Canon Powershot SX70 HS review (1 Viewer)

RichardHoeg · Dec 19, 2018

Coming soon. Have not had time. My plan is to take photographs of birds in similar conditions, identical camera settings ... in other words at my bird feeders (I have seven)

Same comment / edit as before ... should have quoted the question. Will add this to my review of the SX70 in the near future ... take photos with my SX60 and S70. Hopefully will have lots of new images after tomorrow. Taking some guests around Sax Zim Bog who herald from England. Weather will be low light.

Full SX70 review here:

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/19/canon-sx70-review-snowy-owls-spruce-grouse/

RichardHoeg · Dec 19, 2018

Question was whether I used noise reduction on any of my SX70 images. No noise reduction used.

Should have quoted the question. Sorry ... still learning how to use the forum in the most effective manner.

RichardHoeg · Dec 25, 2018

Canon SX70 vs SX60 Review

I have now had the chance to compare the SX70 vs the SX60. I received my SX70 one week ago. For the comparison I photographed a Pileated Woodpecker that visited my yard from the same exact spot under identical lighting conditions. Camera settings were identical between my new SX70 and old SX60... Aperture Priority with an ISO setting of 200. See the results:

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/25/canon-sx70-vs-sx60-review-pileated-woodpecker-images/

My original SX70 review using Snowy Owls and Spruce Grouse for subjects:

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/19/canon-sx70-review-snowy-owls-spruce-grouse/

crazyfingers · Dec 26, 2018

That is encouraging. It makes me wonder when I was trying the SX60 vs SX50 if the poor IQ of the SX60 vs the SX50 was an electronics focus issue instead of a lens physics issue. It will be very interesting once you are able to do the static objects comparison between the SX60 vs SX70.

poledark · Dec 26, 2018

Richard, your SX60 image of woodpecker, the focus is on the tree behind the bird, why? I have no idea, but it has focussed,

Den

HermitIbis · Dec 28, 2018

RichardHoeg said:
https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/25/canon-sx70-vs-sx60-review-pileated-woodpecker-images/

My original SX70 review using Snowy Owls and Spruce Grouse for subjects:

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/19/canon-sx70-review-snowy-owls-spruce-grouse/

Many thanks for these links to your blog. I like your photos, the woodpecker gives a hint that the SX70 has the same optics as the SX60, but works better due to software tweaks. Not to forget the 14 frames per second (JPEG).

That said, having used only RAW for two years I won't go back to JPEG. I've read somewhere that the SX70 can shoot 5 RAW per second - still a lot. So I wonder why you prefer the 14fps jpeg over RAW shooting. Many DSLR birders have the option of shooting 10 fps, but prefer 5fps in everyday use. The SX50 did only 2 shots per second (JPEG fine). Its 10-shot burst was sweet, but short. For me, 5fps (RAW) would be a big plus of the SX70. The SX70 can shoot JPEG, or RAW + JPEG or RAW only.

Another feature I am interested in: manual focus peaking. It could be useful for birds hiding in a bush. Is it as good and fast as focus peaking with a Sony NEX?

crazyfingers · Dec 28, 2018

Richard's blog has encouraged me to read the SX70 manual. One think I can't find is the equivalent of the "s" wildcard button on the SX50. It's assignable to several setting and I use it to toggle the digital teleconverter.

I see that the SX70 does have the digital teleconverter but I don't see a fast way to toggle between off, 1.6 and 2x.

On the SX50 I would often use it when not at full optical zoom because it would allow me to get closer to an object but also not be at optical max as it would allow more light in during low light situations.

I would be very unhappy if I could not easily toggle the digital teleconverter.

crazyfingers · Dec 28, 2018

Reading the manual I see that when using Framing Assist Seek, the SX70 does what the SX60 did and darkens the area outside of the original frame. This makes it harder to refind the bird! Stupid. The SX50 does not darken outside the original frame.

That was one reason, but not the most important reason, why I considered the SX60 to be inferior to the SX50 and in this regard the SX70 will also be inferior unless there is a way to change that in the settings.

crazyfingers · Dec 28, 2018

crazyfingers said:
Richard's blog has encouraged me to read the SX70 manual. One think I can't find is the equivalent of the "s" wildcard button on the SX50. It's assignable to several setting and I use it to toggle the digital teleconverter.

I see that the SX70 does have the digital teleconverter but I don't see a fast way to toggle between off, 1.6 and 2x.

On the SX50 I would often use it when not at full optical zoom because it would allow me to get closer to an object but also not be at optical max as it would allow more light in during low light situations.

I would be very unhappy if I could not easily toggle the digital teleconverter.

Page 208 of the manual says that the AE botton or Framing Assist Lock button can be set to other functions but the manual doesn't list the available functions that can be tied to them.

Vipers · Dec 28, 2018

crazyfingers said:
Page 208 of the manual says that the AE botton or Framing Assist Lock button can be set to other functions but the manual doesn't list the available functions that can be tied to them.

I thought I had read somewhere that the T/W switch on the lens barrel could be set to other functions.

RichardHoeg · Dec 29, 2018

SX70 Snowy Owl Photos Using Full Zoom

I just posted to my blog some images I took this morning in Sax-Zim Bog up in northern Minnesota. Images were taken at full zoom (optical only ... I always turn off digital zoom). Photographic conditions were near perfect. Thus, in really good conditions early in the morning you will be able to see how the SX70 performs at full zoom. I did some very minor post processing (lighting tweaks).

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/29/winter-wonderland-snowy-owl/

The post also links at the bottom of the content to my full review

crazyfingers · Dec 29, 2018

Thanks. It's hard to say for sure but I would not be surprised if the SX50 at max optical and with the digital teleconverter at 1.5x would do just as well or better.

crazyfingers · Dec 29, 2018

RichardHoeg said:
I just posted to my blog some images I took this morning in Sax-Zim Bog up in northern Minnesota. Images were taken at full zoom (optical only ... I always turn off digital zoom). Photographic conditions were near perfect. Thus, in really good conditions early in the morning you will be able to see how the SX70 performs at full zoom. I did some very minor post processing (lighting tweaks).

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/29/winter-wonderland-snowy-owl/

The post also links at the bottom of the content to my full review

I'm still very torn. Don't get me wrong. I want the SX70 to be better than my SX50. I want to upgrade these old SX50's that I have. But....

Looking at your snowy owls, I compared to the attached photo of red-shouldered hawk that I took with the SX50. I'm certain that I took this at the SX50's maximum optical zoom and also was using the 2x teleconverter making it 100x. I know that it's not exactly a fair comparison as my hawk is a bit larger but consider that if I had used the 1.6x teleconverter it suggest that the birds may be similar distance from the camera.

The detail on the SX50 photo appears sharper to me. The detail on the twigs look better. Consider also that to post it here I had to resize to just 1600x1200. The original is 4000x3000

I've also attached a photo of where the hawk was. It was inside the red circle in a "V" inside the "V" that you can only see if you zoom in. It's very faint.

HermitIbis · Dec 29, 2018

Perhaps a white owl isn't the ideal test for the SX70. Requires more than -1.00 EV to keep the feather detail.

The missing button to toggle the digital teleconverter is a worry. I've read Mr Hoeg's reviews and learned he isn't keen on the digital zoom. With the SX50 my experience was different, the digital TC worked very well.

Someone posted a SX70 youtube video of a kingfisher. I've rarely shot videos, but it looks attractive.

crazyfingers · Dec 29, 2018

HermitIbis said:
Perhaps a white owl isn't the ideal test for the SX70. Requires more than -1.00 EV to keep the feather detail.

The missing button to toggle the digital teleconverter is a worry. I've read Mr Hoeg's reviews and learned he isn't keen on the digital zoom. With the SX50 my experience was different, the digital TC worked very well.

Someone posted a SX70 youtube video of a kingfisher. I've rarely shot videos, but it looks attractive.

I don't know if anyone ever figured it out but there was something different about the digital teleconverter and standard digital zoom. I have not been able to see any degradation of IQ using the teleconverter. How it works is a mystery. But it's an essential tool. I think it's likely but not certain it can be assigned to those buttons on the page in the manual above.

RichardHoeg · Jan 2, 2019

crazyfingers said:
I'm still very torn. Don't get me wrong. I want the SX70 to be better than my SX50. I want to upgrade these old SX50's that I have. But....

Looking at your snowy owls, I compared to the attached photo of red-shouldered hawk that I took with the SX50. I'm certain that I took this at the SX50's maximum optical zoom and also was using the 2x teleconverter making it 100x. I know that it's not exactly a fair comparison as my hawk is a bit larger but consider that if I had used the 1.6x teleconverter it suggest that the birds may be similar distance from the camera.

The detail on the SX50 photo appears sharper to me. The detail on the twigs look better. Consider also that to post it here I had to resize to just 1600x1200. The original is 4000x3000

I've also attached a photo of where the hawk was. It was inside the red circle in a "V" inside the "V" that you can only see if you zoom in. It's very faint.

I conducted a landscape test of Lake Superior Sea Smoke this morning. I took photos with both my SX70 and my Sony A6000. Find the results and images via my blog:
https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2019/01/02/canon-sx70-landscape-test/

Another item worth noting between the SX50 and SX70. The SX50's burst mode would never have worked for many of the images I have taken with my new SX70. While not part of the test, a few days ago I took 23 straight images of a Northern Hawk Owl eating a vole with one continued press of the shutter. I believe the SX50 has a limit of 6 or 8 images in burst mode, and is also slower. The Northern Hawk Owl images are here:
https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2019/01/01/northern-hawk-owl-eating-a-vole/

crazyfingers · Jan 3, 2019

I had tried HQ Burst mode on the SX50 early on. It created far too many photo than I was willing to sort through. It took a lot of the fun out of it. Besides, it confounds my filing system. I batch rename all my photos by time year month day hour minute second such as "2019 01 02 11 12 34.jpg. it created a mess for me.

I like taking one shot at a time.

Still hoping someone with an SX50 will get an SX70 and do some side by sides. I might do it myself come spring if no one else does. With amazon I'd have 30 days to decide to keep it or not.

HermitIbis · Jan 3, 2019

RichardHoeg said:
The SX50's burst mode would never have worked for many of the images I have taken with my new SX70. While not part of the test, a few days ago I took 23 straight images of a Northern Hawk Owl eating a vole with one continued press of the shutter. I believe the SX50 has a limit of 6 or 8 images in burst mode, and is also slower.

Burst mode of the SX50: 10 shots within 1 second. Here is an example. No teleconverter allowed, so it's only 1200mm. The SX70 with 14fps might do better in such a vole-eating situation.

crazyfingers said:
Still hoping someone with an SX50 will get an SX70 and do some side by sides.

Worth a look are two recent short reviews on the US site of the big river, by "Patrick Fitzgerald" (31 December) and "Gadget Guru" (1 January). Their reference objects are the SX60 and SX40.

Future tests from respected sources will hopefully clarify if the hicups are real or (maybe after FW upgrades) the SX70 is a solid performer (as it was my SX50).

RichardHoeg · Jan 5, 2019

SX70 Birding Photo Reviews and Software Developer's Kit

I am the user who has been posted the SX70 reviews with pictures of birds. I just learned this morning that Canon has released a new software developer's kit for the their EOS DSLR platforms and the SX70. Thus, I believe the SX70 is the only non DSLR for which Canon is now offering this kind of API support.

Here is the DPReview article on the subject:

https://www.dpreview.com/news/77720...per-kits-for-eos-bodies-and-powershot-sx70-hs

My own SX70 reviews now includes my initial test, a SX60 vis SX70 test, and a landscape test. Access via my blog:

https://www.365daysofbirds.com/2018/12/19/canon-sx70-review-snowy-owls-spruce-grouse/

As a fyi, I have no relationship with Canon nor have I received any compensation (real or in kind)* from Canon I actually also own a Sony A6000 which I use for landscape and night photography.

crazyfingers · Jan 5, 2019

HermitIbis said:
Burst mode of the SX50: 10 shots within 1 second. Here is an example. No teleconverter allowed, so it's only 1200mm. The SX70 with 14fps might do better in such a vole-eating situation.

Worth a look are two recent short reviews on the US site of the big river, by "Patrick Fitzgerald" (31 December) and "Gadget Guru" (1 January). Their reference objects are the SX60 and SX40.

Future tests from respected sources will hopefully clarify if the hicups are real or (maybe after FW upgrades) the SX70 is a solid performer (as it was my SX50).

Thanks. Those reviews from SX40 users are helpful. I had the Sx40 before the SX50. I had an SX30 before the SX40.

The SX40 was very nice with excellent IQ. The SX50 as worse in low light but just as good or better in adequate light and extra zoom was worth it.

I know that the SX60 had lower IQ than the SX50 as I purchased two SX60s and returned them both.

So far I'm not seeing an indication that the SX70 will improve on the SX50 but I'll keep looking for the definitive test review before I decide to try it myself.

Canon Powershot SX70 HS review (1 Viewer)

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