SX50 Mini-Review Take Three - SX50 (and SX40) When the Light Goes Down

Vision,

A nice set of reviews and your patience in responding to each of the posters was commendable as well.

I've had a long list of superzoom cameras over the years, starting with the S3IS.  After being disappointed with the SX10IS, I tried the Panasonic line beginning with the FZ28 and on through the FZ35, FZ150 and FZ200.  I've since sold the FZ200 and moved back to the FZ150 because of issues with high ISO noise and the processing firmware.

I find interesting the different approaches that Canon and Panasonic have taken in these two lines.  Where Canon went to 1200 mm (equivalent) and a relatively slow lens, Panasonic kept the 600 mm focal length; but tried a constant f/2.8 aperture.  In my opinion, Panasonic took a step backward in the processing and firmware department and spoiled an otherwise wonderful camera.  While it's apparent from your tests that Canon have taken a good sized step forward in the same area and made the much slower lens work.  2 stops in aperture is a lot to overcome; but Canon seems to have pulled it off.

In a related issue, I make it a practice to map out the maximum aperture Vs equivalent focal length for all my cameras and plot the results on semi-log paper.  I'm a retired engineer and once a techie, always a techie.  I plot F# on the linear vertical axis at 1" per f stop - aperture decreasing in the upward direction, and focal length on the log axis.  Many cameras plot close to a straight line on these axes; but the super zooms seldom do, and particularly the newer ones with the very long focal lengths.  What I have noted about Canon designs is that starting with the SX10IS, the F# increases rather rapidly with increasing focal length and then flattens out at a rather small aperture and then increases gradually out to the maximum focal length.  So the Canon lenses get to smaller apertures quite quickly and then are quite slow over most of the rest of the range.  Panasonic lenses do the opposite.  The aperture changes slowly with increasing focal length, and pretty much on a straight line, until near maximum focal length when the aperture decreases rapidly over the last part of the range.  My FZ150 is f/2.8-5.2 from 25-600 mm; but is f/2.8-4 from 25-300 mm; and my FZ28 was f/2.8-3.7 from 27 to 420 mm.

My point here is that if you need the longest focal lengths for birding or wildlife subjects, you have to accept the slower lens.  But if you use the camera for general use and don't need the longer focal length, then there are other choices with a significantly faster lens over a shorter focal length range.

--
Jerry