Just joined the SX50 club (+ small rant)
Feb 22, 2016
4
Ok, a bit of background first. My main camera has been the 6D for quite some time now, but I enjoy carrying with me something that I can easily fit in a small bag/pocket.
My first attempt was the EOS-M, the very first one. I got it at an incredibly low price last year because most people were very upset about the Af. I thought that for the kind of images that I take (95% is landscape, architecture and random people who don't move fast) it would have been good enough, but I was wrong. I reluctantly sold it (loved the image quality), and tried M43.
While I'm happy overall with my M43 gear, having to carry with me multiple lenses often defeats the purpose of convenience, and getting a single long zoom would hurt portability.
Last week I found a guy on a FB group who was selling an SX50 at a very low price. Really low. I decided to give it a try. The first thing that I noticed is that it was set for low quality jpegs, and if the previous owner was using that all the time I know why he decided to sell it.
I've only spent a short time taking pictures with it, mostly in my computer room and from my balcony. Image quality is a bit above what I was expecting, but the Af is MILES above what I was expecting. I couldn't believe it when I managed to take a shot of a bird flying in front of my building.
So far I'm very happy with the results from the SX50, but it left me wondering: how could Canon make such a good Af for a cheap bridge camera, and then mess it up so badly one year later on the Eos-M? I know they're different systems, but come on. With the SX50 I can focus on flying birds, with the original Eos-M I couldn't even take a picture of a dog turning his head around.
Now I'll be curious to see the SX70 in the future, as I'm not particularly impressed by the SX60.