Canon SX50 Shooting Macro With Optical Zoom ? I'm just learning the SX50 and I am interested in shooting insects using zoom rather than macro. The macro setting requires getting to...

Lomax Loc: Florida

I'm just learning the SX50 and I am interested in shooting insects using zoom rather than macro. The macro setting requires getting to close to the subject and scaring it off. My question to the sx50 users is what would be optimal menu and function settings for quick target acquisition of things this small. I want to program C1 for this. Primarily I need to know the best AF settings, AE setting, should I use bracketing and any other suggestions. I'm posting a photo of a dragonfly I shot today but I was lucky to get it as I spent a lot of time trying to get it focused, most shots were out of focus.

Red Dragon

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Your dragon is a nice capture, and an excellent example of close-up photography.

You are correct about true macro, in that camera and lens must be quite close to subject in order to capture 1:1 magnification (life-size). Any image less than 1:1 mag would be a close-up, not a macro-photograph.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Great photo! I haven't tried too many tiny subjects - just distant subjects that end up tiny in the frame :)

From other discussions: servo AF on, continuous AF on, spot AE point - center, IS mode continuous, display area SMALL. I found that because there aren't many aperture settings, it was hard to go with shutter priority. So I try to keep the ISO under 500 (for less noise), aperture at 6.5 or 7.1 -- and hope the shutter speed is fast enough :)

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

Have only had my SX50 for a short time, so I am still in first grade. However, I have played around with 'Macro' setting a little. It works best on wide angle, but I did get OK results at around 200mm at 2X. This will focus to about 5". I simply used 'P', but did also try ISO400 @ shutter priority of 1/400 (higher ISO to give smaller aperture, hence larger DOF).

Rather than use digital zoom (for any application), use 1.5X or 2.0X extenders instead. These are optical & will give a sharper image than digital zoom. Earl.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

DOOK wrote:

Rather than use digital zoom (for any application), use 1.5X or 2.0X extenders instead. These are optical & will give a sharper image than digital zoom. Earl.

Good point about 'digital zoom' which is actually "empty magnification". That means only cropping applied, not actual magnification. Tele-Extenders or extension tubes will provide true magnification.

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

Nikonian72 wrote:

Good point about 'digital zoom' which is actually "empty magnification". That means only cropping applied, not actual magnification. Tele-Extenders or extension tubes will provide true magnification.

Just to expand on the menu selected extenders...These are 'in camera' & are not the same as the TCs on a DSLR, which fit between lens & camera body. I don't know how Canon did it, but the 1.5X & 2.0X extenders appear to have no inherent affect on IQ & do not reduce light transmission, like a conventional TC does. Personally, with the 'in camera' extenders, which work so well, I don't know why Canon put digital zoom on this camera in the first place, as I could not imagine anybody using it.

Lomax Loc: Florida

Linda From Maine wrote:

Great photo! I haven't tried too many tiny subjects - just distant subjects that end up tiny in the frame :)

From other discussions: servo AF on, continuous AF on, spot AE point - center, IS mode continuous, display area SMALL. I found that because there aren't many aperture settings, it was hard to go with shutter priority. So I try to keep the ISO under 500 (for less noise), aperture at 6.5 or 7.1 -- and hope the shutter speed is fast enough :)

Thanks Linda, You gave me just what I was looking for and it makes sense. What do you think about using focus bracketing for this kind of shooting, is it not necessary or a good fail safe?

Lomax Loc: Florida

DOOK wrote:

Just to expand on the menu selected extenders...Th... (show quote)

Thanks Dook, Just to clarify my shot was taken using the camera's internal 2.0X TC and I agree minimal difference in using glass as I have a 2.0x TC that fits this camera and quit using it because I could detect no difference which made it not worth the time to attach. Canon did a great job with this.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Lomax wrote:

Thanks Linda, You gave me just what I was looking for and it makes sense. What do you think about using focus bracketing for this kind of shooting, is it not necessary or a good fail safe?

I haven't tried. Let me know how it works out :)

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

DOOK wrote:

Just to expand on the menu selected extenders...Th... (show quote)

The 1.5x and 2x extenders ARE Digital Zoom effects. They are just added to the optical range starting at the short end, instead of starting at the 'farthest' end of the Optical zoom. If the camera did not have "digital" zoom it would not have the "Digital Tele-Extenders" either.

From the results of the extenders and the regular digital zoom, I would have to say that Canon appears to have added some basic 'fractals' into their Digic5 Processor, because that is the effect we can see. However, it is not as good as the full program version of Fractals which is now called Perfect ReSize.