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

I'll keep this short and sweet... Why would this semi-pro photographer/graphic designer buy this plasticky, consumer camera when he already has a Canon 5D Mark II with lots of good "L" glass with decent reach (up to 300 mm). Well there are three reasons: FIRST and most important, the REACH of this little camera is AMAZING! I took a photo of a turkey vulture walking about 25 feet away from the driver's seat of my car through the rolled-down passenger window (I'll upload it to Amazon). Even from that distance, the amount of detail was amazing! There is no way I could have gotten that shot with my 300 mm lens on my SLR. Heck, even if I owned a 800 mm lens that costs $12,000, I still couldn't get that shot because 1) I could even lift that lens, 2) there's no way I could maneuver that lens inside my car, and 3) I couldn't hold that lens steady because I would be crying because I dumped $12,000 on a lens. 1200 mm lens for $400 bucks! Amazing! SECOND reason: BOKEH! Bokeh is the background blur produced by a lens. That why folks like SLR cameras--the big sensors allow lenses to be produced that can be opened wide open to produce those artsy portraits with blurred out backgrounds. The problem with small sensors on consumer cameras is that the physics of everything makes it difficult to produce ANY decent bokeh. However, because the Canon SX50 has such an amazingly long zoom, it can produce some decent background blur. Is it as good as my SLR with a 50mm 1.4 lens? No way! My SLR with good lens produced a MUCH smoother backgrounds. But the Canon SX50 isn't bad considering how small the sensor is. Not bad at all! Actually, it's sort of a miracle that a sensor this small can produce ANY background blur! THIRD, there are MANY times where I really wished that I had my camera, but I didn't because it's a pain to lug around my SLR with a big lens. So I have plenty of missed opportunities. About two weeks ago, a bald eagle landed on the cross on top of my church. And the morning light was perfect! How I wished that I had my SLR with long lens! But I would have looked like a dork for bringing that setup to church. The only camera I had was my iPhone. Suffice to say, the iPhone was worthless and the eagle looked like a tiny dot. However, if I had a Canon SX50 with me, I'm sure that I would have bagged some amazing shots. Since the SX50 is so small, I will be carrying this camera with me at all times. No more miss shots for me! Being a good photographer has a lot to do with being at the right place at the right time (but even that doesn't help unless you have some decent gear on you). So that's it. The SX50 is just another tool in the bag. I'm still using my SLR/big lenses. Now I have more options (and I'll still be able to feed the family). UPDATE 3/21/13 Amazing reach! This past weekend, I went on a boat tour on the St. John's River in Florida. I had both my Canon 5D Mark II with 300mm lens and the SX50. We came across two Barred Owls and the SLR with 300mm lens simply did not have enough reach. So I got out the SX50 and got some terrific photos. The reaction time of the SX50 simply cannot compare with the SLR (so I had to take lots of shots to make sure that I had a few keepers). And there is no question that photos with the SX50 have more grain--the SLR does much better in low light. But I'll take some grain for better reach any day! Great tool to have beside my SLR.

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.

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