(New to this thread) I was reading some reviews and I heard that you sacrificed some quality and sharpness if you used the full zoom on the SX50. Any truth to this? I am having some doubts by looking at some of the pictures posted...
Hi Rapala
One thing to consider is the difference the atmosphere can make when shooting at distance, particularly when it's sunny and convection currents in the atmosphere tend to make things a bit fuzzy. In one post crazyfingers shows the same view taken on the same settings on different days. One is very much crisper than the other,
So on one hand I am delighted with a lot of the images I'm getting at full zoom when I'm taking pics of insects or lizards from as close as I can focus down to. There are lots of examples of those taken by a lot of people on this thread.
On the other hand, though, there is no substitute for shooting in good light at close distance. I have on my computer a few of my my pictures of peregrines sitting on a cliff, one measured at approx 330 yards, the other approx 370 yards, using Google Earth.
The quality is not good - bloody awful in fact, but the remarkable thing at that range is that I have something recognizably a peregrine.
Mid range you can get things pretty clear, and here a camera like this wins out IMV, because it is light enough to take with you on any walk, and you can get good pictures, without a hide, of birds that don't tolerate close approaches going about their daily business - feeding, collecting nesting material, singing and otherwise displaying - as far as I can tell completely unconcerned by the human presence, as it is distant enough not to spook them.
For all that, though, you will have more detail from a picture of a bird taken from 5 yards at the appropriate zoom to fill the frame than one taken at 50 yards at full zoom and blown up to the same size. And you will get more from full zoom at 8 ft than full zoom at 80 feet.
David
