The Sony's lens starts at 24mm (equivalent). 24 x 16 = 384.
The Canon's lens starts at 28mm. 28 x 14 = 392.
The Sony's lens is more useful than the Canon's. There is a huge difference between 24 and 28 in terms of how wide a scene you can photograph, but there is very little difference between 384 and 392 in terms of how close you can photograph a distant scene.
Maybe I'm understanding the optical zoom wrong. I thought the higher the zoom, the farest you can shoot.
But seeing a review of Sony DSC HX9v
(16x) and Cannon power shot SX230HS
(14)x, the reviewer says 14x is 28-392 and
16x, 24-384.
Huh.

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