Ok, I would love to know how you guys get these... I tried yesterday, and was rubbish! I have an SX50, but with the full extension of the magnificent zoom, I couldn't keep the birds in the frame long enough to shoot them! The closer they were - so filling the frame better - the harder they were to follow...

I know I need to use manual focus, which I didn't do yesterday, but there has to be more to it than that. I will post a couple here - the rest are too embarrasing! I would appreciate it if anyone can identify the bird from these awful shots.

I tried setting the camera to take a string of shots, but it was too slow - plus the viewfinder doesn't show what you are looking at after the first shot, so it is impossible to follow the flight path.

I know the camera is capable of much better than this, because I have seen quite a few sx50 posts on here, but I am not doing something right.

Be gentle... :?

Curse these phone cables!

I agree! Using it for special effects is one thing, but I think a good HDR shouldn't *look* like and HDR...

I already ordered the cheat sheet; the book listed there is for the SX10; never having seen one of those, I have no idea how similar it is to the 50.

Thanks, I'll try that...

I would imagine that they are just the same, although I am no expert. It isn't like the old days when CRT televisions were so different from monitors. These are both digital, so why would they be different?

I am sure there will be a flood of messages if I am wrong on this!

As a happy (new) owner of the SX50, I think it is great. The lens is phenomenal! There *is* still some slight shutter delay, though. Check out the refurb stuff at Canon.com. You may find a kit with a T3 or T3i and a lens or two within your price range. That was what I was looking at, until I saw the results that people were posting on here from the sx.

That is a shame! It's not like the guy was injured by it or anything...

Amazon was the first place I looked, but there is nothing close. If they don't have it, then there won't be anything used for people to sell on ebay.

The manual which came with the camera is *only* on pdf, which makes it hard to read through. If I zoom in enough to make reading it comfortable, then I only get a part of a page. It is also close to 300 pages in length, which makes printing it out somewhat problematic - not to mention the size it would be! I have read on here of people getting it printed out small and bound at Staples. I will look into that, but my closest Staples is quite some way off, so that will have to wait until I get over that way.

I am actually one of those people who likes to *read* the manual, but I need a book in my hand to do that.

They have been out for over a year, for what I understand, which is plenty of time for aftermarket books to appear. I guess people maybe think it is too much of a niche market or something.

Probably - and that one is one honking great beast of a star!

Ordered one yesterday, for around $10. I can't find any books written about the SX50, which is surprising, seeing as how popular they are - they even have them in my local wallmart! That was what actually made my decision for me - it had a battery and was 'live', so I was able to check out the zoom and the general feel of it. Even a 'dummies' book would be useful. I have a bunch of those for all kinds of fields, and they are a good first step before spending huge amounts on some of the more techy books.

I flew one once, for just a couple of minutes... I was on one of these 'event days', because our company had done well, or something, and it was my turn. We did archery, go-carts, clay pigeon shooting, etc. One of the activities was a ride in a tiger moth. At the time, I was learning to fly a cessna 150, and I told the pilot about it. Turned out he was also a qualified instructor, and he let me take it for a few minutes, and log it as a lesson! Handles a bit different from the cessna! Great fun, though.

Yeah, I like the selective effect. I also remember using red or yellow filters with ilford FP4, back in the day.
It would be nice to give one of the kites its colour back, or maybe the girl's bikini...

Beautiful shot! Why won't the birds stop and pose like this for me? :-D

Really like the second one...

Yeah, I love the droplet shot!