SX50 vs. SX60 - My thoughts (pics, too)

Tom Verrinder wrote:

I shot 50,000 images with my SX 50, and have so far shot about 2000 on the SX 70 over two weekends (we are birders, so IQ is all important).

My summary so far: the SX 70 is by far the better camera to shoot, with a far better autofocus, continuous drive, and buffering (among other bells and whistles). It just leads to a much smoother shooting experience.

Right.  The SX70 has most everything going for it except JPEG SOOTC IQ.  Oh, the missing hot shoe was absolutely unforgivable.  Otherwise the basic camera is close to perfect.

However, the RAW images from the SX 70 processed as best I can using DPP are often worse in terms of IQ than the S00C JPEGs that the SX 50 could produce. With a little bit of postprocessing, the SX 50 JPEGs can be exceptional.

I recently tried RAW but gave up on DPP as virtually unfathomable.   I found Picasa will process CRW / CR2 Canon Raw images and gave it a try.  There is a slight improvement over edited JPEG in IQ.  Very slight, but any gain is a bonus.

I have produced exactly one truly good picture of a bird with the SX 70. I have even resorted to shooting videos of birds in 4K and taking still captures from the videos, which often turn out better than the still pictures the same camera produces.

Now that's dedication!  Never would have thought of that.  The bottom line is why should this be necessary?  This is basically a stills camera.   Some very good IQ images have been posted on this forum as proof the SX70 can produce good images.  Some of this can be due to  the operator and some to manufacturing tolerances. (luck). Also most all are very close up even when fully zoomed in.  A bit of downsizing plays a part in looking sharp.  Not to take away from the samples.  They are very good.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed with the newer camera.

With practice, perseverance and dogged determination you will get to like this cam,era.  That's what I keep telling myself.