Canon SX50 Specs (9 Viewers)

[Geoff Pain]

Anybody got any suggestions for some free software to edit video shot on the SX50.

Cheers Geoff.

 

[pooleparrot]

Bump

A bit of a bump for "our" SX50 Thread, we seem to be getting lost with all the hullabaloo of the SX60. Still not seeing much in the results to convince me to upgrade. There seems to be better quality Video and the EVF sounds great but the stills aren't showing the same quality yet. Perhaps it's just that the new owners are still trying to find the optimum settings.

Anyway here's some shots with the SX50 from yesterday

 

[bob freeman]

Very nice shots Pooleparrot,fully agree with you on upgrade to SX60 too.

 

[Toirealach]

A bit of a bump for "our" SX50 Thread, we seem to be getting lost with all the hullabaloo of the SX60. Still not seeing much in the results to convince me to upgrade. There seems to be better quality Video and the EVF sounds great but the stills aren't showing the same quality yet. Perhaps it's just that the new owners are still trying to find the optimum settings.

Anyway here's some shots with the SX50 from yesterday

They are amazing in the detail you've got.:t:

As a new SX50 owner, this is the best I could do, a Snow Bunting on the beach in Suffolk today...

 

[crazyfingers]

They are amazing in the detail you've got.:t:

As a new SX50 owner, this is the best I could do, a Snow Bunting on the beach in Suffolk today...

You have AF set to Flexzone right? That's the most important setting there is.

 

[Toirealach]

You have AF set to Flexzone right? That's the most important setting there is.

I was on Auto setting and am not sure if FlexiZone is the default setting there.

I assume you think my Snow Bunting shot has focussing issues?

 

[crazyfingers]

I was on Auto setting and am not sure if FlexiZone is the default setting there.

I assume you think my Snow Bunting shot has focussing issues?

Somehow it looks to me that it could be more focused. I wasn't sure. If the bird was pretty close and you didn't use much zoom then it could have been more focused, I think. Farther away at max zoom, sometimes that as good as it gets. It looks cropped too so that would also do it.

The thing with AUTO, the camera will try to guess what you really want to focus on. It could easily pick something other than the bird even if the bird is in the center of the screen. That's what the green rectangle is when you half-press the shutter button. Sometimes there can be multiple rectangles. Sometimes the bird will be in the center but if some bush is to the side and closer, the camera will often think that you really want to focus on the bush. That's no good.

With flexzone on, the camera will simply put the green focus rectangle in the center of the screen. It's not going to try to guess. Presumably you are also aiming to have the bird in the center. Then it will focus on the bird. It will focus on whatever is in that green rectangle in the center of the screen. (There are ways to move it but that's almost never needed).

Flexzone is not default when in pure AUTO. The way to make it default is to go to Menus and set AF Frame to Flexzone. Then scroll down the menu options and save the setting to either C1 or C2. Then keep the camera set on which ever, C1 or C2, you saved it to. You can save other setting changes default for C1 or C2 also. Pretty much any setting change can be made default for C1 or C1.

 

[Toirealach]

Somehow it looks to me that it could be more focused. I wasn't sure. If the bird was pretty close and you didn't use much zoom then it could have been more focused, I think. Farther away at max zoom, sometimes that as good as it gets. It looks cropped too so that would also do it.

The thing with AUTO, the camera will try to guess what you really want to focus on. It could easily pick something other than the bird even if the bird is in the center of the screen. That's what the green rectangle is when you half-press the shutter button. Sometimes there can be multiple rectangles. Sometimes the bird will be in the center but if some bush is to the side and closer, the camera will often think that you really want to focus on the bush. That's no good.

With flexzone on, the camera will simply put the green focus rectangle in the center of the screen. It's not going to try to guess. Presumably you are also aiming to have the bird in the center. Then it will focus on the bird. It will focus on whatever is in that green rectangle in the center of the screen. (There are ways to move it but that's almost never needed).

Flexzone is not default when in pure AUTO. The way to make it default is to go to Menus and set AF Frame to Flexzone. Then scroll down the menu options and save the setting to either C1 or C2. Then keep the camera set on which ever, C1 or C2, you saved it to. You can save other setting changes default for C1 or C2 also. Pretty much any setting change can be made default for C1 or C1.

Thanks very much, that's really helpful and I appreciate it.
I've avoided diving into the settings so far, (I didn't find them terribly intuitive) but will now try and understand it better.

 

[AndyM]

A bit of a bump for "our" SX50 Thread, we seem to be getting lost with all the hullabaloo of the SX60. Still not seeing much in the results to convince me to upgrade. There seems to be better quality Video and the EVF sounds great but the stills aren't showing the same quality yet. Perhaps it's just that the new owners are still trying to find the optimum settings.

Anyway here's some shots with the SX50 from yesterday

Very nice!

A few more to add to the SX50 bump...

AndyM

 

[Toirealach]

Very nice!

A few more to add to the SX50 bump...

AndyM

Very nice indeed, so sharp...how far away was the Brablimg?

 

[AndyM]

Very nice indeed, so sharp...how far away was the Brablimg?

About 10-15 metres away (full zoom, 2.0x - as usual). It was actually quite dull when it was taken and it amazes how, me just when you think the light is useless, it all turns out rather nicely.

'So sharp' but don't ever forget that with modern image manipulation software, a pigs ear is never a lost cause

AndyM

 

[Toirealach]

About 10-15 metres away (full zoom, 2.0x - as usual). It was actually quite dull when it was taken and it amazes how, me just when you think the light is useless, it all turns out rather nicely.

'So sharp' but don't ever forget that with modern image manipulation software, a pigs ear is never a lost cause

AndyM

I'd love to turn your pig's ear into a silk purse, so what "image manipulation software" do I need to accomplish such a feat?

 

[AndyM]

I'd love to turn your pig's ear into a silk purse, so what "image manipulation software" do I need to accomplish such a feat?

Okay, I usually use Nikon ViewNX2 with Neat Image for noise reduction (ALWAYS saving the original file as a .tiff for a lossless format during each process/save until finished).

Canons DPP, that is bundled with the SX40/50/60, is quite adequate having just about all the tools you need including noise reduction, which in my book, makes all the difference.

Anyway, a few more that I'd forgotten about....

AndyM

 

[Retrodaz]

Wow incredible. Whenever i take shots with mine at the moment the screen is always super dark. I think i need to relook at my settings.

 

[crazyfingers]

Here is a snapshot. I have C2 set to go to 1.5X teleconverter and to extend the zoom partway to get a fast shot.

This was taken with the 1.5x teleconverter and not quite maximum optical zoom. It was all about getting close enough and quick setup before the bird left.

I think that it's a pretty cool photo of a dark eyed junco with the fall leaves all blurred in the background.

 

[AndyM]

Here is a snapshot. I have C2 set to go to 1.5X teleconverter and to extend the zoom partway to get a fast shot.

This was taken with the 1.5x teleconverter and not quite maximum optical zoom. It was all about getting close enough and quick setup before the bird left.

I think that it's a pretty cool photo of a dark eyed junco with the fall leaves all blurred in the background.

Wow! That is excellent on so many levels...

AndyM

 

[pooleparrot]

Some more great shots from Andy M and Crazyfingers, I'm not seeing any pictures coming from the SX60 that are bettering these!

 

[Toirealach]

Okay, I usually use Nikon ViewNX2 with Neat Image for noise reduction (ALWAYS saving the original file as a .tiff for a lossless format during each process/save until finished).

Canons DPP, that is bundled with the SX40/50/60, is quite adequate having just about all the tools you need including noise reduction, which in my book, makes all the difference.

Anyway, a few more that I'd forgotten about....

AndyM

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a try.

 

[Toirealach]

Here is a snapshot. I have C2 set to go to 1.5X teleconverter and to extend the zoom partway to get a fast shot.

This was taken with the 1.5x teleconverter and not quite maximum optical zoom. It was all about getting close enough and quick setup before the bird left.

I think that it's a pretty cool photo of a dark eyed junco with the fall leaves all blurred in the background.

Wow, great shot!

 

[Toirealach]

I think I'm improving with the Flexizone, but I also had the AF-Point Zoom enabled, which I didn't like...do other SX50 users use this function?