: It’s natural that your first instinct would be to get a superzoom, and both cameras you mentioned are great ones if zoom is your top priority. But neither the Nikon nor the Canon will perform well in low-light situations due to their small sensors and apertures. Instead, we’d suggest Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-FZ1000, which gives up a bit of zoom in exchange for much better low-light performance. Its large 1-inch sensor and 24–400mm f/2.8–4 lens gather lots of light to capture better footage in equivalent low-light scenarios. The FZ1000 might also be able to capture usable footage in very dark situations in which other superzooms can’t. Plus, the extra light that the lens is able to gather will help it focus on your subject.

Given your concern about zoom, we reached out to Ryan Valasek, a surfing photographer and assistant at filmmaker and surfing photographer Chris Burkard’s studio to see if 400mm would be enough. “Not many times do we need anything past 400-600. If we do need to we simply can try to move closer to the subject,” said Valasek.

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