My first few days with the SX70

[PGH423]

Overall, I love the camera but I thought I'd share my struggles and successes below. I love the zoom range and EVF. Being able to see the processed image while shooting is great.

Day 1 I took pictures of Pittsburgh's La Roche University. The sky was beautiful. When I got home and put the images on my computer, I discovered that I blew out many highlights (now I know to look for this when shooting - something I never bothered with on the SL2). I also discovered that my old version of Lightroom won't recognize the SX70's raw files. With post-processing and cropping, I salvaged some images. Here is one. It is heavily cropped. You can see at the top where the highlights began to be blown out.





I then went to the National Aviary. I discovered that it's hard to shoot at the very long end of the telephoto handheld because slight movement really changes the composition. Here is my favorite shot.





Another bird shot - this one from a local park





I found that the images nearing sunset were unusable due to low light. I was shooting in AV mode though. I'm thinking if I had gone to manual mode and used longer exposures, the results might have been better. Has anyone here tried this and gotten adequate handheld sunset/low light results (even if not shooting raw)?

I later took some day time city pictures. At this point, I think I was really starting to get the hang of the camera. I love the ultra wide angle.

 

[PGH423]

Here's an example of a disappointing sunset picture. It's not terrible but it's inferior to what my iPhone was capturing (especially the lack of recoverable shadow detail). I realize low light wide angle is not what people buy this camera for though. I've put the original and my edit below. Maybe shooting raw would have helped.

 

[John McCormack]

With a small sensor camera I'd try Handheld Night Scene mode in the Scene menu, though you won't have any control over exposure settings. Or, bracket the shots and process them in an HDR program like NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 or other. You can still find the free version of NIK software by checking around the web.

Here's an example of a disappointing sunset picture. It's not terrible but it's inferior to what my iPhone was capturing (especially the lack of recoverable shadow detail). I realize low light wide angle is not what people buy this camera for though. I've put the original and my edit below. Maybe shooting raw would have helped.

 

[DonA2]

Some nice shots and as you know this is not a DSLR but a very good all-in-one package. I too just received my new SX70 and beginning to appreciate it's good points. There are a few downers but actually getting fewer. Going from the SX40 / 50 was a challenge but getting less so. I downloaded the latest firmware and image transfer for WiFi uploads but wireless is not to my liking. Ordered the USB cable which should have been included.

I do not favor RAW on such a camera although some will strongly disagree. The KISS principle works well with these small sensor super zoomers. I almost always set it on P mode, dial in -1/3 EC except in bright sun when -2/3 helps with the narrow DR. That is a problem but no more than older SX models.

Copy variance can be hit and miss with any mass produce item and mine seems to fall somewhere in passable to good. As I shoot more there seems to be some improvement so shooting a lot, deleting more does help with IQ. The handling is super good as is the EVF. The menu takes some getting used to but now I do like it. Just my experiences so far.

 

[sueanne]

Nice and thanks for sharing

Overall, I love the camera but I thought I'd share my struggles and successes below. I love the zoom range and EVF. Being able to see the processed image while shooting is great.

Day 1 I took pictures of Pittsburgh's La Roche University. The sky was beautiful. When I got home and put the images on my computer, I discovered that I blew out many highlights (now I know to look for this when shooting - something I never bothered with on the SL2). I also discovered that my old version of Lightroom won't recognize the SX70's raw files. With post-processing and cropping, I salvaged some images. Here is one. It is heavily cropped. You can see at the top where the highlights began to be blown out.



I then went to the National Aviary. I discovered that it's hard to shoot at the very long end of the telephoto handheld because slight movement really changes the composition. Here is my favorite shot.



Another bird shot - this one from a local park



I found that the images nearing sunset were unusable due to low light. I was shooting in AV mode though. I'm thinking if I had gone to manual mode and used longer exposures, the results might have been better. Has anyone here tried this and gotten adequate handheld sunset/low light results (even if not shooting raw)?

I later took some day time city pictures. At this point, I think I was really starting to get the hang of the camera. I love the ultra wide angle.

--
----------------------------
regards,
sue anne

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/15275633203_5a11b83f46.jpg

 

[PGH423]

Handheld night scene worked pretty well. It produced some usable sunset images. For some, the loss of shadow detail was too great but others were workable. Here's one of the better ones (original SOC followed by version edited in Lightroom). Thanks for the suggestion.

With a small sensor camera I'd try Handheld Night Scene mode in the Scene menu, though you won't have any control over exposure settings. Or, bracket the shots and process them in an HDR program like NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 or other. You can still find the free version of NIK software by checking around the web.

Here's an example of a disappointing sunset picture. It's not terrible but it's inferior to what my iPhone was capturing (especially the lack of recoverable shadow detail). I realize low light wide angle is not what people buy this camera for though. I've put the original and my edit below. Maybe shooting raw would have helped.

 

[Eagle1effi]

Handheld night scene worked pretty well. It produced some usable sunset images. For some, the loss of shadow detail was too great but others were workable. Here's one of the better ones (original SOC followed by version edited in Lightroom). Thanks for the suggestion.

With a small sensor camera I'd try Handheld Night Scene mode in the Scene menu, though you won't have any control over exposure settings. Or, bracket the shots and process them in an HDR program like NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 or other. You can still find the free version of NIK software by checking around the web.

Here's an example of a disappointing sunset picture. It's not terrible but it's inferior to what my iPhone was capturing (especially the lack of recoverable shadow detail). I realize low light wide angle is not what people buy this camera for though. I've put the original and my edit below. Maybe shooting raw would have helped.

Fine use of Nighshot Mode.

Use Selfie Mode for Sunset or Sunrise.

Info button for brightness and skin Mode.

Skin mode means noise is very low.

Live view while changing brightness.

Rise flash so DEFOCUS is deactivated.

Even in low Light Selfie Mode is excellent.

Flash goes up to 1/2000 if speed is detacted.

Focus in cludes all modes.

Face AF and tracking.

Flash can set on or off.

Good LUCK.

PS

Useable from Macro to moon without any changing.

Prefocus with half Click to compose.

Prefocus again if the point of focus is not yours.

Panning the Camera to your focus point or zoom.

Half Click for prefocus and click through.

Hold breath and camera calm cause the mode takes Two shots.

Then the new SX70 Camera is busy.

90% i use this mode!



Effi

 

[Stephen McDonald]

Your auto-exposure was what darkened the photo. The bright sky was at the center of the scene and caused the aperture to tighten. If you use spot metering and focusing, put the square on an area just off the bright sky, so it gives you the exposure you want, half-click to lock it, then re-frame where you want and fully click the shutter.

 

[DonA2]

Your auto-exposure was what darkened the photo. The bright sky was at the center of the scene and caused the aperture to tighten. If you use spot metering and focusing, put the square on an area just off the bright sky, so it gives you the exposure you want, half-click to lock it, then re-frame where you want and fully click the shutter.

Absolutely! Far too much tweaking those dials and menu items then trying to correct in post. Sometimes I think these P&S cameras should just have a shutter button. ;-)