I have a family of deer that walk past my house a few times a week, stopping at my next door neighbor's to eat apples from his tree. I got some decent shots of them at first with my a6000 and 18-135mm lens but I couldn't get close enough so I started using my SX50. The shots were ok with the summer light shooting in AV mode but now it is getting darker here in NJ and I was wondering if I might get sharper shots of them in TV/M/ or even Sports mode.

Any suggestion or advice appreciated. Here's a few recent photos with the SX50 in AV:

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JoeM

I think those photos are darn good.

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space-time
I think those photos are darn good.

Thanks! Not as sharp as I would have liked in the actual photo but I was able to get them a bit better in Photoshop.There was about 5 or 6 tonight but it was already dusk and I tried using TV mode and blew what would have been some really nice shots.

I still haven’t gotten a handle on low light shooting and the lenses I have are not fast so it’s even tougher for me.

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JoeM

Maybe some good suggestions here?:

[www.dpreview.com]
[www.dpreview.com]
[community.usa.canon.com]

Those are pretty nice shots you got there. I haven't done that much with low light with mine (other than shooting some nice pics of the moon), but I was grateful to get this shot just recently ... this is the immature youngster I posted about here awhile back:



... took me a long time to get this shot, these guys are fast!

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

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PeterB
Maybe some good suggestions here?:

[www.dpreview.com]
[www.dpreview.com]
[community.usa.canon.com]

Those are pretty nice shots you got there. I haven't done that much with low light with mine (other than shooting some nice pics of the moon), but I was grateful to get this shot just recently ... this is the immature youngster I posted about here awhile back:



... took me a long time to get this shot, these guys are fast!

Thanks! I will check the links out. That’s a great shot you got! So much detail. I have never been able to get decent shots with my SX 50 in low light. It does great in good sunlight.

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JoeM

Wow, I need to find and pull out my SX50. It's been forever.

I have an SX40 that I never opened. I try to list it on eBay or Amazon but I procrastinate…

Here's an old (Maui, 2014) SX40 pic at pretty much full zoom from so far away you could barely see the little red bird with the naked eye.... looks a bit more mature than Peter's. For shooting the deer, slow roasted with chimichurri sauce would be best. They look pretty tasty.



Best trick I've found for megazoom shooting is to pick a setting that is close to what you need, set the camera to bracket the exposure, and when you're pointing and shooting, preview the shot by pushing the shutter button halfway to focus, to see what you're gonna get, and by prefocusing on slightly different areas within the desired shot, you can change the lighting for the shot. When you get the desired exposure in the viewfinder, just move the camera slightly while keeping the shutter button depressed halfway until you get the proper framing, then blast away. You'll get keepers most of the time. Good luck.
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Buzz
Here's an old (Maui, 2014) SX40 pic at pretty much full zoom from so far away you could barely see the little red bird with the naked eye.... looks a bit more mature than Peter's. For shooting the deer, slow roasted with chimichurri sauce would be best. They look pretty tasty.



Best trick I've found for megazoom shooting is to pick a setting that is close to what you need, set the camera to bracket the exposure, and when you're pointing and shooting, preview the shot by pushing the shutter button halfway to focus, to see what you're gonna get, and by prefocusing on slightly different areas within the desired shot, you can change the lighting for the shot. When you get the desired exposure in the viewfinder, just move the camera slightly while keeping the shutter button depressed halfway until you get the proper framing, then blast away. You'll get keepers most of the time. Good luck.
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Buzz, thanks, that’s a good idea. I wonder if bracketing will be fast enough to capture them. They are constantly moving.

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JoeM

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JoeM

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PeterB
Maybe some good suggestions here?:

[www.dpreview.com]
[www.dpreview.com]
[community.usa.canon.com]

Those are pretty nice shots you got there. I haven't done that much with low light with mine (other than shooting some nice pics of the moon), but I was grateful to get this shot just recently ... this is the immature youngster I posted about here awhile back:



... took me a long time to get this shot, these guys are fast!

Thanks! I will check the links out. That’s a great shot you got! So much detail. I have never been able to get decent shots with my SX 50 in low light. It does great in good sunlight.

I'll have to practice a little more with the low light shots. The last time I tried, it was for the hummingbird moths I posted about awhile back here ... the problem wasn't merely that it was low light, but on top of that, the moths were moving incredibly fast... like hummingbirds.

As for the birds, again it seems a matter of being patient and right place, right time. Here's his mate, again this took me awhile to get a good shot:



... not quite so garish as the male, but still quite pretty nonetheless.

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)

An SX50 has a really tiny sensor (1/2.3 inch) which means that it is optimized for bright daylight long telephoto shooting. The laws of physics are against you getting decent low light shots due to the small sensor size, no matter what settings you use..

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

I agree with Davester. About the only thing that you may be able to do is to raise the ISO, but then you have to watch out for grainy, noisy pictures.

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The arts are not luxuries but assets that give way more than they cost.
--Ronald Tucker on YouTube

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it is not open.
--Frank Zappa

An SX50 has a really tiny sensor (1/2.3 inch) which means that it is optimized for bright daylight long telephoto shooting. The laws of physics are against you getting decent low light shots due to the small sensor size, no matter what settings you use..

I agree with Davester. About the only thing that you may be able to do is to raise the ISO, but then you have to watch out for grainy, noisy pictures.

This. But since you know Photoshop, there are noise reduction tools, and the SX50 has NR and image stabilization settings. You applied some of those?

Also, a monopod is very helpful and less bulky than a tripod for long zoom cameras.

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Disclaimer: This post is checked for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Any attempts at humor are solely the responsibility of the author and bear no claim that any and all readers will approve or appreciate said attempt at humor.
My name is DP, and I approve this message.

"Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime."- Lavrentiy Beria

Thanks everyone, you guys have summed up the problem someone faces in low light with the SX50 and I guess with that small sensor, even with the reach, I won't get the light needed, no matter what setting I use. I have Topaz Labs DeNoise Ai as well as Skylum's Noiseless and they are a great help, as DP said.

I think I'll have to take a few evenings when they aren't about and try out different setting along with bracketing to see what works best.

Here's a recent shot from about 100 feet away:

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JoeM

Definitely monopod.... didn't think of mentioning it before because I never go shooting without 'em, but that extra bit of stability surely helps.

Also, the bracketing thing takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.
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Buzz
Definitely monopod.... didn't think of mentioning it before because I never go shooting without 'em, but that extra bit of stability surely helps.

Also, the bracketing thing takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature.
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I’ve been wondering about a monopod for a while now. I have a nice travel tripod but it still takes some time to take out and set up. Necessary for SX50 moon shots. Thanks I’ll see about picking one up.

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JoeM

Moon shots, definitely go three legs... but for wildlife and sporty stuff, the monopod rules.

I splurged on a fancy carbon fiber monopod quite awhile ago, and after this newfangled digital photography stuff started to catch on, I scored a deal on an alloy monopod with a mostly plastic pan head that takes a standard size quick release plate. Swapping in a metal plate has been easy-peasy, so sometimes I’ll tote two monopods/cameras, with one for pics, and the other for videos. We have a couple of tripods that have integrated monopods; and they can be more of a gimmick than a usable monopod, so you might want to test drive those first. The tripod we got for Mrs. Buzz’s Zooming with her iPad and ring lights has turned out to be okay for family Zoom sessions, but its built in monopod sucks rocks, while Baby Buzz scored a cheap, but heavy duty tripod to use with his large format (ancient) Mamiya.... and its integrated monopod is surprisingly robust.
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I've done moon shots without a mono/tripod, I guess I must just have steady hands.

Here's the shot I got, some time ago (stitched together using Photoshop) ... bandwidth warning: [i.imgur.com]

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Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2021 07:39PM by PeterB.

Buzz, good to know not to waste my money on a combination tripod/monopod. Thanks
PeterB that’s a nice moonshot for being handheld. I’ve gotten a few that were ok handheld but I did much better using my inexpensive $60 tripod:

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JoeM

Nice wildlife shots in flat lighting unaided by any support, like a tripod or a monopod. Great shots in fact! Hell, you can see individual hairs on the subject! You've got steady hands!

Bright sunlight might give you even finer detail even with a higher shutter speed but with somewhat de-saturated colors??? You've done well!

But then, my photo savvy is years and years old! Price-cube, you're probably the reigning "photography buff" here! What do you say?

Nice wildlife shots in flat lighting unaided by any support, like a tripod or a monopod. Great shots in fact! Hell, you can see individual hairs on the subject! You've got steady hands!

Price-cube, you're probably the reigning "photography buff" and most savvy head here! What do you say?

Thanks GeneH! Actually the shots weren’t that great. They were just ok and needed a bit of post work to get some decent detail.

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JoeM