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Canon PowerShot SX50 HS review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £412
inc VAT

An excellent all-rounder but image quality has its foibles

Specifications

1/2.3in 12.0-megapixel sensor, 50.0x zoom (24-1,200mm equivalent), 595g

http://www.amazon.co.uk

Ultra-zoom cameras are incredibly versatile, taking wide-angle, telephoto and macro photography in their stride. The best models cope well in low light too. Last year’s Canon SX40 HS led the field for image quality, particularly in low light, but narrowly missed out on an award because of its trundling performance.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

This year’s SX50 HS ups the ante with a record-breaking 50x zoom lens – the biggest ever to grace a stills camera. More importantly to us, it’s also significantly faster in general use, taking 1.8 seconds between shots. That’s a big improvement on the SX40 HS’s 2.8 seconds but still a long way off 0.6 seconds of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

Continuous mode is seriously fast, capturing 10 shots at up to 14fps in our tests. However, this performance is only available in a scene preset with barely any control over the camera, and it took six seconds to save these shots before we regained control of the camera. Most situations require more sustained performance, but the best it could manage outside of this scene preset was 1.9fps, or just 0.9fps with continuous autofocus. The screen was blank for most of the time between each shot, which made it virtually impossible to track moving subjects.

It’s much more capable when shooting sedentary subjects. The 1200mm maximum focal length (35mm equivalent) let us frame subjects that we could barely see with the naked eye. Using such a huge magnification while shooting handheld meant we often lost track of the subject, so we really appreciated the button on the side of the lens to zoom out quickly and temporarily to help locate it again.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

The rest of the controls and well laid out, with a dedicated button for moving the autofocus point and a custom button that can be assigned to one-click white balance calibration. There’s no button to toggle between the screen and electronic viewfinder, though. Instead, this is achieved by pressing the Display button twice, which felt too longwinded. Then again, the electronic viewfinder’s small size and low 202,000-dot resolution meant we didn’t have much of an urge to use it. The LCD screen is a little smaller than usual, too, at 2.8 inches, but its resolution is sharper than the SX40 HS’s.

Video capture is at 1080p at 24fps. Quality in our tests was excellent, and we’re amazed at how effective the optical stabilisation was at keeping handheld shots steady, even at the full zoom extension. Details weren’t quite as sharp as from the FZ200, though, and low-light clips were noisier. It also lacks the FZ200’s mic input and comprehensive manual control over video exposures. Clips are limited to around 16 minutes and slow-motion clips are at VGA resolution. The FZ200 is undoubtedly the better video camera.

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Basic Specifications

Rating****
CCD effective megapixels12.0 megapixels
CCD size1/2.3in
Viewfinderelectronic (202,000 pixels)
Viewfinder magnification, coverageN/A
LCD screen size2.8in
LCD screen resolution461,000 pixels
Articulated screenYes
Live viewYes
Optical zoom50.0x
Zoom 35mm equivalent24-1,200mm
Image stabilisationoptical, lens based
Maximum image resolution4,000×3,000
File formatsJPEG, RAW; QuickTime (AVC)

Physical

Memory slotSDXC
Mermory suppliednone
Battery typeLi-ion
Battery Life (tested)315 shots
ConnectivityUSB, AV, mini HDMI, wired remote
Body materialplastic
Lens mountN/A
Focal length multiplierN/A
Kit lens model nameN/A
AccessoriesUSB cable, neck strap
Weight595g
Size90x123x112mm

Buying Information

Warrantyone year RTB
Price£412
Supplierhttp://www.amazon.co.uk
Detailswww.canon.co.uk

Camera Controls

Exposure modesprogram, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual
Shutter speed15 to 1/2,000 seconds
Aperture rangef/3.4-8 (wide), f/6.5-8 (tele)
ISO range (at full resolution)80 to 6400
Exposure compensation+/-3 EV
White balanceauto, 6 presets with fine tuning, manual
Additional image controlscontrast, saturation, sharpness, red, green, blue, skin tone
Manual focusYes
Closest macro focus0cm
Auto-focus modesmulti, flexible spot, face detect, tracking
Metering modesmulti, centre-weighted, centre, face detect
Flashauto, forced, suppressed, slow synchro, rear curtain, red-eye reduction
Drive modessingle, continuous, self-timer, AE bracket, focus bracket

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