I picked up on the SX50

I picked up on the SX50

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.Read more 

I picked up on the SX50 

For the recent few years Canon PowerShot SX

For the recent few years Canon PowerShot SX
For the recent few years Canon has made great efforts to improve their travel-zoom compact cameras, and the new SX700 is their next remarkable achievement on that way. It's a little bit bigger than its predecessor (SX280) but it is very well built and has an attractive look and feel (I like the black one). It also got a new front grip which makes one-hand shooting more convenient, even when shooting video, since the Video button was moved from the back to the top and you can now use your thumb solely for holding the camera.

Here is a brief list of the new camera pros & cons:

PROS:
* A very good design and build quality with the attractive finish.
* A new powerful 30x optical zoom lens in just a pocket-size body.
* Incredible range from 25mm wide to 750mm telephoto for stills and video.
* Zoom Framing Assist - very useful new feature to compose your pictures at long telephoto.
* Very effective optical Intelligent Image Stabilization for stills.
* 5-axis Dynamic Image Stabilization and continuous AF for movies.
* New 16MP high-resolution, high-speed CMOS Sensor.
* The recent DIGIC6 processor with a new advanced Noise Reduction algorithm.
* Intelligent Contrast system to retain shadow detail in high contrast scenes.
* Full HD 1920 x 1080, 60 fps progressinve movie recording in a popular MP4 format.
* Good-quality stereo microphones facing the subject being recorded.
* A dedicated Movie-button for instant recording, now on the top of the camera.
* A new high-resolution 922K, 3" display.
* WiFi and NFC (Near Field Communication) features for transferring files to your smartphone or tablet.
* Short startup time (just about 1 sec) and no any noticeable shutter Lag.Read more

For the recent few years Canon PowerShot SX