Blinded By The Excitement - The Canon SX 60 HS

Okay, there are days and days. And some days you are in a daze.

I have to confess that I have forgotten to take a picture of the subject of this column - the Canon SX 60 HS camera. It was in my hand for a day, and I shot pictures all over the place with it, and then forgot to set it down on the table and take a picture of it. My only excuse is I was so excited about what it does that I concentrated on that and let the external appearance go.

Okay, You're looking at this weblog column on a computer. Google over to the Camera Electronic site for the camera and see what it looks like and read the gush about it. Then come back and I'll tell you what I found out.

Right. The target buyer for this camera has always been stated to be the newbie African or Alaskan traveller. They would benefit from the long zoom contained in the camera and as it can be run in a pretty sophisticated way straight out of the box, they are likely to produce some good animal and scenery shots even if they don't know how or why. Good thinking, Canon, and please always include something of this nature in your lineup.

I figured the best studio review test would be to imagine I was one of the novice tourists -  I had just picked it up, hopped on the plane, and then hit the ground shooting in Johannesburg or Vancouver*. I charged the battery, threw in a San Disk card, and whizzed round the back of the studio looking for airplanes.

None, but the birds were on the wire and the TV aerial and they sat still long enough for me to find out how good this lens and sensor combination is on distant wildlife. It is very good indeed. Note that I shot JPEG at Intelligent Auto setting with no more knowledge of what I was doing than a clerk in a lumber yard.

Next to the studio table and a '41 Chevy hot rod. ISO, WB, and focus selected by the camera - I just pointed, zoomed, and shot. The results haven't been tweaked - it really does what you see as a straight JPEG. By any criterion, it is doing good studio work.

That's kinda horrifying. It calls into question all the other fussy things I do to get these tabletop scenes and suggests that the careful artistic genius and fabulous technical skill I exhibit could just as easily be done by a guy in gloves holding a snow shovel. As long as he was holding the Canon SX 60 HS he could beat me.

Just as well I forgot to take a picture of the thing - you might have come into the shop and bought one and gone out and made me look bad. There are dangers everywhere...

Vancouver - City of Mystery. Home of the British Columbia Museum Of Wood Pulp. Twinned with Odessa in the Ukraine...bet the Ukrainians are nervous about that...I spent a month in Vancouver one week...