 |
| My very first photo with the Canon SX520 - Mourning Dove in the backyard beds. Not the greatest shot but still a nice way to start! |
 |
| A few minutes later, the bird (one of three) moved to the fence and was quite patient! |
A few days ago, I made the decision to pull the trigger and get a new "super zoom" digital camera as this year's spring birding season starts in earnest. My attention quickly was drawn to a $200 model, the PowerShot SX520 by Canon, my preferred supplier, which offers 42x optical zoom with very high user reviews (the newer SX530 takes it up to 50x, but the price more than doubles). I had long ago decided I am not interested in making a bigger commitment to standalone cameras (e.g Digital SLRs), and my iPhones and related gadgets have taken over for about 90% of my digital photo needs, but that big zoom is something necessary for good bird shots and those phones and tablets can't touch, and my old Canon "only" goes to 20x.
 |
| Impressed! 42x zoom gets the moon to start to fill the frame! |
So the camera arrived and I have a little time to get acquainted with it! And somewhat magically, after I got it unpacked, with battery and SD card installed, my first shooting opportunity turned out to be three backyard
Mourning Doves which proved fairly cooperative subjects. I say "magically" because though the Doves are frequently present in the neighborhood (seemingly more so in recent years) and we even had an observable nest a few years ago in the backyard sycamore, to see three on the ground, and then lingering on the fence, was an all-time first for me and led to some great moments for my initial experience with the new Canon.
I will be posting more about my experiences and comparisons with the old one, but for now I am quite pleased, after last night's inaugural shots and today's walk-in-the-park, though I found out that shipping with a charged battery was a delight but not to assume it's a fully charged battery!
 |
| My new camera - Canon PowerShot SX520 16 Megapixel Digital Camera with 42x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom with 3-Inch LCD (Black), $199 via Amazon. |
Comments