Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Review

October 10, 2012 | Mark Goldstein |

Introduction
Ease of Use
Image Quality
Sample Images
Product Images
Rating & Conclusion
Review Roundup
Specifications
Comment
More…

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4Mb.

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS produced images of good quality during the review period. Noise is well-controlled until ISO 1600, which exhibits some artifacts, blurring of detail and slight colour desaturation. The noise and loss of detail get progressively worse as you go from ISO 1600 to the fastest 6400 setting, which isn't really very usable at all. The Dynamic Range Correction and especially HDR options squeeze more detail out of the shadows and highlights, although they're not available if you shoot in the new RAW mode.

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS handled chromatic aberrations fairly well with well-controlled but widespread purple and green fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations. The 12 megapixel images were sharp enough straight out of the camera at the default setting. Macro performance is a stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 0cms away from the subject, although there is a lot of lens distortion and shadowing at such a close distance.

The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds allowing you to capture enough light for most situations. The 4.5-stop anti-shake system works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the huge zoom range, although it's still best to use a tripod or other stable support if possible given the huge focal length on offer.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with the JPEG version on the left and the RAW on the right.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 80 (100% Crop)	ISO 80 (100% Crop)


ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)


ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)


ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)


ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)


ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)


ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)


ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are sharp enough at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS's 50x zoom lens has a massive focal range of 24-1200mm, as illustrated by these examples.

24mm	1200mm

Chromatic Aberrations

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS suffered from chromatic aberrations, with purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, particularly at the edges of the frame, as shown in the examples below.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

File Quality

At full 12 megapixel resolution, there are two JPEG quality settings available - SuperFine and Fine- plus a RAW setting.

SuperFine (4.68Mb) (100% Crop)	Fine (3.15Mb) (100% Crop)


RAW (13.3Mb) (100% Crop)

Macro

The Canon PowerShot SX50 HS allows you to focus on a subject that is just 0cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Canon Powershot SX50 HS are Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, and Slow Sync Speed, with Red-eye Reduction options available in the main menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (24mm)


Flash Off - Telephoto (1200mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (1200mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-eye-Reduction settings caused any red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)


Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Canon Powershot SX50 HS's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which is great news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 80.

Night	Night (100% Crop)

Anti Shake

The Canon Powershot SX50 HS has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Anti-Shake Off (100% Crop)	Anti-Shake On (100% Crop)
1/5th sec / 24mm

1/2nd sec / 1200mm

Dynamic Range Correction

Dynamic Range Correction captures more detail in the highlight areas of the image, with Auto, 200% and 400% settings available.

Off	Auto


200%	400%

HDR

The HDR mode takes three photos at different exposures and effectively combines them to produce a single image with greater detail in the shadow and highlight areas.

Off	On

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4

Type	1/2.3 type back-illuminated CMOS
Effective Pixels	Approx. 12.1M
Colour Filter Type	Primary Colour

Focal Length	4.3 – 215.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 24 – 1200 mm)
Zoom	Optical 50x. ZoomPlus 100x Digital Approx. 4x (with Digital Tele-Converter Approx. 1.5x or 2.0x and Safety Zoom¹). Combined Approx. 200x
Maximum f/number	f/3.4-f/6.5
Construction	13 elements in 10 groups (3 UD lenses and 1 double-sided aspherical lens)
Image Stabilisation	Yes (lens shift-type), 4.5-stop. Intelligent IS
Ultrasonic Motor (USM)	Yes, zoom

Type	TTL
AF System/ Points	Face Detection, 1-point AF (Any position is available, fixed to centre or Face Select and Track)
AF Modes	Single, Continuous, Servo AF/AE¹, Tracking AF
AF Point Selection	Manual selection using FlexiZone AF/AE, Size (Normal, Small)
AF Lock	On/Off Selectable
AF Assist Beam	Yes
Manual Focus	Yes
Focus Bracketing	Yes
Closest Focusing Distance	0 cm (W) from front of lens in Macro

Metering modes	Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame), Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre or linked to Face Detection AF or FlexiZone AF frame)
AE Lock	Yes
Exposure Compensation	+/- 3 EV in 1/3 stop increments Enhanced i-Contrast for automatic dynamic range correction
AEB	1/3 – 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments
ISO sensitivity*	AUTO, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400, 500, 640, 800, 1000, 1250, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3200, 4000, 5000, 6400

Type	TTL
Settings	Auto (including Face Detection WB), Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Custom1, Custom 2. Multi-area WB correction available in Smart Auto. White Balance Compensation.

Viewfinder	EVF (0.20 type), 4:3 aspect ratio, Approx. 202,000 dots
Viewfinder / Coverage	Approx. 100%
Dioptre Correction	Yes

Monitor	Vari-angle 7.1 cm (2.8”) PureColor II VA (TFT), Approx. 461,000 dots
Coverage	Approx. 100%
Brightness	Adjustable to one of five levels. Quick-bright LCD

Modes	Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, Slow Synchro
Slow Sync Speed	Yes. Fastest speed 1/2000 sec.
Red-Eye Reduction	Yes
Flash Exposure Compensation	+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments. Face Detection FE, Safety FE, Smart Flash Exposure
Flash Exposure Lock	Yes
Manual Power Adjustment	3 levels with internal flash (up to 19 levels with external EX Speedlites 270EX II and 430EX II. 22 levels with 580EX II, 600EX and 600EX-RT¹)
Second Curtain Synchronisation	Yes
Built-in Flash Range	50 cm – 5.5 m (W) / 1.4 m – 3.0 m (T)
External Flash	E-TTL with EX series Speedlites¹

Modes	Smart Auto (58 scenes detected), Program AE, Shutter priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, Custom 1, Custom 2, SCN (Portrait, Smooth Skin, Smart Shutter (Smile, Wink Self-Timer, FaceSelf-Timer), High-speed Burst HQ, Handheld Night Scene, Snow, Fireworks, Stitch Assist), Creative Filters (High Dynamic Range, Fish-eye Effect, Miniature Effect, Toy Camera Effect, Soft Focus, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap), Movie Digest, Movie
Modes in Movie	Smart Auto (21 scenes detected), Standard, Program AE, Portrait, Miniature Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Color Accent, Color Swap, Snow, Fireworks, iFrame Movie, Super Slow Motion Movie
Photo Effects	My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color)
Drive modes	Single, Continuous, Continuous with AF, Self-Timer
Continuous Shooting	Approx. 2.2 shots/sec., AF: Approx. 0.8 shots/sec., LV: Approx. 0.9 shots/sec., High-speed Burst HQ: Approx. 13 shots/sec., up to 10 shots. High-speed Burst HQ with AF: Approx. 4.1 shots/sec., up to 10 shots¹²

Image Size	4:3 - (RAW, L) 4000 x 3000, (M1) 2816 x 2112, (M2) 1600 x 1200, (S) 640 x 480 16:9 - (RAW, L) 4000 x 2248, (M1) 2816 x 1584, (M2) 1920 x 1080, (S) 640 x 360 3:2 - (RAW, L) 4000 x 2664, (M1) 2816 x 1880, (M2) 1600 x 1064, (S) 640 x 424 1:1 - (RAW, L) 2992 x 2992, (M1) 2112 x 2112, (M2) 1200 x 1200, (S) 480 x 480 4:5 - (RAW, L) 2400 x 3000, (M1) 1696 x 2112, (M2) 960 x 1200, (S) 384 x 480 Resize in playback (M2, S, XS) *XS is half the length and width of S
Compression	Superfine, Fine
Movies	(Full HD) 1920 x 1080, 24 fps, (HD) 1280 x 720, 30 fps, (L) 640 x 480, 30 fps Super Slow Motion Movie (L) 640 x 480, 120fps, (M) 320 x 240, 240fps Miniature Effect (HD, L) 6fps, 3fps, 1.5 fps iFrame Movie (HD)
Movie Length	(Full HD & HD) Up to 4 GB or 29 min. 59 sec.¹ (L) Up to 4 GB or 1 hour² (Super Slow Motion Movie) 30 sec.

Still Image Type	JPEG compression (Exif 2.3 [Exif Print] compliant) / Design rule for Camera File system and DPOF ver. 1.1 compliant), RAW, RAW+JPEG
Movies	MOV [H.264 + Linear PCM (stereo)] iFrame

Canon Printers	Canon SELPHY Compact Photo Printers and Canon Inkjet Printers supporting PictBridge (ID Photo Print, Fixed Size Print and Movie Print supported on SELPHY CP & ES printers only)
PictBridge	Yes

Red-Eye Correction	Yes, during shooting and playback
My Camera / My Menu	Start-up image and camera sounds customisation. Menu customisation
My Category	Image tagging feature
Intelligent Orientation Sensor	Yes
Histogram	Yes, live histogram
Playback zoom	Approx. 2x – 10x
Self Timer	Approx. 2 or 10 sec., Custom
Menu Languages	English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Chinese (traditional), Japanese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Farsi, Hindi, Malay, Indonesian, Vietnamese

Computer	Hi-Speed USB (MTP, PTP) dedicated connector (Mini-B compatible)
Other	HDMI Mini Connector (HDMI-CEC compatible) A/V output (PAL/NTSC)

Browsing & Printing	ImageBrowser EX
Other	PhotoStitch
Image Manipulation	Digital Photo Professional for RAW development

Batteries	Rechargeable Li-ion Battery NB-10L (battery and charger supplied)
Battery life	Approx. 315 shots¹ Approx. 420 min. playback
A/C Power Supply	Optional, AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC80

Cases / Straps	Soft Case DCC-850
Lenses	Filter Adapter FA-DC67A (Compatible with Canon 67mm Filters: Circular Polarizing PL-C B, Protect Filter)
Flash	Canon Speedlites (including 270EX, 270EX II, 320EX, 430EX II, 580EX II¹, 600EX, 600EX-RT), Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, Speedlite bracket SB-E2, Off-Camera Shoe Cord OC-E3
Remote Controller/ Switch	Remote Switch RS-60E3
Power Supply & Battery Chargers	AC Adapter Kit ACK-DC80, Battery Charger CB-2LCE
Other	Lens Hood LH-DC60 Canon HDMI Cable HTC-100

Operating Environment	0 – 40 °C, 10 – 90% humidity
Dimensions (WxHxD)	122.5 x 87.3 x 105.5 mm
Weight	Approx. 595 g (including battery/batteries and memory card)

Zoom	¹ Depending on the image size selected.
AF Modes	¹ Some settings limit availability.
Manual Power Adjustment	¹ Not all functions of the flash are supported.
External Flash	¹ Not all functions of the flash are supported.
Continuous Shooting	¹ Under conditions where the flash does not fire. ² Depending on memory card speed / capacity / compression setting.
Movie Length	¹ The following Speed Class memory cards are required for maximum record time: (HD) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 4 or above. (Full HD) 1920 x 1080 Speed Class 6 or above. (iFrame) 1280 x 720 Speed Class 6 or above. ² Depending on memory card speed / capacity / compression setting.
Battery life	¹ Using the batteries and memory card format supplied with the camera (where included), except where indicated.
Flash	¹ Not all functions of the flash are supported.

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Review

Latest Reviews

Image Quality

Noise

Sharpening

Focal Range

Chromatic Aberrations

File Quality

Macro

Flash

Night

Anti Shake

Dynamic Range Correction

HDR

Sample Images

Sample RAW Images

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

Review Roundup

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Specifications

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IMAGE PROCESSOR

LENS

FOCUSING

EXPOSURE CONTROL

SHUTTER

WHITE BALANCE

VIEWFINDER

LCD MONITOR

FLASH

SHOOTING

RECORDING PIXELS / COMPRESSION

FILE TYPES

DIRECT PRINT

OTHER FEATURES

INTERFACE

MEMORY CARD

SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEM

SOFTWARE

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ACCESSORIES

PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS

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