One of the things I love about Super-zoom Point and Shoot cameras in general, and the Canon SX50HS in particular, is how fast and easy it is to shift gears from expansive landscapes and intimate macros to extreme telephoto close-ups. Since I am interested in birds and butterflies and dragonflies, all of which require the extreme telephoto, I have set both of the “Custom” scene modes to telephoto. One automatically puts the camera in Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill and –1/3EV Exposure compensation, sets the shutter to continuous (about 3 fps) …and zooms the lens from where ever I was working to full zoom (1200mm equivalent field of view) faster than you can read this sentence…and the second does the same but adds 1.5x digital tel-converter function for 1800mm equivalent field of view. In either Custom mode, I can focus to under 5 feet, so I use these modes for distant birds, but also for frame filling portraits of closer birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and even flowers. And I can be there as fast as I can turn the control dial.

This shot of an immature male Anna’s Hummingbird in Palm Canyon in the Anza Borrego Desert is a case in point. It is what I would have considered a hopeless shot a few years ago. The bird was deep in brush, and, being a hummingbird, was not staying still for more than a few seconds at at time. Getting it in the frame, let alone getting it in focus, before it is somewhere else…not going to happen. Even having the right lens on the camera when you saw it…or having a telephoto lens that focused close enough was highly unlikely.  However I have begun to realize that the Canon SX50HS often surprises me by catching the impossible shot, so I spun the control dial to Custom 2 for 1800mm, framed, half pressed the shutter to catch focus, and shot off a burst. And, what do you know!

Gotta love those tiny feet!

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.