The Incredible New Canon Powershot
I felt like an excited Apple fanboy collecting my brand new Canon Powershot SX60 HS on the 1st of October (launch Day) and get to immediately take it away with me to Kenya on an Educational tour with the Kenya Tourism Board prior to the Magical Kenya Travel Expo (MKTE) in Nairobi.
We touched down in Nairobi on 2nd October and headed for the bush in the Samburu National Park an hours flight north of Nairobi, the next morning.
I was hopelessly under-prepared, no tripod, new camera and not really able to do much more than shoot on auto and experiment. Not good planning for a camera with a 20 – 1360 lens but nevertheless the opportunity to try hand holds on ultra-long shots.
What a camera, how Canon packs so much punch into such a small frame I will never know. What were my immediate impressions? The image stabilization system is phenomenal. Challenging bird opportunities were relatively easily handled. I made a lot of mistakes in the experimentation process but the results were still incredibly exciting. Birds that were barely visible with the naked eye were hauled in for some acceptable results.
Samburu National Park is exciting because it brings a whole range of unusual animal and bird species into play. Samburu is home to the Reticulated Giraffe, an animal of breathtaking beauty, the unmistakable Grévy’s zebra, the long necked Gerenuk antelope who gently stands on its hind legs looking as if it is in the process of relieving itself like a human, holds the Acacia gently between the lobes of its hoof and feeds in a stratosphere where no other antelope competes and the Oryx, much like our Gemsbok. In addition there is the Dik Dik, the smallest antelope in Africa. On the bird front there are some of the Kenyan specials like superb Starlings, Yellow necked Spurfowl, white headed Buffalo weavers and a host of other tantalizing species.
I was also required to record various pros and cons of safari camps which involved often gloomy interiors to safari tents as well as problematic backlighting situations. The camera worked all these conundrums out with consummate skill and produced acceptable if not brilliant clear shots – most impressive. I can’t imagine how much better these will all become when I have had time to learn all about the camera but at this point of time I just pointed, shot and marveled. I also used the video facility with equal excitement.
Imagine when I have matched a tripod, set the speed and aperture to my liking, linked my cellphone to act as a remote, downloaded to my cellphone utilizing the Wi-Fi facility and all the other wonderful gizmos.
Don’t look at these pics as artistic masterpieces but rather as recordals of new species or deliberate experimental exercises.
