List Price: $429.00
Sale Price: $329.00
Today's Bonus: 23% Off
I picked up on the SX50 to do wildlife identification with birds and other critters. I have spent many hours behind the lens of Canons EOS cameras including the Mark III and 5d2 with L grade telephoto glass but I needed something lightweight and compact to use when the weight of the DSLR system was not desirable.
This camera is amazing for that task. I had looked at the SX30 and the SX40 in the past but for me testing them out at the stores the Autofocus just was not yet fast enough for me to be willing to work with. The SX50 changes that and has a very quick AF system that has already worked for me in a variety of situations for a sub 500 dollar point and shoot class camera I am extremely impressed with the AF system.
The resolution at 1200mm has exceeded my expectations and can create print worthy sharp results throughout the entire length. To get that kind of focal length with a DSLR would require a serious budget destroying investment that would weigh a large amount. I highly doubt my 100-400L cropped to the same reach or frame could beat this camera at 1200mm.
Ill go over a few of the cameras functions.
AF. Very fast for a point and shoot. Not DSLR 7D fast while running L lenses fast but still locks on with ease. The autofocus does have a tendency to lock onto foreground elements when shooting in foilage and I do wish it had a MF ring of some kind or a AF stop button that the DSLRS have. Using MF is frustratingly slow with the back dial.
ISO. Blown away at how good the ISO ratings are for this camera. It has been a while since I owned a small point and shoot and I am amazed that I can get usable results at ISO 800. Raw images clean up especially well and respond to noise reduction. Its a good thing the camera can handle higher ISO's well because the slower lens does eat up and demand a lot of light.
IS The image stabilizer works remarkably well and easily preforms to the claimed 4.5 stops or more, I have taken several successful shots at 1/100th of a second at 1200mm. Thats simply unprecedented. The IS also does a great job at stabilizing the image while framing. Turn the IS off for a bit and you will quickly realize how hard the IS has to work to make the 1200mm lens on this camera worth using.
Zoom. looong. 24-1200mm is insane look at my sample shots of the mine at 24mm and 1200mm to get an idea of the range of this camera.
Many of you will complain about the slow f stop at 1200mm but consider that a 35mm SLR lens at 800 5.6 will set you back 10k and a 1200 5.6 is 150k so a useable 1200mm equivalent at F6.5 for 479 is an absolute steal. The fact that this little camera can get a acceptable shot at 1200mm opens up a realm of possibilities that was previously simply economically impossible for many. It also zooms along the range very quickly, the framing assist button along the cameras side is a handy feature and backs the lens in and out fast allowing you to recompose.
What do I dislike so far?
The EVF viewfinder is garbage, there is not enough relief between the body and the EVF for it to be very useful for me and it does not have enough dots to make out what you are photographing,the EVF screen is washed out especially on bright sunlit days. I have opted for the swivel LCD exclusively and would not have missed it had they omitted the finder altogether thankfully the LCD is plenty bright so it can always be useful but a better evf would be handy to hold the camera in close.
Front dial. Canon why cant you give the top of the line powershot a front rotating dial? That dial would make adjusting things on the fly tremendously easier. The body is a bit small and the back dial is low that using it while keeping a secure grip is a bit difficult for me as well I would of prefered it to be higher on the camera personally.
Flash does not pop up automatically. The flash button on the side of the camera does nothing unless you have physically raised the flash yourself.
This is not a deal breaker for me because I will likely use the flash rarely if everl, I have better cameras that cover the range of the tiny flash, but for the average point and shooter whom will purchase this as an only camera this could ruin a lot of photos.
No front threaded filter mount. The only way to attach a filter is via the bayonet adapter. I would of preferred a screw on attachment for a permanent UV filter to protect the lens.
All in all I am quite pleased with the camera its an enjoyable system and I have already gotten many great shots with it. The super telephoto lens has a bit of a learning curve but as soon as you get the hang of it and understand the IS systems limitations you will be on your way to getting many great photos with this little guy.
The Minimum focus distance has a few awkward spots at around 700mm it jumps up to 6.5 ft but drops down to 4.2 ft at 1200mm this may make a few macro insect shots hard to do without externally attached filters.
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