I used to carry a Nikon film camera with up to 600mm telephoto lens. This stuff was very heavy and bulky. Then when digital cameras improved enough I bought an Olympus 700C 10x zoom which was a very small digital that took pretty good pics. Then about 5 years ago I bought an Olympus SP-570UZ which has up to 20x zoom (not digital zoom). It cost about $650 when it first came out. A year later they came down to about $400. Now there are many high zoom cameras, but Olympus has been in the forefront of the small high zoom digital cameras.
Here are four pictures I have taken with the Olympus SP-570UZ. One is a picture of a mushroom called the Angle of Death because it is deadly poisonous which was taken at close range. The other one is a picture of a blue grosbeak that was taken at about 75 yards at 20x. the other one is of an antelope taken at about 100 yds. Then Devils Peak at about one mile at about 10x. The last one is devils peak at 20x. at about 1 mile.
Hope you like them.
joseph
PS: All these pictures were taken on automatic.