Canon SX50 HS

[peter45]

I have been a keen photographer since a kid, now retired, and unfortunately have to sell all my Canon DSLR gear because of the weight on my neck and back. I will then inherit my wife's SX50. I have seen the magnificent captures by Bob using this camera. My question, and it is pretty dumb, did you use auto or particular settings as each shot demanded?
Thanks for any advice. Your review was excellent.
Cheers,
Peter.
 

[Bob Atkins]

It probably depends on the shot. I do use auto mode for casual pictures and it's generally pretty good, but most of the time when I have time I'll manually set ISO and use Aperture priority mode, using exposure compensation when required. For serious work I also shoot RAW as well as JPEG and I use Canon's DPP program to optimize the images. Occasionally I'll use fully manual exposure, since not all shutter speed and aperture combinations are possible in Av mode (doesn't like to do long exposures in Av).

Of course I could also say exactly the same thing about when I shoot with the EOS 7D, so I'm really using the same techniques and options with the SX50 as I do with a DSLR.

I don't think any camera will give you truly optimum results in any full auto mode

[peter45]

Thanks Bob.

[peter45]

With my Canon 60D the DPP software shows the unsharp mask at 7,7,3 while on the SX50 it shows 4,2,4 and changes with different shots. Is there a way to put a default setting in, either on the SX50 or DPP?
Many thanks.
Peter.

[Bob Atkins]

Good question. I don't know of any way to fix a sharpness setting on the SX50. Not sure exactly why it varies from shot to shot, but it does seem to do that. In DPP you can apply the same "recipe" to multiple images, so you could set the same sharpness that way, assuming you haven't changed any of the other options in the tool options. I think if you shoot RAW they're all set to their default (center) values (except, apparently for sharpness). To change things like saturation you have to be shooting in JPEG only mode.

[peter45]

Hi again Bob. Been playing around with the SX50 while getting ready to sell my 60D and lenses. Found my best results to shoot in RAW, using TV mode, limiting ISO to 800. The default setting for still image aspect ratio seems to be 4:3 but with the 60D I use 3:2. When I tried this with the SX50 the DPP programme shows a white border around the RAW pic. What does this mean? When I convert to JPEG, will it actually crop to that?
What ratio do you use?
My results between the 2 cameras, on computer and TV screen are pretty close, so a bit happier about having to sell all my gear.
Cheers.

[Bob Atkins]

The SX50 HS has a native format of 4:3 (i.e. that's the format of the sensor). If you want 3:2 that 4:3 image has to be cropped, so you will lose some of the image (at the top and bottom).

[peter45]

Thank you Bob. Do you use the 3:2?

[Bob Atkins]

I usually shoot 4:3 and then crop to whatever aspect ratio I want.

[peter45]

Thanks once more.