I am curious if there is a chart or reference on what equivalent p&s ??X zoom vs. the focal length of either zooms or primes. Ex. If a point and shoot has a 10x zoom, what is the actual focal length? Does it vary from model to model?
the angle of view is the useful bit of information, but the zoom range can be (sort of) useful because most P&S lenses have a similar angle of view on the wide end (63 degrees).
17-170MM or 35-350MM or 50-500MM are all 10X zooms.
The "X" factor means very little, except for marketing hype. The important numbers are the minimum and maximum focal lengths, and whether or not they are useful to you.
40-400MM will do you no good if you need something around 20MM.
