Canon Powershot SX50 Review: a Great Bridge Camera

I am a professional blogger, not a professional photographer. I want my photos to look professional without having to “fiddle” with settings. I don’t want to play with Aperture and Shutter Speed when I am in a hurry. I just want great photos! I want to set the camera on Auto and let the magic happen. I purchased the Sony NEX5 last year because of the good reviews and because the body was slim. When I received it I learned all too well why some people buy DSLR cameras and why others don’t.

Yes, you can put the Sony NEX in automatic mode and it will often take great photos. It does an amazing job of blurring the background, which highlights the object in front. If I knew more about the settings maybe I could get better photos when the lighting isn’t just right but after a year of playing around with those settings and never having any luck I decided to search for a different option.

Here is an outside photo I took with the Sony NEX 5R/K. The lighting outside was perfect so the photo came out great. I had it set on auto. Don’t get me wrong, the Sony NEX is a really good camera. I have been a Sony user for 15+ years and still own a Sony Cybershot so it was hard for me to decide to go with a different brand. For me, it was only good if the lighting was perfect. If the lighting isn’t just right, then you’re back to fiddling, which is often the case with many digital cameras anyway, and if you are like me you get frustrated because all you want to do is take great photos.

Another reason I am not a DSLR kind of camera person is the zoom. If you buy a DSLR camera like the Sony NEX or similar you will usually get a lens that zooms from 15 to 55 mm. This doesn’t go very far. If you want to zoom out to get something further away you will need to buy another lens and change them out. A longer lens can cost $350 to $700 or more and you also have to spend the time changing them out each time you want to zoom out, not to mention the lugging around of all that equipment.

These two things are the main reason I found I am not a true DSLR kind of camera person.

I decided to sell the Sony NEX and do more research to find a better fit for how I take photos. I take a lot of photos where I want the background blurred. I also like to take photos of wildlife in action and photos from far away. What I found was what I call a bridge camera.

A bridge camera is good compromise for those you don’t want a full-fledged DSLR camera but want a little more than a point and shoot digital camera. The bridge camera is large like a DSLR camera though so it will be bulky but they can zoom far, have automatic and manual settings (in case you are in the mood to fiddle around), and are lightweight. A DSLR can be heavy because of the weight of the lens. They cost a little more than a regular point and shoot camera averaging between $350 and $550. They are much more than most point and shoot cameras because they have manual settings and better lens.

After much research I bought the Canon PowerShot SX50 and so far it’s been a good choice.

I do have to say that the blurred background on the Sony NEX photos in auto is much better than the Canon SX50 in the auto. I haven’t figured out how to blur the background easily with the Canon other than putting in Manual mode and changing the Aperture, Shutter speed, and ISO, which I don’t know enough about yet. I wish there was an Auto setting on the Canon just to do blurred backgrounds. If there is, maybe I will find it yet.

I also like how easily it is to see what settings the photo was taken in, even if I have it set on Auto. The screen is large and and the indicators are bright. Just press the Display button several times and you get all of the details. The Sony had this feature too but I like how it is laid out better on the Canon. Maybe it will even help me read the settings so I can duplicate them in the future in Manual mode.

The zoom is amazing. It is 50 times and goes super far. Here are some photos I took of a squirrel, wild turkey in our backyard and sparrow in a bush that was about 40 feet away.

These aren’t perfect and I have just had this Canon for a week but from what I see so far this camera is going to be a great alternative to a DSLR camera. If I had my choice I would have kept the Sony NEX for the amazing blurring feature and bought the Canon SX50 for the zoom feature, but I really couldn’t afford both.

Another camera that was in the running was the Nikon COOLPIX P510. Sony also makes a Sony Cyber-shot bridge camera with a 30 zoom and Fujifilm also has one with a 30 zoom.

I don’t ever expect to be an amazing photographer but I would like my photos that I use on my blog and to share to look semi-professional. Hopefully this Canon SX50 will help me do just that and maybe I will learn to do a little fiddling along the way.

What kind of camera do you own and why do you like it? Why don’t you like it?