Powershot SX50 my next camera

[Johnny]

I have decided to buy myself a Powershot SX50 before spring is here. 4800mm zoom ( 35mm equivalent ), included the digital zoom is hard to beat. I have not been looking to much into reviews, but have seen images posted on different websites and they look good. I am sure IQ will be "good enough", certainly for small prints and web display.

I downloaded the user manual and I am amazed by all the technology they pack into these little cameras.

Here in Scandinavia it will cost about US $600. I can order it from Amazon but the savings will be small when I add taxes. We have strict consumer laws in Scandinavia. By law we get minimum 2 years warranty + another 3 years of "complaints" claims - in practice a 5 year warranty. For not to expensive stuff I would prefer a shorter warranty and a lower price like the US but it is not up to me.

Do you think you will be looking into this camera, Bob, before spring/summer arrives?

I have not found any raw files yet buth when I do I will download them and have a better look at IQ but people seem to agree it is "good". One should probably not expect great IQ from a camera with a tiny sensor and such a huge lens.

[Bob Atkins]

I'd say there is a fair chance that I'll be looking at the SX50 sometime in the next few months. It does look like an interesting camera and the zoom range is extraordinary (to 1200mm equivalent optical).

Basically it depends on when Canon have one available for review and that's something I can't predict. However it's on my list of cameras I'd like to get from them!

[KeithB]

Michael Reichman at Luminous Landscape has a review and really likes it:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/canon_sx_50_review.shtml

[Johnny]

Thanks, Bob and Keith.

This is the first time I want one of the superzooms with tiny sensors. I am a little curios about the digital zoom and how it affect IQ. 1200mm optical zoom + 200% digital zoom is 4800mm! I have not read much about it but it seems to work fine. The forums at dpreview is filled with images taken with this camera. It seems like it is very popular.

Ok, hope Canon will have one available for you, Bob. I guess I will buy mine sometime before easter hoping the prices have come down a little bit.

[Johnny]

Bob,

I am thinking of buying the Canon close-up lens 500D to fit to the SX50. I am a little uncertain of how much magnification I get. How do I figure it out?

I downloaded the user manual but cannot find anything about max magnification. Minimum focusing range at max telephoto is 1.3m/4.3ft.

Any thoughts?

[Bob Atkins]

Well, the sx 50 has a 215mm lens (at the telephoto end) and focuses down to 4.3ft. That's pretty similar to the EF 200/2.8L specifications. Maximum magnification with the 200/2.8L and a 500D is 0.57x (see http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/closeup.htm ).

Since the sx50 sensor is 7.44 x 5.58 mm, at 0.57x your area of coverage would be 13mm x 9.8mm.

These are rough approximations and guesses of course!

[Johnny]

Thanks, Bob. Sounds good to me even if the numbers are not 100% accurate. The camera has its own macro/enlargement mode but I think it is some kind of upsamling. This will be my first compact and I am not to familiar with how it works. A close-up lens will be nice to use on my other lenses so I might go for it. Some users at dpreview forum have posted images taken with similar sensors using close-up lenses and it seems to work fine.

[Bob Atkins]

Not sure about the SX50, but many digicams have maximum magnification at the wideangle setting. Some can focus down to 1cm or less. The SX 50 specs say that in macro mode if can focus down to 0cm at the 70mm focal lengh setting, which I guess means the subject touching the lens. They don't specify the magnification under those conditions though.