I originally had the Fujifilm F10, which I liked for the long battery life and ISO 1600 capability. I bought this product in spite of the 12MP, not because of it; who needs the extra pixels, they presumably reduce battery life and quality? The rated battery life is a bit tight at 230 shots per charge (vs 500 shots for the F10). So I cannot travel with abandon as before without the charger because sometimes I end up in the 300-350 shots per trip range. But the 230 shots will allow me to go all day without worrying about the battery.
I like the double photo with/wo flash feature.
I did some testing at ISO 100-200. I rate the photo quality as "high", but then I'm a snapshotter, not a National Geographic photographer.
I did some testing at ISO 6400. The quality certainly degrades, and because of this, I wouldn't rely on high ISO as a crutch for situations where a tripod cannot be used. However it allows me to get some very nice low light shots without flash that would be completely impossible otherwise. I can proceed in a much darker environment than the ISO 1600 I previously used on the F10.
Edit 1: I now have taken about 1000 shots of friends, family, and landscape. The image stabilization feature is very handy. I'm still very happy with the quality of photo results. Although I didn't buy it because of the smaller packaging, I find it is very handy now that I have used it - it nearly disappears in my shirt pocket.
However, I encountered a single room with apparently unique lighting - it showed as a vertical purple streak in the LCD finder. The streak did not show up in photos, but was distracting during the composure process. However, I later shot 57 minutes of video interviews in this same room - the purple streak remained in the video.
This is the only condition that I have ever seen the streak - the sun was shining and would have been intensified by the snow reflections, but not shining directly into the room. The windows were not in the LCD viewfinder when the streak appeared.
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I own a Canon S2IS and was looking for something more compact and less complicated to use. The first camera I tried was the Fuji F40fd. It's watercolor NR system and lack of a dual IS left me wanting more. Shortly after I purchased it the F50fd came out so I returned the F40 in favor of the F50.I tried a few other compact cameras as well which are included in the following list but so far nothing has been able to nudge out the F50.Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver)Fujifilm Finepix F40fd 8.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 6x Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)In "blind" (not knowing which camera took what photos) tests, I asked family and friends to view, compare, and comment on images (both on the computer screen as well as prints), and the F50fd was consistently chosen as having the sharpest photos with the most "true" color representation among all the other cameras mentioned above. The F50fd is on par with the Canon S2IS in regards to image quality. It lacks the 12x zoom and the full manual controls of the S2IS but the F50fd is compact, easy to transport, handle, less complicated, takes much better low light and night shots than the Canon.What I liked about the F50fd:* Dual image stabilization.* The noise reduction system is an improvement over the F40fd.* The LCD on the F50fd is slightly larger.* The F50fd is an excellent low light shooter.* Face detection 2.0 is a definite improvement over the previous model's fd system.* Manual aperture or shutter control.* A simple and intuitive menu system.* Great battery life.* Options for memory cards (XD, SD. SDHC).What I didn't like:* The F40fd's "auto" mode started @ ISO 100. Fuji changed the "auto" mode to a minimum of ISO 400 on the F50fd (?).* Fuji removed the on screen histogram from the F40fd (?).* Continuous shooting speeds are a very slow with both models.Keeping the ISO @ 100 seems to be a growing theme these days among compacts. Anything above 100 and you get noisy fast or a NR system kicks in and blurs all your details away. Fuji's "noise" is still easier to deal with than that of other camera manufacturers in my opinion. Sure you could use ISO 3200 but why would you want to? Even a DSLR would have noise issues at that speed. This camera isn't a replacement for a DSLR. Its a fun, compact, good low light shooter. The ability to set either manual aperture or shutter speed along with the "night" mode and the "night" mode with "long exposure" makes for some amazing low light / night shots. I think that compared to other models in this price range the Fuji F50fd still manages to stay above the competition (Especially when you consider the $[...] rebate). The F50fd isn't perfect but what is?
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Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2007
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2007
I own a Canon S2IS and was looking for something more compact and less complicated to use. The first camera I tried was the Fuji F40fd. It's watercolor NR system and lack of a dual IS left me wanting more. Shortly after I purchased it the F50fd came out so I returned the F40 in favor of the F50.
I tried a few other compact cameras as well which are included in the following list but so far nothing has been able to nudge out the F50.
[[ASIN:B000M4KXF6 Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MCZFQ0 Fujifilm Finepix F40fd 8.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MW3YEU Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MW7B12 Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 6x Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)]]
In "blind" (not knowing which camera took what photos) tests, I asked family and friends to view, compare, and comment on images (both on the computer screen as well as prints), and the F50fd was consistently chosen as having the sharpest photos with the most "true" color representation among all the other cameras mentioned above. The F50fd is on par with the Canon S2IS in regards to image quality. It lacks the 12x zoom and the full manual controls of the S2IS but the F50fd is compact, easy to transport, handle, less complicated, takes much better low light and night shots than the Canon.
What I liked about the F50fd:
* Dual image stabilization.
* The noise reduction system is an improvement over the F40fd.
* The LCD on the F50fd is slightly larger.
* The F50fd is an excellent low light shooter.
* Face detection 2.0 is a definite improvement over the previous model's fd system.
* Manual aperture or shutter control.
* A simple and intuitive menu system.
* Great battery life.
* Options for memory cards (XD, SD. SDHC).
What I didn't like:
* The F40fd's "auto" mode started @ ISO 100. Fuji changed the "auto" mode to a minimum of ISO 400 on the F50fd (?).
* Fuji removed the on screen histogram from the F40fd (?).
* Continuous shooting speeds are a very slow with both models.
Keeping the ISO @ 100 seems to be a growing theme these days among compacts. Anything above 100 and you get noisy fast or a NR system kicks in and blurs all your details away. Fuji's "noise" is still easier to deal with than that of other camera manufacturers in my opinion. Sure you could use ISO 3200 but why would you want to? Even a DSLR would have noise issues at that speed. This camera isn't a replacement for a DSLR. Its a fun, compact, good low light shooter. The ability to set either manual aperture or shutter speed along with the "night" mode and the "night" mode with "long exposure" makes for some amazing low light / night shots. I think that compared to other models in this price range the Fuji F50fd still manages to stay above the competition (Especially when you consider the $[...] rebate). The F50fd isn't perfect but what is?
I tried a few other compact cameras as well which are included in the following list but so far nothing has been able to nudge out the F50.
[[ASIN:B000M4KXF6 Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MCZFQ0 Fujifilm Finepix F40fd 8.3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MW3YEU Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)]]
[[ASIN:B000MW7B12 Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ7S 7.2MP Digital Camera with 6x Image Stabilized Zoom (Silver)]]
In "blind" (not knowing which camera took what photos) tests, I asked family and friends to view, compare, and comment on images (both on the computer screen as well as prints), and the F50fd was consistently chosen as having the sharpest photos with the most "true" color representation among all the other cameras mentioned above. The F50fd is on par with the Canon S2IS in regards to image quality. It lacks the 12x zoom and the full manual controls of the S2IS but the F50fd is compact, easy to transport, handle, less complicated, takes much better low light and night shots than the Canon.
What I liked about the F50fd:
* Dual image stabilization.
* The noise reduction system is an improvement over the F40fd.
* The LCD on the F50fd is slightly larger.
* The F50fd is an excellent low light shooter.
* Face detection 2.0 is a definite improvement over the previous model's fd system.
* Manual aperture or shutter control.
* A simple and intuitive menu system.
* Great battery life.
* Options for memory cards (XD, SD. SDHC).
What I didn't like:
* The F40fd's "auto" mode started @ ISO 100. Fuji changed the "auto" mode to a minimum of ISO 400 on the F50fd (?).
* Fuji removed the on screen histogram from the F40fd (?).
* Continuous shooting speeds are a very slow with both models.
Keeping the ISO @ 100 seems to be a growing theme these days among compacts. Anything above 100 and you get noisy fast or a NR system kicks in and blurs all your details away. Fuji's "noise" is still easier to deal with than that of other camera manufacturers in my opinion. Sure you could use ISO 3200 but why would you want to? Even a DSLR would have noise issues at that speed. This camera isn't a replacement for a DSLR. Its a fun, compact, good low light shooter. The ability to set either manual aperture or shutter speed along with the "night" mode and the "night" mode with "long exposure" makes for some amazing low light / night shots. I think that compared to other models in this price range the Fuji F50fd still manages to stay above the competition (Especially when you consider the $[...] rebate). The F50fd isn't perfect but what is?
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