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Fuji HS50 vs Canon SX50 (1 Viewer)

John Fleet said:
Hi Roy

I'd be very interested to know where you got the camera from at the price, as I'm seriously tempted to splash out on one, but persuading the keeper of the family purse to sanction the purchase won't be easy - so the lower the price, the better my chances!

John
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I've seen the SX50 here in NZ going on special for around $450, that would be 225 in your money the HS50 is on sale for the high $900's.

Ifeel the HS50 must be a better camera than the Canon but at that price?

Very happy with my Canon SX50 and may just await the coming of the SX60!
 
I have neither of these 2 cameras ,but i have been thinking about how to test 1 camera against another a sort of idea i came up with was to go to a local football field and put a bird book say the collins by 1 goal post and take a photo from the otherside giving you something like a 100yrds give or take ,this could be done by most peole local to them and i know 100yrds is a long way this would be a good test as we are talking about superzooms Well thats my thought can someone come up with a better idea ,could be also interesting to test didgiscoping against the superzoom as well
 
peter hill said:
I have neither of these 2 cameras ,but i have been thinking about how to test 1 camera against another a sort of idea i came up with was to go to a local football field and put a bird book say the collins by 1 goal post and take a photo from the otherside giving you something like a 100yrds give or take ,this could be done by most peole local to them and i know 100yrds is a long way this would be a good test as we are talking about superzooms Well thats my thought can someone come up with a better idea ,could be also interesting to test didgiscoping against the superzoom as well
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To give any meaningful results you need to test the things that you intend using the camera for otherwise in your test you'll just end up with the results of testing the image quality of a book on a football pitch ;)

Plus the SX50 has a 50x zoom and the HS50 has a 42x zoom so a max zoom test wouldn't be helpful
There really is only one test you can do that would give anyone any meaningfull results to compare and that is setting both the cameras up together and taking some pictures of the same subject under identical conditions at the same time with the same camera settings.

I'm afraid we are going to have to wait until a camera shop does a test review for us and posts on youtube.
 
There has been a "shoot out" between the SX50 and HS50 (along with two other superzooms) in the last edition of Amateur Photographer the HS50 came second and a Sony Came first.

In truth I don't think that these debates are helpful, one camera may excell in one area but be poor in another and each user does have preferences and for some uses that preference may involve a compromise. For me the ability to do good macros or to easily be able to photograph butterflies or other insects either close up or at a modest distance is more important than how well it photographs birds and from 15 years of experience with using digital cameras I have actually found that in general the fuiji superzooms seem to be able to handle this task very well indeed. I also happen to like the manual zoom on the more recent fujis and the nice solid "DSLR like" feel and handling of the fujis.

I do (or did have a Canon SX40) which has delivered some excellent bird photos, but I have found it seriously wanting so far as photographing insects is concerned (indeed Andrew also replaced his SX40 with a fuji HS30 for the same reason). I am awaiting a replacement for my SX40 because of a focusing problem caused by the lens housing surround coming loose, this has left me with some concerns about the robustness of the canon, something I know from experience is that because of the manual zoom the other similar fujis do seem to be more robust than the cameras with power zooms.

Whether I will end up buying a HS50 I don't know, but I will continue to look at this forum to see how people are getting on and to learn from their experiences, just as I will continue looking at the SX40 and SX50 forums for exactly the same reason.
 
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these magazine reviews and back to back tests with a recommendation do need to be scrutinized carefully to see exactly what criteria the testers are using for their recommedations.

If for example their review evaluated 'Value for Money' strongly then the Sony is going to win hands down every time and that could be a major influencing factor in the conclusion.
The Sony has been on the market for nearly a year and the purchase price has naturally fallen to nearly half its launch price last year, whereas the Fuji HS50 is a new camera and is being sold at full retail price with no discount yet.

Another factor that cannot be sensibly compared is the zoom feature in video mode for the two cameras. One has a motor drive and the other a manual lens. If you need a fast zooming lens the HS50 is going to win that because it will still be at the focal length you left it in and can be changed manually almost instantly.if you need a smooth zooming lens for video then the Sony is the only choice

The SX50 has a 50x zoom lens whereas the HS50 has only a 42x zoom lens so its not a fair comparison to compare the two cameras on that feature other than to say if you need more zoom than 42x focal length of 185mm then the Sony is the better choice all other things being acceptable.

For camera reviews and recommendations to be any use the tests need to be done on a level playing field . There are too many differences between the cameras for that to done in my view.

Both the cameras have their strong and weak points and you choose the camera that does what you need. All choices at the end of the day will be a compromise on something.
 
I was going to add the comment that I am still tempted towards the HS50 and that is down to the fact that it has got a manual zoom.
 
speckled wood said:
I was going to add the comment that I am still tempted towards the HS50 and that is down to the fact that it has got a manual zoom.
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The manual zoom is really good on the HS50 but some toggers seem to need the elec zoom on the SX50 because its smooth for video.

I think our choice at the end of the day is always coloured by our previous experience. When I was looking for a superzoom bridge 2x years ago I looked at Fuji because all my previous cameras had been Fuji and it had always been a satisfactory experience.
No doubt there were other equally good perhaps better makes and models I could have chosen but brand loyalty is a very strong force as manufacturers know only too well.;)

At the moment it would seem that the HS50 is at the top of the Superzoom bridge camera heap all things considered. Obviously the AM mag didn't agree. I'll have to see if I can get hold of a copy ,i'm sure it would be an interesting read. I bet a fiver that the reviewer didn't take a single picture of a bird though
 
peter hill said:
I have neither of these 2 cameras ,but i have been thinking about how to test 1 camera against another a sort of idea i came up with was to go to a local football field and put a bird book say the collins by 1 goal post and take a photo from the otherside giving you something like a 100yrds give or take ,this could be done by most peole local to them and i know 100yrds is a long way this would be a good test as we are talking about superzooms Well thats my thought can someone come up with a better idea ,could be also interesting to test didgiscoping against the superzoom as well
Click to expand...
Be aware that the camera or lens which can capture fine detail on a small distant object has not yet been invented. Use of a lens with long focal length is to bring your subject close enough for capture without serious cropping which will only highlight any shortcomings

when I captured the redshank, i took my other piece of long reach kit - the Canon 550 plus sigma 150 - 500, given the Canon crop figure of 1.6 this gives 800mm. I found I was preferring the Fuji because the extra 200mm was such a help, and made me think about its other rivals, the canon and sony because they give another 200mm reach over the Fuji or 400mm over the canon+sigma

There is on this forum the cautionary tale of someone who seeing a utube video of someone taking distant shots of buildings with a superzoom and thought he could do just that with birds. now extremely unhappy
 
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don't forget the new Fuji SL1000 which also has 50x zoom and I think sells for about £250 ish . i've not seen any comment or reviews about this camera yet.
 
kennethwfd said:
the sl1000 will not shoot in burst mode when RAF selected.

)
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well for under £300 its a lot of camera for the money and brings the superzoom camera within reach of a huge market .:t:
Naturally it has many compromises as does the HS50 .

Personally I feel this constant drive by camera and cell fone manufacturers to cram every conceivable gimmick and gizmo with the biggest numbers into their products only leads to mediocre quality and customer dissapointment .
 
I bought the Fuji recently, not because it takes better photos - all the evidence suggests that the Canon's picture quality is better, especially when the relative cost is taken into account. If I wanted better picture quality of course I'd be splashing out on a good DSLR and a lens like big Bertha.

What I need, and why I bought the Fuji, is something that can take a passable record shot in the time it take to point a camera at a contentious bird. So being lightweight, high mags and quick to focus were my requirements. Early results are promising.

Alas nothing rare here, but all shots were in seconds of IDing the birds with bins, and none were closer than 500m

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=437276&d=1365849064

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=437716&d=1366014392

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=438388&d=1366370197
 
One of the critical things for me is the manual zoom and the fact that these Fujis are robust. I have had a bad experience that led to my Canon SX40 having to be replaced when I dropped the camera due part of the casing of the camera coming loose, I was also not impressed with Canons attitude over the resulting damage to the camera which was down to poor design of the camera body and wanting me to pay them £125 for the repair for the damage caused by the the failure of the camera body.

The pictures from the Canon SX30 are excellent, however the problem that I had would not have happened with one of these Fuji HS series cameras, so my next superzoom is likely to be the Fuji HS50.
 
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earleybird said:
The manual zoom is really good on the HS50 but some toggers seem to need the elec zoom on the SX50 because its smooth for video.

I think our choice at the end of the day is always coloured by our previous experience. When I was looking for a superzoom bridge 2x years ago I looked at Fuji because all my previous cameras had been Fuji and it had always been a satisfactory experience.
No doubt there were other equally good perhaps better makes and models I could have chosen but brand loyalty is a very strong force as manufacturers know only too well.;)

At the moment it would seem that the HS50 is at the top of the Superzoom bridge camera heap all things considered. Obviously the AM mag didn't agree. I'll have to see if I can get hold of a copy ,i'm sure it would be an interesting read. I bet a fiver that the reviewer didn't take a single picture of a bird though
Click to expand...

Although my "DSLRs" are Sonys, I have already decided that the Sony superzoom is not for me, in simple handling terms if the Fuji HS50 handles in the same way as the HS10 then the Fuji HS50 will be my next superzoom and I suspect that within a few months its price will be down to around the £350 mark.

The review was covering use of the cameras in the concept of the needs of the average user, those needs are different from those of wildlife photographers. AP reviewer appeared put the HS50 as a very strong second and even based on the AP review there was enough information there to suggest that the HS50 was the best camera for how I would use it.
 
Having owned a HS20, I can say that the HS50 is very similar. Both the viewfinder and the camera itself are slightly bigger.

I'm enjoying the maximum burst rate of 16fps, today a rather bland shot of a mallard drake made much better as the bird emitted a single quack as I fired, and this was caught
 
kennethwfd said:
Having owned a HS20, I can say that the HS50 is very similar. Both the viewfinder and the camera itself are slightly bigger.

I'm enjoying the maximum burst rate of 16fps, today a rather bland shot of a mallard drake made much better as the bird emitted a single quack as I fired, and this was caught
Click to expand...

I did have a HS20 for a while but I was not entirely happy with it, at the time I think it was down to the increased MP count over the HS10, I do still have the HS10 which I am glad that I kept as it is in my opinion better than the Canon at handling butterfly shots. looking at the pictures here it does look like the HS50 is an advance on the HS20 in more ways than just the increased zoom.
 
Jane Turner said:
Another photo that will make image perfectionists uneasy but will make record shot collectors happy. 100ft away in bad light and only still for 10 secs, a substantial part of which was with me using bins and thinking ooh err...look at the arse on that.

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=439215&d=1366791346
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well I've no idea what the bird is ...blush...but all that matters is that the camera does exactly what you need it to :t:

I don't know why some toggers have this obsession with image quality . its not like they are ever likely to blow their images up to poster size for an important exhibition etc .

The HS50 will startup , zoom ,focus and take a shot in well under 2x seconds and continue to take shots in focus as fast as you can press and release the shutter button. Thats perfect for recording birds as far as I'm concerned.

By the way Jane wotissit ?
 
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