Canon PowerShot SX50 HS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 50x Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Black

My wife is quite the photography enthusiast and owns a couple of DSLR cameras. I wasn't willing to invest that kind of money into a high end camera when I've never even taken a photography class. But I do have an interest in photography, and thought it would be fun to have a camera that could produce something better than my iPhone! The Canon PowerShot SX50 turned out to be the perfect beginners camera. First off you can just set it on auto and use it like any old point and shoot. It has a massive zoom which allows for some pretty incredible pictures. You can zoom optically by 50x and then 4x more digitally for a 200x zoom. Obviously if you zoom to the max you will compromise the picture quality somewhat, but it is still surprisingly good. Once you have decided to take off the training wheels you can experiment with some of the cameras more advanced features. You can set the camera to shutter priority which allows you to take the great action shot or freeze water droplets flying through the air. You can use aperture priority and get those nice depth of field images where an object is in focus and the background is not. There is even a full manual mode if you want to get very technical. There are also guided auto settings for action shots, night time and various other scenarios. I have attached some pictures taken with the camera. All freehand, no tripod. Even the zoom in on the moon was just taken standing in the back yard one night. I've read articles to suggest that even serious photographers like this camera because unlike their fancy DSLR, this camera is very lightweight. And to get a zoom as good as this one on a DSLR would set you back thousands of dollars, and would weigh a ton. If you want to take more serious pictures than your iPhone can, then this is a great camera to play around with. I've taken mine on various trips and have managed to take some good pictures with it. Of the attached images you'll see three animals taken at a zoo, which illustrate the powerful zoom (clearly I am not all that close to these dangerous animals!). A moon shot, showing not even the max zoom. It was taken during a 'honey moon' that's why it's not the usual color. And there's a fountain image, you can see how the water is frozen mid stream with high shutter speed. I think that this camera is well suited to both beginners and more seasoned photographers. Definitely worth a closer look this one.

I just got my Canon Powershot SX50 HS from Amazon.com. This camera is totally awesome. I have the predessor SX20is and I was very happy with my old Canon. The compliments I got for the pics I took with the SX20is were multiple due to the outstanding quality of the photos. I took my new Canon out for a test drive today. I am blown away by my new Canon. I was speechless when I saw my 1st pics. Total ease of use is incredible. The zoom is just plain miraculous. I can see objects in my pics that were not visible to the naked eye. The only negative comment I have to say regarding this incredible camera is that Canon should have kept the use of AA batteries as opposed to the propriatary Canon 10L Lithium Ion battery. I overcame this handicap by purchasing 2 more stand-by batteries. I would not want to be out on a shoot and run out of juice. I doubt this is going to happen with a total of 3 batteries on board. I have decided to keep my old Canon as it is still a gr8 camera and a nice back-up to my New and totally awesome SX50 HS. I've been into photography for a long time. I remember having a mirrored Rokor 300mm fixed focus lens and I thought it was awe inspiring. My Canon SX50 HS with its incredible ZOOM of 1000MM is out of this world !!! I'm a very happy camper with my new Canon.. Of course I will tell all of my friends about this new & wonderful camera from Canon :) Yesterday 8/24/14 my friend and I went on a PM shoot on a pedestrian bridge here in Salem, Oregon. We belong to a photo club right here in Salem. I took a few shots of a distant pooch about 2 city blocks away. He was running and swimming around, in & out of the river retrieving balls & stick thrown by his master. I took a couple of still images and a short 30 second video of this pooch. I then shared them with some of the members of our photo club. My friends & fellow photographers. After the ooo's and awe's I believe I sold two of the Canon SX50 HS cameras. The images were bright, vivid and great. One of our fellow members asked if my camera supported lens changes and I answered NO. I then let them know I did not feels as though I needed to change lenses with the zoom capabilities of my Canon. I absolutely love my Canon. The bottom line is the images I take with my Canon are amazing !!

I ordered the SX50 through Amazon, I tried it out, I liked it well enough and I intend to keep it. For what it does best, it works very well. For the rest, well... that depends. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& This is a video I shot of a fishing boat in Monterey Bay. I used my new SX50 with a 50X optical zoom and a 4X digital zoom for a total of 200X (sort of.) I know it's pixillated, but still just look carefully and you can see the fisherman casting his fishing pole at the stern of the boat and then sitting down. Pretty amazing video technology they have developed for this camera. So that is where this review starts - with the monster-zoom telephoto lens. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& What this camera does best is pretty obvious - it has a monster-zoom telephoto lens. I enjoy doing some telephoto work, and for that purpose it works amazingly well. At a 1200mm - 50X - zoom you simply cannot buy a Canon DSLR lens with that kind of magnification for any amount of money.*1 The largest [standard production] DSLR telephoto lens that Canon makes is an 800mm and that lens costs over $13,000. So there you have it. For around $500 you can run circles around that magnification, get some fantastic shots and have a lot of fun with it. It will most definitely amaze your friends when you show them with what you can do with the monster-zoom feature alone. *1 Technically, "any amount of money" is not completely true here. Another poster has pointed out that on special order Canon will make a 1200MM lens for a DSLR. It weighs about 40 lbs. The MSRP is $100,000. Only a few dozen have ever been produced. My bad. It also has a wide ISO range (film speed) combined with some very fast shutter speeds for fast-action shots. And the recovery and repeat shot time is very fast too. There is also built-in HDR (High Dynamic Range) feature that will be fun to use for creating vibrant-colored, surreal landscapes. (Don't try it with portraits though, since HDR is notoriously bad at distorting human skin tones.) For the more advanced shooters it also offer RAW files as well as RAW plus JPEG, so that you can fine-tune your photos with post-processing in a Photoshop-type program. All around this should turn out to be a good recreational and family-fun camera that will work very well for daytime things like social events and sporting events, particularly at getting candid shots of people all the way across the other side of the auditorium or the sports arena. And it has an excellent HD video feature that - with a good secure tripod - can produce some very respectable quality videos. Unfortunately, the "hot shoe" for the camera only works with an external flash, not a high-quality external microphone. So no, it won't take one, so you don't even need to ask. Yes, of course with a high quality HD video feature you would only expect that Canon would allow you to attach a high-quality external microphone to the hot shoe, but no they don't. You can take that up with Canon - again - just the way people did last year, and see how far you get with it. Otherwise you will simply have to enjoy it the way it is, or else use a tape recorder and sync the sound with it in a movie-making program afterwards. But if you want to take any long-exposure, nighttime shots with it, then this camera probably will not work for you at all. It COULD take them easily, but for marketing reasons Canon put an arbitrary ISO limit on it last year that will no longer let it take them. (Earlier models of this same camera could easily take them before Canon imposed the arbitrary ISO limit on it.) If you have ever owned any of the previous cameras of this series, (the SX1, SX10, SX20 and SX30,) then you probably know that it has a rather small 1/2.3 sized sensor, but (now) it processes the images with a very good DIGIC 5 processor. If you have also owned an SX40, then you also may be aware of a rather recent limitation on this line of cameras that the previous models did not have. Beginning with the model SX40 Canon put an arbitrary ISO (film speed) limit on the camera which severely restricts one type of photography in particular - long-exposure, low-light, nighttime photographs. They are now almost impossible to take with this line of camera, because the user can no longer select any ISO greater than 100 at any of the slower shutter speeds, not even in full manual mode. ISO 100 is a film speed (nowadays called "sensor sensitivity", but the numbers are identical) that has been traditionally used only in bright daytime photo shooting. Low light and nighttime exposures have always required faster film speeds like ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1000 or even more. Photos of that type which had always been easy to take with earlier models of this camera suddenly became almost impossible to take beginning with the SX40. Suddenly any attempt to set the shutter speed to slower than 1.3 seconds automatically reduced the camera setting to ISO 100. There was no way for the user to bypass this limit, (without resorting to a special Hacker program available on the internet called "CHDK." Watch a YouTube video on that before you decide to try it. ) There were a lot of complaints about the ISO limit on the SX40 from a lot of users (me included - see the YouTube video on "Canon SX40 ISO limits,") going on for a year now, and finally Canon has introduced the new model SX50. So here's the bad news... Canon did not take the ISO limit off this line of cameras. In fact, the ISO limit on the new SX50 is even worse. Now any attempt to drop the shutter speed under 1 second automatically drops the ISO setting to ISO 80. The user cannot change this limit, even in full manual mode. Adding to that problem, the SX50 has also reduced the widest aperture opening from f/2.7 to f/3.4. The aperture is the size of the opening that allows light to enter the camera through the lens. It is variable, and the smaller the number the larger the opening. So on the new SX50 the largest size to which you can open up the aperture to let light in has been reduced from f/2.7 to f/3.4. The result is that now it is even harder to take low-light, long-exposure, nighttime photographs with it. The current Canon SX160 with the same-sized sensor (though a CCD and not a CMOS sensor) does NOT have this arbitrary limit on it, and does very well at taking long-exposure, nighttime photographs, so I bought it too - for less than half the price of the SX50 - and I gave that one a very strong 5-star rating. Since my primary use of my cameras, however, is expressly for taking long-exposure nighttime photographs, and since there is NO TECHNICAL REASON for putting this arbitrary ISO limit on the SX50 camera (it has already been established during the previous year that it was a marketing decision) - then I'm giving this camera a 4-star rating instead of a 5-star rating. Not for what it CAN'T do, but simply for what Canon will no longer LET it do. If you want to use the camera for a similar purpose - nighttime long exposures, moonlit night scenes, deer in the garden at night, wide-angle star shots or anything similar to those themes, then this camera will not work well for you at all. I understand that the audience for that usage may well be only a small percentage of all users. Still, some users will be effected by it and they need to know. During the last year quite of few of them were pretty upset by that ISO 100 limit on the SX40, so those same users will probably like the the more restrictive ISO 80 limit on the new SX50 even less. In case there is any doubt about it, the online .pdf file for the User Manual at Canon's website clearly states on pages 150 and 152 - "With shutter speeds of 1.3 seconds or slower, ISO speed is [symbol "ISO80"] and cannot be changed." If that effects you, then now you know about it. If it doesn't effect you, then you can simply ignore this part of the review and then you may well have a lot of fun with this camera. With it's many other features I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, and that is one of the reasons I am keeping it myself - for those other features. But for $500 for a digital camera you should at least know very clearly what you will be getting for your money, ... and what you will not. Best wishes either way you decide, John

I bought this camera as a replacement for my Panasonic Lumix FZ35, which I loved until recently. The colors seem to have shifted to dingy from beautiful. We were taking a trip to Patagonia and I wanted good pics. And I got them. I have been a SLR person since the 70's, but as I get older and travel more I was done with large cameras and interchangeable lenses. But long for the end results. I think I've found a great camera that weighs just 1.5 pounds and has amazing color. I'm past wanting to adjust the aperature and speed. This camera on auto is perfect if you want really good pics with more than a little point and shoot. I've gotten great raves from my friends on the photos from Patagonia and the Straights of Maggellan. I used mainly the eyepiece viewfinder, the digital display is beautiful on the fold out viewfinder, but a little awkward. I think I probably got better battery life as well by not using it much. I did use it for awkward angles as it tilts and swivels great. But again in super bright sun the eyepiece is best. The burst shots allowed me to get some really good pics of dolphins surfacing, and birds in flight, very fast. Only a few times did I go to the menu to change settings. These cameras have come so far so fast it's amazing. It offers way more control than the average person would ever want or need. The 50X lens was so much better than I would have ever imagined. I bought it from Amazon thinking "if this isn't what I want , it's going back". It's a keeper. My only wish is that it was a little lighter, but for what you have it's totally worth lugging around and extra pound and a half. I wish I could be a techincal as some of the other reviews, but again, I'm past that. I'm going to be toting it around Asia in a few weeks, knowing that I'll come home with greats pics. I did by an extra battery. Both fit nicely in my purse while we tour around effortlessly.

I'm an amateur who has long been curious to learn more about photography. I bought this particular camera for two reasons: (1) to help promote organizations of which I'm a member by taking photos of our events, often in low-light conditions and (2) to teach myself more advanced photography through its manual controls, such as ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Surprises: Although the zoom certainly seemed nice when I bought the camera, I had not realized how useful its 50x zoom would be. (With digital enhancement, the zoom can reach 200x, but with heavy digital zoom, the image quality suffers.) I can sit in the rafters of a sporting or singing event and easily photograph the faces of the performers across a crowded gym or auditorium from me. As long as the images are with the optical zoom, they are good enough quality to be used in a newsletter or on Facebook. The zoom has also been useful to photograph wildlife. For example, I went to a lake, and while there, I was able to isolate ducks as they swam and even when they reached land. I also was able to be closer to the ducks without causing them to alter their routine. I've since learned through research that obtaining equivalent zoom functionality with a DSLR would require lenses that could cost 3-4 times as much as this camera. Various reviews, particularly on professional websites, had commented that a tripod was necessary to capture the benefits of the SX50's zoom, and I now agree. At 50x zoom, very small movements of the camera can cause you to go from watching a bird in a tree to staring a random, out-of-focus leaf on another tree. A tripod usefully reduces such opportunities for human error. I was also pleasantly surprised by the self-timer. It's not a reason to buy this particular camera, but I had not realized how useful self-timing 3 shots in a row would be, especially when I'm gathering the family for a photo on the sofa. Pros: So many of these reviews have "Pros" and "Cons," and my thoughts won't differ from those to any great extent. The biggest pro is that this is essentially a very advanced point-and-shoot camera that gives you customization options akin to a true DSLR. In this way, it is a "bridge" between the two camera categories, but you may alternatively encounter "superzoom" as describing its category in professional reviews. The photo quality is solid and the auto focus is adequate. Unlike other point-and-shoot controls that I've encountered, the on-screen controls treat you like an adult, In fact, the scroll wheel and function button are quite easy to manipulate while staring at the image through the viewfinder. Cons: The biggest con is that this is not a DSLR camera -- though it's still a very good camera. The auto focus and shutter speed can be slower than ideal when I'm trying to photograph a speaker using Auto mode, but when I switch to the Sports mode and take bursts of photos, I'm often able to capture the images that I strive for. When I read reviews, a line like that will sometimes cause me to pause and over zealously think "Oh no, I need a camera that has a faster or better X feature!" Still, provided that you aren't trying to be a professional photographer at a college football game, it's pretty good functionality. Various reviews state that the viewfinder is inadequate, and I agree that the viewfinder is subpar, especially when compared to the SX50's beautiful optical screen. Nonetheless, as a practical matter, the weak viewfinder does not cause me to take bad photographs. That is, when I photograph an object by viewing it through the viewfinder, I tend to believe that the image has some flaw in it, but often, when I look at the photograph on a computer or through the screen, the image looks quite good despite the sometimes unclear quality displayed in the viewfinder. I credit the auto focus with making me come across as a better photographer than I actually am. Fulfilling My Motivations to Purchase: Earlier, I mentioned my two primary motivations to purchase. As to photographing events, the camera does so well. I've even discovered that the zoom, particularly at a setting like 75mm-100mm equivalent, has a nice effect of flattening the image and improving the appearance of the subjects (though that's not a phenomenon unique to this camera). In low light, the camera distinguishes itself from a typical point-and-shoot camera. Again, it's not going to create miracles and I've seen DSLRs do better, but for an amateur photographer like me using it for promotion of my organizations and family photos, I'm satisfied with the results. As to teaching me more about photography, it really is a fun camera to use because it has a serious side that treats me like an adult. I've gone the EasyShare route with two cameras that used icons to suggest particular functionality, and the Canon SX50 has similar icons for preprogrammed functionality without being limited to those. I really like how the camera has hands-on features that let me bypass those preprogrammed settings. In particular, I have experimented with ISO and shutter speed settings. The scroll wheel in combination with the menu screens is fairly intuitive to use. As a result, I have a much better understanding of digital photography than before I bought the camera. Conclusion: In reviewing, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between my own ineffectiveness with photography and true limitations with the camera. Nonetheless, it's clear that this is a good camera that satisfies my needs, and I'm able to take better photographs than friends who have DSLRs but don't know how to use them. When I some day buy a new camera, it must, at a minimum, have the functionality present in this camera. More likely, I will purchase a DSLR and will research that purchase based on what I have learned from using the SX 50 during my ownership of it.

I hauled off & bought a Nikon L810 in January 2013. I got the Nikon & was okay happy about it until I used the Video & discovered the blurry + zoom it had. I also noticed that the Shutter Button wasn't "acting right" & all of a sudden, it stopped working altogether. So back in the box it all went, I sent for a Refund & good ol' Amazon was MORE than willing to give me a full refund. The next day it left my home & when I went back to look at other models, I decided I was NOT going to limit myself to a mere $200-250 price tag. I stepped up my budget and BOY am I ever glad I did! I saw this Canon SX50 & went to You Tube, looking at all the Reviews and demonstrations of the camera & it's 50X zoom. I splurged and put this SX50 on my Amazon.com Store Card. Believe me now & hear me later, I looked at EVERY single bridge camera out on the market in the span of a month and the SX50 is THE best deal going....could it have a 16MP on it, sure; but you'll not miss it, the pixs on this camera are just fine. I got the camera yesterday & I am ALREADY thrilled and can't WAIT to get to CA in March and try it out on the Auto Club Speedway!! This zoom is INCREDIBLE, the camera is sturdy, the functions are MANY but almost idiot-proof....I hate having to "study" a manual on anything, but this camera's functions are straight forward and almost make sense the way they are programmed into the camera and set up to guide the owner thru taking pictures or videos. No more dragging the manual out EVERY time you go to take an unusual picture or video,.....the instructions make it pretty safe to bet your pix will be good. If you're curious about the bridge cameras, go to You Tube, you find out ALL you want to know about this little gems. I paid $403 for mine, it's already gone down to $399 and might go down more, I have probably already sold at least 3 of these for Amazon! The filters, hood, adapters, accessories and cases are cheap enough here, or on Ebay...you do not have to be rich to HAVE a good bridge camera. You don't have to be a semi or pro photographer, this camera will walk you thru everything. The CD w/ apps and manual is easy to read and the manual is easy enuff to pull up anytime. I used to take LOTS of photos for my work & personal use with my old Yashica FX-2 & this Canon is the closest thing to my old faithful 35mm I have found yet, unless I wanted to spend the megabucks for a DSLR. Don't hesitate, if you want a good bridge camera and have $400, this is the best one to date. There's only Pros on my Review; I guess if I just HAVE to gripe about something, it would be that you don't get a USB cord in the box. I'm a happy camper, this is gonna be it for awhile, it's all I'll need unless I leave it on the roof of my car someday. ;) JK! Not gonna happen, love this camera.

My wife and I are birders and are always on the look for a camera with great zooming ability that is still sufficiently light to carry. We have owned Canon's prior model, the SX40, for just 2 months and loved it. When the SX50 came out, we were tempted, but skeptical about the faster auto focus and the additional zooming ability. We decided to give it a try. The verdict: Canon managed to noticeably improve on an already excellent product, and we bit the bullet and bought the new model. Here are our observations: General impression: the camera is light, has a nice grip, and takes amazing bird pictures even with free hands. The image quality further improves with the aid of a light tripod. When it comes to landscape pictures, the image is less ideal (less sharp) comparing to those taken by Canon S95, a compact camera we own. So our solution is to carry both cameras (both are so light) if we want to have excellent pictures for birding/wild life and landscape. Below is a direct comparison between SX50 and SX40: Auto focus: It really is much faster and more reliable than the SX40's. This is a big deal, particularly for taking pictures of birds. 1200mm zoom: This sounds too good to be true for free-hand shooting with a compact camera and in a way it is. At some point cropping yields better results than zooming. So I was skeptical whether SX50's extra zooming ability would really add any value compared to the SX40. Some extensive testing revealed that the SX50 performs equally well as the SX40 at the same (840mm) zoom level. When zooming in further, there is some additional resolution (sharper image) compared to cropping. However, the added value is small and disappears in all but at the very best lighting conditions. Aperture: The aperture numbers are less than stellar: 3.4W-6.5T. Keep in mind though that at 1200mm poor aperture numbers are simply a fact of life. Also worth mentioning: At around 840mm, the aperture is the same as the SX40's, so no loss there. That being said, I would not recommend using this camera except for its amazing zooming ability. In the standard or wide angle range most any compact camera will deliver better results than the SX50. In summary, the SX50 is an amazing camera if used for the special purpose that it is good for. This includes birding, wild life photography, and anything else that really needs zooming in to the max. However, this is not an all-purpose camera. If your main need is to take amazing landscape pictures, other compact cameras would be a better option. (For higher quality images, we use Canon S95 or 5D depending on weight restrictions). Worth mentioning: Before we purchased our SX40, we also tested Nikon P510. SX40 outperformed P510 in auto focus (speed & reliability) and picture quality (sharpness). Useful accessories to greatly improve image quality: - Sirui T-1204X: ultra lightweight and super sturdy tripod, essential to keep the ISO low. SIRUI 4 Section Pro Carbon Fiber Tripod T1204x with Professional Travel Bag - Sirui G-10 ball head: lightweight and smooth. Total weight with the T-1204X is about 2.5lb SIRUI G-10 29mm Ballhead with Quick Release, 40 lbs Load Capacity - Canon remote switch: to avoid shaking caused by pushing the shutter release button. Canon Remote Switch RS60 E3

This is definitely not your DSLR camera, but it does take good quality images. It is perfect for those who want to step up from point and shoot but are not willing to shell out 500+ for a DSLR and lenses. We went to the DC Cherry Blossom festival and took several pictures using only autosettings. We also tried the full zoom out aswell. Several of the images came out really well. The colors were vibrant and popping in the sun. Without the sun, the images were slightly washed out. The details in the images were awesome. Also the full zoom on the camera is something else. It was fun to zoom across the lake and be able to see what people were doing at the steps of a building far away. The auto settings sometimes tend to zoom in on the background when you really try to focus on the foreground. There are also times where it just does not know where to focus at all since there are too many things going on with the image. I'll upload some pictures to show examples of this. Before purchasing this camera, we took a look at the Panasonic Lumix FZ200K, Fujifilm Finepix hs30exr, nikon coolpix p510 and canon rebel T3 (Entry level DSLR). From the images on Amazon, we narrowed it down to the SX50, FZ200k, and rebel T3. We went to the store and played around with the rebel T3. Although the image quality for it was excellent, there was hardly any zoom with the 18-55mm lense (the standard lense that came with the camera). It would have been another additional $200-$400 on lenses if we wanted to get that camera. So we were down to FZ200k and SX50. This was a very very hard decision. Luckly, we found a website which helped us select the SX50 over the FZ200k. Google "panasonic fz200k review" and it is the 6th link from cameralabs. There is definitely a slight learning curve with this camera coming from a straight point and shoot. However, I think the autofocus does a good job of allowing people the flexibility of taking normal everyday pictures. The other options definitely gives those willing to experiment a wider capability. I've only used this camera extensively for one day, but i'm sure to try out other features with this camera and report back.

Excellent camera, excellent service, fast shipping, all is perfect

I love this camera. Thanks

As new - pity no manual

I am a birdwatcher and find this an excellent camera for wildlife photography. Love the 50X zoom !

I returned this camera. It was defective and I could see the zooming lens was glued to the camera. This was sold by a third party