Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I finally got myself a printed manual, courtesy of Staples and $35, and I am spending some time working through it with camera in hand. I have come across some things which do not appear to work the way the book says, and I wondered if anyone else had tried to do these.

Firstly, the digital zoom is only available when shooting in full auto. The book doesn't say anything about this, but in any other mode, when I go to the menu, that setting is greyed out.

On the same option, looking at the digital tele-converter (P 132). The book says that you go the digital zoom setting, and select either 1.4x or 2.0x. When I go there - in full auto mode only - the only choices are standard and off. It also says that this option is not available when digital zoom is on, so it seems a bit strange to select it via this menu choice.

Changing noise reduction level (P 118). This option is greyed out in the menu in all shooting modes. It cannot be accessed.

Dynamic Range Correction. (P 120). This option is also greyed out in my menu in *every* shooting mode. It is not possible to access it at all.

All of these are in the section of the manual for shooting in 'P' mode, so I do not understand why some only work in full auto.

Have I got a dud here? I am still working through, but I thought I would post these straight away, and avoid a huge long list later...

Thanks in advance...

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

You have the camera set to save in RAW or RAW+JPG.

The options you are looking for are NOT available when shooting RAW.

Digital zoom is available in Full Auto because Full Auto saves only in JPG.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

That was a good catch! I was stumped :)

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Bloke, once you set to jpg only, and if you want to use P, Av or Tv, you can then set the back button on upper left to use as a quick access for toggling between optical zoom, and the two teleconverter choices 1.5x and 2x. But you probably want to get more familiar with the other stuff first. It can be daunting at first :) but Wahawk, myself, Dook, dlevon, among others, are here to help!

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Thank you very much!!! I was really starting to worry that I had a dud here. I tried that out and you are correct.

It is a bit disappointing, though, that some of those features are not available when shooting raw mode - especially the 'tele-converter'. Is there some intrinsic limitation which prevents this? It doesn't seem so, logically - but then, logic doesn't always rule, does it?

I eventually got to the end of the manual, and it lists these options as being available in most modes, but I didn't find anywhere in there that mentioned they couldn't be used in RAW.

I should have worked through the pdf file before getting it printed, since about 75% of it is for stuff I have no intention of ever using - the various edit and special effects and stuff. If I want anything like that done to a picture, I will do it in PP.

Thanks again for the help, guys...

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

The tele-converter is just a digital enhancement, like the zoom beyond 50x, so it makes sense to me that with RAW, you'd only be dealing with the lens (optical) itself.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Yeah, I didn't take too much notice of the back button stuff just yet. I want to learn how the basic stuff works first - that's how I hadn't come across these problems before.

This forum is a *huge* resource for us beginners! When I think back, I used to do a lot of PR stuff for the regiment when I was in the military, using my trusty A1, and Kowa Super 66, and in fact before them, something called a Chinon Memotron! The Kowa was fully manual only, and the 2 slrs shared similar features - you set the ASA/ISO, picked the mode, chose your aperture or shutter speed, and manually focused the lens. That was it. These digital beasties are incredibly powerful! I mean, this thing is no 5D, but it has more power than my first computers did...

I spend a couple of hours a day browsing through here, and I am learning a whole lot...

Thanks again...

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I want to try an experiment. I want to see if the image quality is the same with 2x converter, as opposed to optical only and blown up in PS. Logic says that it should be the same, but I guess it depends on how good the processing is in the camera vs. what PS can do.

It is something that I would only use on a tripod in any case - it's difficult enough keeping the frame still at 1200...

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Several people have posted comparisons. Probably a tripod is a good idea for your tests. Since I am mostly out trying to shoot distant, moving animals :) I don't use a tripod. Have found that 1.5x can give me some good results (keeping in mind the cost of the equipment, which I always do!), but it also seems to depend on how good the auto-focus worked -- specifically the light and the contrast of the main subject to its surroundings.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

I just sent you a PM.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Bloke, check page 146 which details some of the features blocked in RAW.

ggttc Loc: TN

I am disappointed in the manual. It was written by teenage alien schizophrenics who were off their meds and put out 286 pages of text without giving a comprehensive overview of any feature except how to turn the camera on and off...

There...I feel so much better.

But as Linda from a state that starts with an "M" said...ask a question here and you will get an understandable answer from people who are knowledgable photographers and have actually used the camera.

Personally, leave the manual at home...put the camera on auto and go out and learn the ins and outs of focusing...auto focus can get fooled pretty easily...and no feature can help with an out of focus shot...then work your way thru the other modes...one by one, refering to the manual and the folks here.

RedIris Loc: MN, USA

I found that using any of the scene modes, the camera reverts back to JPG only. Using stich, panorama, Burst mode, Hand held night shot.. etc.

I couldn't figure out where my RAW files went, after downloading to my computer!!!! LOL ah.. live and learn.

But I love the fact you can take a photo while in Movie mode. It's cool. I've only used it once though, on my Great Grandson.

I cropped the original down from 16:9 .

Snapshot While In Movie Mode

Scoutman Loc: Orlando, FL

Good advice posted for you here. Additionally, I alert you to a cheat sheet available through Amazon for approx. $10.95. Laminated, it folds down to "3.75 x 8.5" Covers most of the major features and makes things easy to find in a glance. Highly portable and long wearing.

Check it out, along with reviews at:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Powershot-SX50-HS-CheatSheet/dp/B009NLU80Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385820732&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+sx50+cheat+sheet

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Thanks. I had read that page, but managed to miss the little blurb at the end there. It would have been nicer if they had mentioned 'cannot be used with RAW' on the page/sections that deal with each of those capabilities.
If you were looking up how to use digital zoom, for example, how would you know that you had to check the RAW page to find out they weren't compatible.

I thought that I had turned off digital zoom, in fact I probably did on day 1, when it was still in auto. I couldn't figure out how to turn it back on later, because it was greyed out - of course, by that point I had it in a different mode.