Having ended some quite convoluted adventures in selling my SX50 last April, buying a new SX60 two weeks ago, returning the SX60 to the store, buying a new SX50 only to discover it was one of the 14,000 recalled by Canon for zinc-whitening in the rubber around the viewfinder, and finally replacing it with a perfect SX50—yikes!—I went out yesterday and made my acquaintance with my new SX50 friend.
These were my very very first four pictures. All just JPGs, and zero editing of any sort.
For the good folk who've endured my concerns up and down on these forums.
A most auspicious #0001 with my new Canon SX50; such Troglodytes are quick and tiny, but this Pacific Wren made my day. These pictures are taken in Vancouver, Canada. All uncropped JPGs with no editing at all.
The second was actually a video of the wren, so my second still-picture is numbered 0003. A male Wood Duck asked me if I'd like a bit of surreal bokeh, so to be polite I didn't refuse. He was just relaxing there on the edge of reality. As are we all.
My new camera's third picture was an ordinary Mallard on an ordinary algal bloom at Lost Lagoon. Just another snapshot. A trifle soft, but so is he.
Well, what do you expect from a bridge camera? My Canon SX50's main purpose in life is photographing feathers. But a bridge camera is a bridge camera, and so I wasn't going to say No to its propensity to have a little fun. You know what I like about this picture? The reflection is, well—in the wrong place. As it was in real life. I think I identified with it.
So those were my brand new SX50's first four JPGs. Wanna see more from the same roll? (Oops. I used to use film cameras.)
Now the going gets tougher. Let's extend our walk into the forest. This first one in the Stanley Park woods is not very good, and the foreground is wrong; but this is much tougher lighting, too. Here is where RAW could be good, although all these are just JPGs with no editing at all. Even in RAW, I personally would do everything I could to "tell it as it is."
Easier ordinary photo. Notice as we go along that I had set my C1 to spot focus and my ISO max to 640. I didn't have a lot of latitude left for my Canon SX50, which was having to work for its living, now.
I like this picture because the Bald Eagle and his sofa are both so rough and craggly. I think I'd like to sit up there too. I'm 68 and I'm very craggly, myself. Okay, no digital zoom allowed on my C1 settings. This is as far away as optical could do it.
So let's try a computer-crop. This is from the picture above, keeping the aspect ratio. I include this one as folk like to ponder whether to use digital-zoom or simply to do a lossless crop on their computer later on. Same-same but different. Yes, I know these photos can have their colours brought to life in any editor. But I wanted to show them to you "Before"; not "After".
God made these superb Broadleaf Maple leaves just a few months ago, and now they are falling apart. Maybe there's something I don't know; maybe God has a plan. I hope so, because otherwise I'm in trouble.
This is a pretty picture looking down Rawling's Trail, but it was pretty hard to take. The sun is shining almost in front of me. I wasn't going to change my spot-focus, either, as I wanted to try these settings out as I'd set them in C1.
"What in the world is this guy trying to DO with me?" implored my SX50. But this Song Sparrow pic is important: I go to Costa Rica and attempt the same kind of pictures with birds with whom I'm much less familiar. This photo is a "Grab", a photography form close to my heart. It is a tough capture. This is why the spot-focus. Detail is set to max in Custom Colours, also part of my C1 config.
Our pride-and-joy Surf Scoters will over-winter here. They dive for mussels, and the remnant mussel-shells impart a purplish colour to Vancouver beach sands. Unlike the container ships, the scoters travel in perfect harmony with the natural planet's beautiful systems. I don't think they even carry cameras.
Scoters are not afraid of noisy boats with motors, but the whole flock will take off when a kayak quietly approaches. If you live in Vancouver, and you like kayaking, please don't cause this; these guys are losing their habitat anyway, and they really did want their breakfast.
An easy snapshot of a Song Sparrow, same species we saw earlier. The earlier picture is by far the "better photograph" despite this one showing the bird better.
Lastly, another Wood Duck, shaking out his tail. Okay, we're going home now.
There were many other pictures; I took just over 80 and three short videos "on that roll of film." My Canon SX50, as I've often said, is not the very best camera for every purpose, but it is the camera I have with me, and the best camera in the world is the one you have with you. Feels like a friend.
Thanks for looking. I usually just use FastStone to heighten contrast and so on, although FastStone itself is a very sophisticated image editor. As I have emphasized, all of these (except the one crop in the middle) are without anything at all being changed: straight out of the camera. I'm not trying to impress anyone; I want to simply show some snapshots as the camera sees things.
With thanks to God for providing settings, substances, aesthetics, oxygen, and such; Canon for providing technology; and various birds and trees for posing.
