My New Favorite Camera Gets The Shot Other Cameras Miss!

Good Morning Everybody,

OK, I have to admit it….  The Cabo sunshine, sandy beaches, sound of the waves crashing the shoreline can get you in slow motion pretty quickly. But that said, it’s not all play in sunny Mexico.  We are on the verge of kicking off our PhotoPro Expo 2013 promo blast next week so that has taken up quite a bit of my time while on vacation.  Isn’t technology wonderful – I still get to do the work by the beach ;~)

My New Favorite Camera Gets The Shot Other Cameras Miss!

Let's get on with today's post. On Tuesday I shared with you my fun experience with my brand new Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Camera. It's been getting great reviews on the Internet but what is most amazing about this camera is the zoom range. It's currently the widest zoom range available of any camera on the market ranging from 24mm all the way out to 1200mm in one small, lightweight, compact package.

You may be asking yourself, "Why in the world would Ziser be using a consumer grade camera?" I alluded to the answer in Tuesday’s post.  Let me spell it out today. As a professional photographer there are some instances when I would really like to get up close and personal to the action going on. A perfect example would be when the bride and groom are exchanging wedding vows. Sure, I've got a 300mm lens that I can use on my 7D which will give me effectively a 480mm telephoto lens.

But, what happens if I want to get even closer than that?  You might think I could call my buddies at B&H and order one of Canon’s 1200/5.6L USM  monster lens priced at $125,000!!! Uh… I don’t think so!

So, back to my new favorite fun camera, Canon’s PowerShot SX50 HS  Camera at a whopping $450 US dollars.  I have to say,  from my early tests I am mighty impressed with the photographic capabilities of this small, little consumer camera. Let me review a couple of my test images I've made in the last few days.

Photo One:

This image was taken from the front door of our home in Kentucky looking out across the city and it was taken at the 24mm wide-angle setting. Keep an eye on the water tower in the center of the image.

Photo Two:

This image was taken from the same place, at the full 1200mm zoom, but in this case I targeted closer into the water tower that you can barely see in the distance in the first photograph. Amazing, don't you think?

Photo Three:

While on a walk around the neighborhood  I continued to experiment with the telephoto capabilities of this little jewel  of a camera. Notice how sharp and crisp the detail is on the pumpkin - and this image was also captured at the 1200mm setting of the camera …amazing!

Photo Four:

Recently I had the occasion to be at an event at one of our local churches and I thought the occasion would offer the perfect opportunity  to experiment with the long lens capabilities during an actual church service. Take a look at the next photograph.

This image was taken with me standing at the very back of the church with the camera in the wide-angle 24mm setting. You can see I get quite a wide view of the church and image sharpness looks just great on my computer.

Photo Five:

Take a look at this next image. It was captured in the exact same location as the image above, but this time I zoomed in just a bit to the 60mm setting of the camera. Again, the image is quite sharp and perfectly acceptable for any 8x10 I might deliver in a clients album.

Photo Six:

In the following image I zoomed into the pipe organs in the back of the church.  This image is the zoom equivalent of a 500mm lens on a 35mm camera. Color and definition of detail looks good in the image.

Image Seven:

This next image was taken of a church statue so obviously it wasn't moving but what I want you to notice are the camera specs of this image.  This image was taken at 700mm (35 mm equivalent), 1/10 second at F5.6, at ISO1600.  Yes, I said 1/10 second. The SX50 is capable of 4 1/2 stops of image stabilization built-in at all of the focal lengths!

I think it's quite amazing that this is a handheld photograph! It points up one more time some of the amazing possibilities of the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Camera

Photo Eight:

This image was taken during the actual church service handheld at 1/80th of a second at F5.6 but this time I zoomed into an 800mm setting.  Once again you can see the detail is crisp and sharp throughout the image.

Photo Nine:

Moving onto the next image - this image was taken from the back of the church but in this case I zoomed all the way to the 1000mm setting. This image was also handheld at 1/60th second at F5.6 and shot at ISO 1600. I’m finding it pretty incredible, but wait there’s more!

Photo Ten:

This image was taken from the back of the church at full magnification of the zoom lens.  The camera was racked out to 1200mm and I clicked off the image at 1/60th of a second handheld at F5.6, 1600 ISO. I think it's an amazing and again highlights the capabilities of this little camera.

In Conclusion:

It's just thrilling the technology Canon built into this camera. I’ve printed out 11x14 hard copies of all the images I’ve featured today.  Everyone that looks at them thinks they look great.  The camera also includes the DIGIC 5 processor, a decently sharp lens, a super compact shape, HDR capability, 1080p video, and many other wonderful  features that I haven’t even shown today.

So, is there a place for this little power shot camera in your professional camera bag? There certainly is for me. I really like the idea of being able to zoom in so closely on some key moments of a wedding  and be able to do it without breaking the bank by buying a “monster millimeter” lens. So, tell me, if you are making the choice would it be for the $125,000 lens you can’t even carry or the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS  Camera for $450? For me I think for what I'm looking for I think $450 model fills the bill just perfectly.

Anyway, I'm not promoting the fact that we should purchase amateur equipment for a professional jobs but, what I am suggesting is that there might be other solutions much more reasonably priced for the occasional situation in which we might need a few super close-up images. Anyway, food for thought.

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Hey gang that's it for me today. The sea breezes, sandy beaches and snorkel gear are calling – I’ve got to go ;~)  Have a great rest of the day and I’ll see you soon.

– David