SX50 and SX60 and a minor Cosmic Curve

Background: I had an SX50 for 15 months, loved it, took a zillion pictures with it, and then sold it to a good friend.

But my new SX60 and I have not been getting along too well. The SX60 has been sitting right on the line in terms of my returning it.

My first-ever SX60 photo, unedited. Nice view, nice wide-angle, (very) poor definition, especially for a wide-angle, which should be razor sharp.

Second photo, same-same but different. The seawall was made by people; the trees are courtesy of God. But Douglas-firs, Western Red Cedars, Broadleaf Maples and so on, have sharp outlines against the sky. My SX60 shows distinctly indistinct detail, smudgy against the sky. Later settings-tweaking  has helped, but my old SX50 would have done this better.

So, deciding I'd better grab an SX50 while Future Shop had a few left at $300, I did that this morning.

This was my "insurance" against my SX60, in case I decided to take it back.

But there were no new SX50s at Future Shop, so I took an Open-Box.

Brought it home today, opened the box, and immediately—right away, it was so obvious—I saw the very conspicuous whitened rubber guard around the electronic viewfinder. I'd never seen one of these before, but I knew it was the zinc health hazard glitch* that had caused Canon to recall many SX50s last April.

Oh, No.

So I sort of have my new SX50, but I sort of don't. I can get it repaired free if I send it across the country, but sending it will cost me a bunch. Or I can return it to Future Shop, but I don't know how long I'd have to wait (forever?) before new SX50s come in.

I knew I should have looked at the Open-Box camera in the store, but that's not the problem. My choices would have been the same as they are now.

So I feel as though I'm at Square Zero or a bit lower. I'll phone the Future Shop sales manager tomorrow. I hate to return the SX50, but paying to ship a camera I've never used, across Canada. . . ?

Okay, it is funny. I'm not taking it too seriously, but, gee WHIZ. A friend tells me maybe the Cosmos is suggesting something to me.

*The zinc recall is detailed in dp Review at http://www.dpreview.com/articles/9253812727/canon-recalls-about-14-000-powershot-sx50-cameras