I had not planned on writing this review today, Christmas Day. Our children and grandchildren don’t start arriving till tomorrow. Thus, Molly and I planned to spend this afternoon at the movie theater watching Mary Poppins Returns. Sold out! Thus, we are back home with some free time before supper.

Earlier today the male Pileated Woodpecker paid my yard a visit. He is a regular at my feeders and some of the dead trees in the yard. I knew this bird would hang around for a while, and give me the opportunity to take identical photographs with my SX60, and also with my new SX70. In summary I was dumbfounded in a positive way in terms how the Canon SX70 handled the low light compared to the SX60 I have owned for four years. This post includes the Canon SX70 and SX60 images … both right out of the camera and with some minor edits which I explain. As a fyi, I always use a monopod to help stabilize my photographs.

If you are interested in reading my original SX70 camera review, follow the link to my previous post. This review only compares the two cameras in terms of performance against each other. The other review reviews the camera in general. On with the review …

The weather conditions were blah … heavy overcast skies. A friend who was over at the house for Christmas brunch and myself both estimated the distance between me and the woodpecker as approximately twelve yards (he’s an ex football coach and should know that distance). I set the ISO at 200 for both the SX70 and the SX60 and used Aperture Priority. Note the HUGE difference in terms of shutter speeds between the two cameras. The SX 70 with identical Aperture Priority settings to the SX60 achieved a shutter speed  1/160th of a second. The SX60 could only achieve a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second. In addition the SX60 could not achieve focus. It was too dark.

Canon SX70 Aperture Priority: ISO = 200; Aperture = 5.6; Shutter Speed = 1/160th second

Photo #1 is directly out of my camera … unedited / no cropping

Photo #1 (same SX70 Image) was now opened in Camera Raw … following edits / no cropping

• Clarity +40
• Black +40
• Shadows +12

Canon SX60 Aperture Priority: ISO = 200; Aperture = 5.6; Shutter Speed = 1/80th second … no edits or cropping … not worth any effort … garbage photograph

Note: I took over 50 photos using burst mode … stopping ever 5 to 8 photographs to refocus and attempt to get a clean image. I could never get a focus lock with the SX60. The Pileated Woodpecker was in the same exact location relative to me.

Finally when the Pileated Woodpecker moved to my platform feeder to eat some corn, and the light was more directly upon it, I was able to achieve a focus lock. Although the conditions were heavy clouds, my earlier images were towards the sun’s position behind the thick clouds. The following SX60 image is unedited or cropped (directly out of the camera). The bird was more out in the open at this point, and the SX60 was now able to achieve a focus lock, but the shutter speed actually decreased to 1/25th of a second. For those of you who do bird photography, this speed is way to slow to reliable stop action on even a somewhat motionless bird. I was not able to take a photograph with my SX70 before the woodpecker flew away. Here is the SX60 image.

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The scene … the Northwoods of Minnesota … the edge of the Boreal forest … the sound of a waterfall … four inches of bright, fluffy new fallen snow.  Nemesis!

At 5:00 am as I lay half awake in bed I heard them hooting at me through the darkness. My local Great Horned Owls were playing with my brain. For two years I have tried unsuccessfully to find this love pair. They will serenade each other (and me) one to two hours before dawn. I have taken numerous hikes in the dark in futile attempts to find their daytime roosts … perhaps even their “love nest”, but alas to no avail.

Living next to Amity Creek (often flows like a river), the sound of the rapids and a waterfall reverberates in the ravine’s echo chamber 200 yards from my home which makes triangulating birds by sound difficult. However, this morning may have been different. I decided to get up and throw on warm clothes. The walk and driveway needed shoveling. By 5:15 am I was outside working. My Great Horned Owls had stopped hooting.  I imagine they were actually chuckling. They had lured my out of a warm bed next to my wife into the dark cold Minnesota night.

But wait … after shoveling the sidewalk, the hoots restarted. Leaving the uncleared driveway and my shovel behind I starting hiking though the inky blackness. Clouds meant it was pitch dark … no moonlight to guide me. However I caught a break; Amity Creek is now beneath a layer of winter ice. Even the sounds of the waterfall were muted under ice. Slowly I worked my way uphill, pausing every 100 yards to listen. Jackpot. I found the grove of majestic white pines where my friends were singing their night time chorus. If I am lucky, these trees are their daytime roost … might I even get lucky and find a nest in  February? (Great Horned Owls nest early in the year … thus their young hatch as new prey is birthed by small animals … an abundance of food for needy chicks).

I will return to the location after sunrise. The freshly fallen snow means I may be able to find owl pellets, or whitewash on tree trunks. My binoculars will be around my neck.

Nemesis … are you mine?

Here is the cousin of Nemesis … a Great Horned Owl I saw last February.