PowerShot SX60 having focus problem when zooming

Discussion in 'Technical Troubleshooting' started by Raffah Bass, Dec 10, 2021.

  1. Raffah Bass

    Raffah Bass New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    2
    Equipment:
    Canon PowerShot SX60 HS
    Hi! I'm from Brazil.
    I have a Canon PowerShot SX60 HS that I used for bird photography and I've always taken care of it a lot.
    About 2 months ago she had the following problem:
    Without using optical zoom, the camera focuses almost normally. When I use optical zoom, it darkens the screen and returns to normal (like a slow blink). From that moment on, she has a lot of difficulty focusing, has a slow shutter speed and the image quality is very poor. I never dropped it or let it get wet.
    I took it to a specialized technical assistance (27 years in the market) and she is having difficulty finding the problem.
    Any idea what's causing the problem?
     

  2. johnsey

    johnsey Site Moderator Staff Member Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2017
    Messages:
    2,278
    Location:
    Fargo, ND
    Equipment:
    5dMk4, 5dsR, 5dMk2, 20D, 70-200 2.8L IS, 100mm 2.8 Macro USM, 50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 17-40mm 4.0L, TS-E 24mm 3.5L II, Rokinon 14mm 2.8; Pixma Pro-100
    This is performing how I would expect it to at that zoom factor; at 65x you are sitting at roughly 1300mm. There is a noticeable amount of travel hand holding any long lens, for example a 200mm zoom requires a steady hand and a fast shutter speed. The rule of thumb is to shoot (1/X) x =the length of the lens, so you would have to shoot 1/1300 hand held to freeze camera shake movement from your hands. This does not take into consideration image stabilization but even that has its limits.
    I have seen every point and shoot even the bridge cameras struggle at long zooms, even if they are optical, the feed to the screen is still digital and the camera struggles a bit.
    At 1/125 you will need a tripod to get a good exposure at that length, be sure to turn OFF image stabilization on a tripod.
    You should be able to increase the shutter speed in manual or shutter priority modes.https://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1019322/~/setting-the-aperture-and-shutter-speed-(powershot-sx60-hs)

    Bridge cameras are a great way to get get zoom cheaply, but they will not give the same results that you would get fro a 800mm lens which costs 12k dollars. You can get good shots with that zoom if you understand what its limits are how to work with them. I honestly have no idea why the camera is trying to use 1/125 of a sec when zoomed out that far.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2021
  3. Raffah Bass

    Raffah Bass New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2021
    Messages:
    2
    Equipment:
    Canon PowerShot SX60 HS
    Unfortunately the reality of prices for cameras + lenses are quite expensive, which makes it difficult to use them just for hobby. I agree that the shutter speed is on average this value (1/160). As I've been using it for about 1 year (I bought it used), I've never had a problem like this when taking pictures of birds. In a bright environment, she always focused very quickly and had a satisfying quality. The problem it presented is that, after removing all the zoom, it remains with 1/160 in a well-lit place. If I increase, for example, to 1/500, the image is very dark even in a very bright environment. As in the video, she has immense difficulty finding focus on a relatively isolated object, and that she has never done. Bird photography almost always requires maximum zoom. I will show a result before and after the problem, with the same lighting conditions and 65x zoom (I never used a tripod). The brown bird is before the problem, and the black bird is after the problem. Both unedited.
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     

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