what zoom does a 35x compare to as far as a telephoto lens?

35x is the zoom range from initial unzoomed position to full zoom position...like if not zoomed your lens is 18mm and if you zoomed 35x, its 630mm (18mm x 35)..and if the same camera has 18mm in normal and 72mm to maximum than its 4x zoom.I like clear crisp and sufficient light photographs ..for this I prefer

1.fast shutter speed(useful for actions and  sports),2.low shutter speed(for dawn or low light areas or creating light trails,light paintings etc) ,3.higher ISO (for low light conditions) 4.Wide range aperture like f1.8 or f1.4 or f22 (for underexposure  and overexposure conditions and setting according to ISO and shutter speed).........for simple understanding , understand this, that  everytime the auto mode doesn't help you for better shots , so Manual mode (which help in controlling these setting upper mentioned,) in DSLRs really helps to get those pro like shots......nice eye catching and beautiful shots...Powershot sx40 is a digital camera but not DSLR...I suggest you for a dslr if you really want impressive machine.one last thing : Digital cameras have smaller Image sensor whereas DSLR has bigger sensor and faster processing mechanism ... bigger sensor means more beautiful photos with true color and color depth... HD photos !!