SX40 Super Zoom (2 Viewers)

[Robert L Jarvis]

To be quite honest I have never even tried importing direct from the Camera Andy as I always use a card reader (via ZoomBrowser).

I have always used a card reader as well and would reccomend this rather than connecting the camera. If connecting the camera it's battery will be used and always seems to me to be a bit of a phaff.

As for the tc option I was trying to emphasise that it is a bit more than a digital expansion and was actually worthwhile.

 

[MonkeyPrince]

Here's one I took on Friday in very difficult lighting (gloomy, under a tree canopy).



The SX40 is by far the best bridge camera I've owned.

My Flickr account is here if you fancy a look

 

[bob freeman]

Here's one I took on Friday in very difficult lighting (gloomy, under a tree canopy).

View attachment 394900

The SX40 is by far the best bridge camera I've owned.

My Flickr account is here if you fancy a look

Nice shot Monkey Prince

 

[njlarsen]

Beautiful. How much noise reduction?

Niels

 

[Robert L Jarvis]

MP A very good Wren image,plenty would be happy with that as a DSLR shot never a bridge camera.

 

[Roy C]

Managed to snap this one yesterday when it wasn't raining although it has been chucking it down again today. Some reasonable detail although I never find Greenfinches easy as the feathers always look coarse and grainy - still not bad with the little P&P. Hand held at full zoom.

 

[punta]

You are the man with this camera Roy. I think that finch is a little cracker.

 

[AndyM]

To be quite honest I have never even tried importing direct from the Camera Andy as I always use a card reader (via ZoomBrowser).

Horses for courses but I've always imported images straight from the camera by simply plugging it in (thus saving wear & tear on the battery/card compartment door etc. and associated mechanisms - batteries I can always recharge)

Okay, took me a fair bit of time to get to the bottom of this one. Despite a lot of Googling, finding the problem but no answer, I found the solution by good old trial & error.

So for anyone using ZoomBrowser/CameraWindow DC (basically the SX40 bundled software), and can't import straight from the camera, here's where the problem lies:

Seems a bit daft but CameraWindow DC will not allow importing to network drives or folders associated with the system. I was trying to import to a laptop issued with a partitioned drive. Partitioning commonly involves having ;

Drive 'C', which holds the operating system (Windows) and 'My Documents', 'My Pictures' etc. (which are presumably regarded as a 'system' folders)

Drive 'D' - a data drive.

CameraWindow DC refuses to import to any folder in Drive 'C' that you specify in the Settings>Import tab (including C/My Pictures' which is where you would naturally expect it to go first) . However, if you create a folder on Drive 'D' (ie. 'My Pictures') and direct it to import there, it works just fine!

HTH,

Andy.

 

[njlarsen]

Horses for courses but I've always imported images straight from the camera by simply plugging it in (thus saving wear & tear on the battery/card compartment door etc. and associated mechanisms - batteries I can always recharge)

Different brand, but I at one time experienced the mini USB becoming worn and not working anymore (I think this was on my Nikon CP4500, but maybe it actually was on the canon P&S I used underwater following that). Going to a card reader solved the problem, and I never had a problem with anything similar since.

Niels

 

[MonkeyPrince]

Beautiful. How much noise reduction?

Niels

Thanks.

I sharpened slightly and cropped slightly. No other processing. I have the SX40 permanently on Contrast +1 Saturation +1 Sharpness +1 as I'm not one to fiddle with photo's after I've taken them (apart from HDR shots etc) :t:

 

[MonkeyPrince]

Managed to snap this one yesterday when it wasn't raining although it has been chucking it down again today. Some reasonable detail although I never find Greenfinches easy as the feathers always look coarse and grainy - still not bad with the little P&P. Hand held at full zoom.

Very nice shot Roy, may I also offer up a Greenfinch shot from my SX40 :t:

 

[Ben Markham]

I took these at RSPB Old Moor in Dearne Valley, South Yorkshire. They have been sharpened, and the colour edited slightly to account for poor lighting.

The insect shots (six-spot burnet moth and some kind of bee?) were taken using the macro function. The bird shots were taken using the 2x in-built teleconverter.

 

[Roy C]

Very nice shot Roy, may I also offer up a Greenfinch shot from my SX40 :t:

View attachment 395103

Super close-up :t:

 

[Roy C]

I took these at RSPB Old Moor in Dearne Valley, South Yorkshire. They have been sharpened, and the colour edited slightly to account for poor lighting.

The insect shots (six-spot burnet moth and some kind of bee?) were taken using the macro function. The bird shots were taken using the 2x in-built teleconverter.

Some nice shots there Ben, I can see you are getting to grips with the Camera :t:

 

[Roy C]

I got my first reasonable shot with the 2x converter today - crazy really, 1680mm hand held :smoke:. I was close to the bird but some of the very fine feather detail on the underside and around the neck is quite good for digital zoom IMHO.

 

[Biancone]

The insect shots (six-spot burnet moth and some kind of bee?)

The 'bee' is a fly, but I don't know which species!

Some of the long focal length images in this thread are amazingly clear. Anyone got any full-zoom images of raptors in flight? I'm looking into upgrading from my FZ45, which sometimes scrapes into the 'satisfactory' category if the bird is very close and in full sunlight. But probably also limited by my unskilled hands.
Cheers,
Brian

 

[draycotebirding]

I got my first reasonable shot with the 2x converter today - crazy really, 1680mm hand held :smoke:. I was close to the bird but some of the very fine feather detail on the underside and around the neck is quite good for digital zoom IMHO.

Roy you are posting some great shots on here, just wondered if you could post some comparison shots of the range of the camera zooms on something static with a tripod.

Regards

John

 

[tdodd]

Roy you are posting some great shots on here, just wondered if you could post some comparison shots of the range of the camera zooms on something static with a tripod.

Regards

John

There is a review here - http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_PowerShot_SX40_HS/ - which compares the zoom range both as still shots and as a short video of the zoom in action. It's pretty impressive.

 

[AndyM]

Some of the long focal length images in this thread are amazingly clear. Anyone got any full-zoom images of raptors in flight? I'm looking into upgrading from my FZ45, which sometimes scrapes into the 'satisfactory' category if the bird is very close and in full sunlight. But probably also limited by my unskilled hands.

I'd like nothing more than somebody to prove me totally wrong but I find it can be a bit hit & miss (but then I don't profess to really know what I'm doing either). I don't know, but I imagine that the best BIF shots are down to either pure luck or careful planning (keeping a fast moving subject in the sweet-spot and firing at the right moment is no easy task). I guess a lot depends on what you are after and how much effort you are willing to put in to achieve it.

The experimental images below are not particularly brilliant, all hand-held at full zoom and were shot on the spur of the moment from some considerable distance. I don't know what others may think but I think they do a fairly reasonable turn...

Andy

 

[MonkeyPrince]

Some of the long focal length images in this thread are amazingly clear. Anyone got any full-zoom images of raptors in flight? I'm looking into upgrading from my FZ45, which sometimes scrapes into the 'satisfactory' category if the bird is very close and in full sunlight. But probably also limited by my unskilled hands.
Cheers,
Brian

I moved from an FZ45 (which I found almost impossible to get good BIF shots with) to an SX40 and although it is a definite improvement, it is still very hit and miss IMHO.