long zoom alternative, canon powershot sx50 hs?

[Trina]

I finally got my pennies saved and was able to purchase my SX 50. There is quite a learning curve with it.. I got it thru Costco which gives me 90 days to see if its what I want....

this photo is the raw file SOOC, as far as the lens will reach, on a tripod.

[FrankMi]

The reach is definitely further than my SX40 will go! Looks like you had a fair amount of atmospheric haze to contend with but still got a decent capture.

[Melkus]

Looks good to me over all. Glad your happy with your new toy

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Trina,

I shot one yesterday and it's not as clear as this (I have a P510 which goes to 1000mm FFE).

I would suggest less exposure next time; that may have contributed to the mist/flare being seen.

I do appreciate this is SOOC, and as you shot RAW, it may be possible to reveal some detail in (what looks like) the blown left rim and darken down the 'flare'.

Cheers,

[Melkus]

I can't really shoot the moon here, too much night lights and not a very clear view of it from all the trees and what not

[FrankMi]

I can't really shoot the moon here, too much night lights and not a very clear view of it from all the trees and what not

I have found that if you can get to a higher elevation it helps. This one was shot on a brightly lit streetcorner in Gatlinburg, TN on a cool clear night.

[Trina]

Frank your moonshot is stunning... great capture.....

The first time I looked out this morning it was pretty clear.... but when I got out there with the tripod, camera and shutter release there was a light covering of wispy clouds... so I was amazed at this picture... it actually lost some of its crispness when I saved it so I could put it up here.... I am pretty lucky as I live about 15 miles out of town and away from big lights and I have a very open view....

Dave I will be working with this photo some to see if I can tone down the blown out area a bit... unfortunately CS4 does not recognize this camera, and I am not familiar with the canon raw program yet....

[rpcrowe]

If I were looking for a light weight camera for travel and other uses, I would seriously consider the SX-50.

Three parameters that would convince me to get this camera over other bridge cameras of its type are the electronic viewfinder (I would never consider a camera without an eye level viewfinder), hotshoe which would allow me to use a hotshoe flash for bounce and to use off camera, and RAW capablity - I would never go back to shooing JPEG.

[bedantabd]

If I were looking for a light weight camera for travel and other uses, I would seriously consider the SX-50.

Three parameters that would convince me to get this camera over other bridge cameras of its type are the electronic viewfinder (I would never consider a camera without an eye level viewfinder), hotshoe which would allow me to use a hotshoe flash for bounce and to use off camera, and RAW capablity - I would never go back to shooing JPEG.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS shoots RAW, has electronic viewfinder and hotshoe.......

Imaging Processor DIGIC 5
Image Sensor
Camera Effective Pixels Approx 12.1 Million pixels
Lens
Focal Length 50x zoom: 4.3 (W) - 215 (T)mm
(35mm film equivalent: 24 (W) - 1200 (T)mm)
Focusing Range 0cm (0in.) - infinity (W),
1.3m (4.3in.) - infinity (T)
Macro: 0 - 50cm (0in. - 1.6ft.) (W),
30cm - 50cm (12in. - 1.6ft.) (T)
Image Stabilizer (IS) System Len-shift type
LCD Monitor
Size 2.8-inch type (Approx. 461,000 dots)
Aspect Ratio 4:3
Features Variangle
Electronic Viewfinder Approx 202,000 dots Focus
Control System Continuous AF, Servo AF, Manual Focus
AF frame Face Detect, Tracking AF, Center, FlexiZone
Metering System Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot
ISO Speed
(Standard Output Sensitivity, Recommended Exposure Index) Auto, ISO 80 - 6400
1/3 step increments
Shutter
Speed 1 - 1/2000sec.
15 - 1/2000sec. (in Tv and M Modes)
Aperture
Type Iris type
f/number f/3.4 - f/8.0 (W), f/6.5 - f/8.0 (T)
Flash
Modes Auto, On, Slow Synchro, Off
Range 50cm - 5.5m (W), 1.4 - 3.0m (T)
(1.6ft. - 18ft. (W), 4.6 - 9.8 (T))
Hot Shoe Available Shooting specifications
Shooting Modes C1, C2, M, Av, Tv, P, Auto, Movie Digest, Sports, SCN*1, Creative Filters*2, Movie*3

*1 Portrait, Smooth Skin, Smart Shutter*4, High-speed Burst HQ, Handheld Night Scene, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist
*2 High Dynamic Range, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature effect, Toy Camera Effect, Soft Focus, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap
*3 Standard, iFrame Movie, Super Slow Motion Movie
*4 Smile, Wink Self-timer, Face Self-Timer
Continuous shooting In P mode: Approx. 2.2 shots/sec.
In High-speed Burst HQ mode: Approx 13 shots/sec.
Number of Recording Pixels Still Images: 4:3
Large: 4000 x 3000,
Medium 1: 2816 x 2112, Medium 2: 1600 x 1200,
Small: 640 x 480,
RAW: 4000 x 3000 Movies: iFrame Movie & Movie Digest: 1280 x 720
Super Slow Motion Movie: 640 x 480 / 320 x 240
Miniature effect: 1280 x 720 / 640 x 480
Others: 1920 x 1080 / 1280 x 720 / 640 x 480
Power Source Battery pack NB-10L
Number of Shots
(CIPA Compliant) Approx. 315 (with LCD on)
Movie Recoding Time
(Actual Usage Time) Approx. 1hr. 15mins. (with LCD on)
Dimensions (CIPA compliant) 122.5 x 87.3 x 105.5mm (4.82 x 3.44 x 4.15in.)
Weight (CIPA compliant) Approx. 595g (21oz.) (including the battery and memory card)
Approx. 551g (19.4oz.) (camera body only)

[Edwin Harvey]

I bought the Canon SX50 a few weeks ago, and thus far have found it to be a very reliable performer. I'm disappointed with Adobe though, for not releasing an update for photo-shops raw editor. I took a couple of images this morning at Villenueve & thought I would post them here, so that those who are sitting on the fence and deciding whether to buy it or not, can judge for themselves, just how remarkable this little camera is.
Cheers............Ed.