gdgt

If you simply must have the longest zoom in the room, the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS satisfies.

If you're looking for a camera that can really cover some distance, then you should certainly be looking at the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS. With its 24 - 1200 mm lens, there's really no scene it can't capture.

Image quality is up there with the best of its competitors, and we like the camera's ergonomics (although a zoom control on the lens would be very welcome) but where the SX50 HS falls down is operational speed, which compares poorly to its peers.

At £449 the SX50 HS is far from a budget camera, but it does dangle the 1200mm lens carrot and that's a feature that no other compact camera on the market can offer.

Like the SX40, this is basically a consistent, high-performance superzoom, and exactly the kind of camera our scoring system rewards. This is an easy recommendation over just about every competitor on the market.

The SX50 HS's output is sharp and accurate, and it delivers an extraordinary zoom ... It represents a significant step up from its predecessor, the SX40, but with rival superzooms with wider apertures throughout their range have proven that it's not always the length of your lens, but what you do...

For anybody looking to purchase a bridge camera this year, the Canon SX50 is easily one of the best options currently available on the market. An articulating screen, raw format shooting and of course that giant zoom all add to a fantastic package in a neat little body.

An excellent all-rounder but image quality has its foibles.

Whereas the previous SX40 HS felt predominantly like a fun tool for amateurs, the more DSLR-like Canon PowerShot SX50 HS with its improved image quality, new prosumer features, better handling and inevitably that 50x zoom lens make it a real alternative to a DSLR.