Camera Labs

Recently, while browsing the Canon webpage, I stumbled upon the new Canon PowerShot SX50 IS. Here some of the changes over the SX40 HS:
- Guess what? It shoots RAW now! Yay!
- The screen is slightly larger, from 2.7 in to 2.8 in.
- Focal length increased from 24-840mm to 24-1200mm (35mm equivalent)
- The ability to focus at 0 cm when at 24mm is gone, now it changed to 5cm (not that bad though)
- Minimum focusing distance at maximum focal length slightly improved from 1.4 m to 1.3 m
- Screen resolution improved from 320k dots to 461k dots.
- Maximum apertures reduced from f/2.7 @wide end and f/5.8 @tele end to f/3.4 @wide end and f/6.5 @tele end (bad choice for Canon, IMHO )
- Fastest shutter speed reduced from 1/3200 to 1/2000 (also bad move from Canon, IMHO)
- Maximum ISO increased to 6400 ISO in all modes.
- Exposure compensation increased from +/-2 EV to +/-3 EV
- Continuous shooting reduced from 2.4 fps to 2.2 fps (normal mode)
- Continuous shooting increased from 10.3 fps to 13 fps in High-burst HQ mode, also max number of shots increased from 8 to 10.

EDIT: I forgot a couple things: the weight and size was slightly reduced and battery consumption was theoretically reduced according to Canon.

Doesn't look too good, looks like many things were degraded, but the RAW shooting..... oh my, that just sounds awesome

What do you guys think?

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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By the way, this is just my opinion and not part of the description, but I think the new SX50 looks quite ugly

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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Looks like an awesome Canon to me. And as they traditionally do, (for me) they come nowhere close the Panasonic brothers (FZ200).
The RAW is very nice though, and the extra reach... well, it's about marketing I guess. I find 320mm (35mm eq.) to be more and more than sufficient, and a decade ago it was only the very pros who had 600mm or 800mm prime lenses. Does that mean that everybody now needs so many mms? I dont see it.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

You're right about that, I think Panasonic has had the edge on superzoom cameras and there seems no one can beat them.

Also, the extra focal length actually would be nice for me because I like photographing wildlife and I've been finding myself in various occasions that I can't quite reach the subject without approaching it too much and scaring it. My camera is the SX20 IS and it's maximum focal length is 540mm by the way.

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
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Well - my first Canon was the Powershot SX10 IS, which is very similar to the SX20 IS.
Yeah. I have to say I really like that zoom range and it took some time until I had the 100-400mm, which could beat the 540mm of the SX10 when mounted on a crop frame camera (400mm x1.6 = 640mm).
Now the Powershot SX50 has a 50x zoom. Absolutely wow. 1200mm are great. RAW? Haven't even read about that but it's very nice as well.

I could play a bit with that camera on the photokina and well... it has some nice features, is ugly like hell and pretty impressive. I like it.
Well... Still I guess I won't buy one.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

If you get to use it, it would be nice if you could share your thoughts and comments about it
By the way, I agree, it's quite ugly

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

I didn't want to make a new thread so here it goes:

I have a question for Gordon: Are you going to review the Canon SX50 HS whenever it comes out? Thanks in advance

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

Just read it again: 1200mm. That's awefully (or awesomely? ) much!

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Now the question is if it will retain quality at such a long focal length and if with such a small aperture (f/6.5) it will be able to get nice shutter speeds and also let's hope IS can compensate so we can get sharp shots. We'll see

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

f/6,5 will cause lots of diffraction issues... pity.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Canon should've left it at f/5.6 at least. Oh well, final tests will tell, I hope Gordon reviews the camera soon

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

Let's change the word: "extremely".

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

Or maybe "crazily"?

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Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr

OK, let's rewrite the sentence. 1200mm. That's extremely crazy!


But it was quite interesting to hold that thing indeed.

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

So you did have a go with it at Photokina? Nice
Was it hard to get sharp images @1200mm? I know it was

_________________
Gear: Canon SX20 IS, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Wishlist: Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II
Visit me and leave me a comment in My Flickr