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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Canon SX60HS in Action (3 Viewers)

marcobf said:
One thing I forgot to mention is that the picture always looks better in the viewfinder before the capture than it does afterwards. I'm not sure if this is normal or a sign that the sensor is somehow faulty. Is this the case for anyone else?

Yes, everytime, unless your literally a few feet from the subject. I posted ages ago about the viewfinder image looking better when taking moon shots. Does the same for alot of BiF shots too...shame really, coz if the images looked that good then everyone would be happy
I guess I got used to ignoring this problem, my previous camera had the same problem, particularly if you use exposure compensation. Suppose because of that I watch the results more than the current view.
 
I just checked my camera, and I leave Safety Shift *on*. The in-camera help says it will only over-ride exposure, not shutter speed. Given that I leave ISO and aperture to the camera, this is kinda redundant anyway.

I've never had the camera second-guess the shutter speed in Tv mode, even on overcast days--it stays set where I set it. So no idea how you're doing that, since "shutter priority" mode on a camera is suppose to let you lock the shutter speed, that's the whole point.

Not sure if it matters but:

--I have ISO limited to 1600 max (my first time out I did tests and beyond that the noise becomes unacceptable)
--I use AF Point for the auto exposure point
--Servo AF
--Continuous AF
--Center-Weighted metering
--I haven't been paying attention to the color of the rectangle much (oops!), but it's been blue or white to my recollection
--I really haven't been watching the aperture and ISO colors, leaving it up to the camera (some day, when I try to control more than shutter speed...)
--I do have the on-screen/on-viewfinder histogram displaying, for those times when I have the time to pay attention while shooting

When I read this early this morning I grabbed a shot out of the window, right after first light, in TV mode. Had shutter speed set to 1/640 and the camera chose 1/5. Had to run, but when I got home I took a shot (without changing any settings) and the camera chose 1/400. Have to run again, but later I'll pursue this some more. Either the SX50 operates differently from the SX60 or I have an aberrant camera, or......I've managed to so confuse it, it's concluded I don't know what I'm doing and took over....
 
When I read this early this morning I grabbed a shot out of the window, right after first light, in TV mode. Had shutter speed set to 1/640 and the camera chose 1/5. Had to run, but when I got home I took a shot (without changing any settings) and the camera chose 1/400. Have to run again, but later I'll pursue this some more. Either the SX50 operates differently from the SX60 or I have an aberrant camera, or......I've managed to so confuse it, it's concluded I don't know what I'm doing and took over....

OK, I resorted to desperate measures.......actually looked in the manual, ugh.
Page 151; "To avoid exposure problems in Tv and Av modes, you can have the camera automatically adjust the shutter speed or aperture value, even when standard exposure cannot otherwise be obtained."
Whew, thought I was losing my marbles....and I don't have many left!|8.|
 
OK, I resorted to desperate measures.......actually looked in the manual, ugh.
Page 151; "To avoid exposure problems in Tv and Av modes, you can have the camera automatically adjust the shutter speed or aperture value, even when standard exposure cannot otherwise be obtained."
Whew, thought I was losing my marbles....and I don't have many left!|8.|
Is this for the SX50 or the SX60?

The marbles problem, yeah, I can relate.
 
Decided that Great-crested Grebes have frankly disgusting-looking feet and Mallards are actually quite beautiful.....and Coots, well, it's the attitude I love about 'em!

grebe greatcrested.JPGmallard.JPGcoot.JPG
 
Is this for the SX50 or the SX60?

The marbles problem, yeah, I can relate.

Oops, sorry to confuse the issue....the quote's from the SX50 manual. Mentioned the safety switch here cause Kawwauser's SX60 seemed to be choosing shutter speeds different from what he selected. Maybe he'll let us know if turning it off had any effect.
 
I'm guessing this works a bit different on the SX60. Per the manual (not the one with the camera, but the downloadable PDF), see the image attached.

I'm pretty sure even in Tv mode you can set ISO and/or aperture manually as well. But shutter speed is the priority, which means the camera leaves this alone, regardless. This is how other cameras I've used work...the Shutter Priority considers the shutter value untouchable by the camera's logic.

Based on my experience with the SX60, the manual reads that if Safety Shift is ON, and in Tv, then even if you also adjust ISO or aperture, the camera might change those values.

If the camera is in Av, then manually setting the ISO or shutter speed might get over-ridden.

And this is exactly what I would expect. I would not expect the camera to try to second-guess the shutter speed in Tv mode, or aperture in Av mode...that would make no sense (because then Safety Shift would be almost the same as using P mode and REALLY tough to predict results).

It should be noted the SX60 considers exposure compensation (EV) "sacred" at least in Tv as well: it has never changed the EV on me, even when it resulted in shots too dark and despite Safety Shift. So basically in "Tv + Safety Shift", shutter speed and exposure compensation are never touched.
 

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More images added to my Gallery from the SX60.

As is my typical approach, I'm using ETTR (Expose To The Right) to avoid clipping highlights, and using exposure compensation (EV) to do that.

Next time out I think I'm going to "graduate" from setting the shutter and EV and letting the camera do the rest, to setting shutter and ISO and see if I can avoid using EV (still let the camera set aperture). I found some good tips for a amateur like me on how to go about doing that.

Will turn-off Safety Shift to guarantee that the ISO setting is mine.
 

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I'm guessing this works a bit different on the SX60. Per the manual (not the one with the camera, but the downloadable PDF), see the image attached.

I'm pretty sure even in Tv mode you can set ISO and/or aperture manually as well. But shutter speed is the priority, which means the camera leaves this alone, regardless. This is how other cameras I've used work...the Shutter Priority considers the shutter value untouchable by the camera's logic.

Based on my experience with the SX60, the manual reads that if Safety Shift is ON, and in Tv, then even if you also adjust ISO or aperture, the camera might change those values.

If the camera is in Av, then manually setting the ISO or shutter speed might get over-ridden.

And this is exactly what I would expect. I would not expect the camera to try to second-guess the shutter speed in Tv mode, or aperture in Av mode...that would make no sense (because then Safety Shift would be almost the same as using P mode and REALLY tough to predict results).

It should be noted the SX60 considers exposure compensation (EV) "sacred" at least in Tv as well: it has never changed the EV on me, even when it resulted in shots too dark and despite Safety Shift. So basically in "Tv + Safety Shift", shutter speed and exposure compensation are never touched.

Maybe I've lost more marbles that I realize, but.... I can't see why the two cameras wouldn't operate the same way in TV mode, since the excerpt you posted from the SX60 manual about the safety shift function, reads exactly the same as that in the SX50 manual.
In TV mode with safety shift "on," the SX50 will choose a lower shutter speed if there's not enough available light, BUT, it still prioritizes shutter speed over other parameters, as evidenced by the two photos in this link; https://www.flickr.com/photos/127980272@N06/sets/72157649920302528/

I took these shots of the same bird, back-to-back this afternoon in fading light. The first was taken in TV mode (safety shift on) with a selected speed of 1/320s. The camera overrode my selection and chose a speed of 1/100s, with ISO 1600.
I then switched to P mode and the camera chose a shutter speed of 1/40s with ISO 800. The two photos were taken just seconds apart, under identical conditions, but a much faster shutter speed was used in TV mode than in Program mode, proving that the camera was still prioritizing shutter speed, even as it overrode my poor choice of one. (Exif data can be seen by clicking "show exif," then scrolling down.)

I'm actually glad the SX50 operates this way, cause it enables me to use shutter speed priority without worrying that I'm going to miss a shot fiddling with settings after I select too high a speed, or the light changes suddenly. I know DSLRs don't behave this way, but I think most superzooms are geared more toward idiots like me than experienced photographers.
 
More examples. The Heron in particular if you're look at distance capabilities.
 

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Odd....hmm. Lemme try again.
 

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Hi Kevin, you are really getting some good images. Your focal length on the Heron shows 247mm did you have it at 1.6x or 2x? How far away do you think you were?
 
I wish I knew if these nice photos would be as good as the SX50 at max optical. It's still at the max that I primarily shoot. Has anyone seen any news whether the first shipments actually had flaws?
 
I wish I knew if these nice photos would be as good as the SX50 at max optical. It's still at the max that I primarily shoot. Has anyone seen any news whether the first shipments actually had flaws?

Crazy, Marcobf got his early copy back from the shop, and was going to try to get together with an SX50 owner to answer exactly that question. I'm very curious too......
 
Crazy, Marcobf got his early copy back from the shop, and was going to try to get together with an SX50 owner to answer exactly that question. I'm very curious too......

I really want it to turn out that at max optical the SX60 can at least equal the SX50 for image quality and stability. I got myself nothing but some new socks for Xmas, but for a card from my wife saying I can get myself an expensive toy once I know what I want.
 
Just a general follow-up: I think suffice to say at this point is just check out my gallery from time to time to see what I'm doing with the SX60.

Still not shooting RAW yet, want to learn better how to use the camera first.

For example, I've decided I'm quite annoyed by how the camera chooses ISO in Tv mode, so I'm going to start trying to choose ISO myself. Seems the camera is quite determined to clip the highlights on white birds (egrets) even with a decent negative EV set. I lower the EV, the camera raises the ISO, blowing the shot. Or, it will choose a good ISO that didn't need EV adjustment, which unnecessarily affects highlight details. Bah!

About time I start drifting towards learning enough to second-guess the camera or even try Manual mode, right?

Still, camera is proving to have good capabilities (in my mind, not comparing to DSLR). I still plan to get every last pixel of quality out of it, just like my last camera.
 

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