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February 27, 2008
[ REVIEW—FUJIFILM FINEPIX F50fd ]
Price: $500
Excellent, up to a point
The low-down: The F50fd (the fd stands for face detection, which really works and is surprisingly useful) is a 12 megapixel compact camera, using Fuji’s own Super CCD sensor which is a bit larger than the competition. The lens has a modest 35-105mm zoom range (film equivalent). Construction is robust and attractive. There are not many user controls, but what there are can be easily accessed from knobs and buttons. The trademark Fuji Fn button gives instant access to ISO, resolution and photo styles. The camera has “dual image stabilisation”, meaning a combination of CCD shift and ISO boost. Fortunately dual mode can be turned off and only the CCD shift used. It takes both xD and SD memory cards.
Like: Image quality is gorgeous, very much in the style of Fuji’s admired Velvia film. Focus is fast and accurate, exposure is consistent, resolution is outstanding. Auto white balance is almost always spot on, so colours are accurate. Skin tones are lovely. This is quite simply some of the best image quality we have seen from a compact. But!
Dislike: There is always a but. The stunning image quality ends at ISO200. Up to that speed the pictures are perfect, above that speed they deteriorate, due to the excessive pixel density. At ISO400 the pictures start to look grainy, and the in-camera noise reduction begins to reduce sharpness and blur detail. Still, we mustn’t exaggerate the issue, ISO400 pictures are fine as 10cm by 15cm prints and better than the competition.
Verdict: If you can live with a top ISO of 200 – which is the standard speed of most colour negative film that we used in the past – then the Fuji is a terrific little camera. We would like an optical viewfinder, but they are a fast disappearing camera feature. We surprised ourselves with how much we relied on face detection. We enjoyed using this camera, all the while longing for a version with 7 million pixels, which would make it perfect. As it stands we would still recommend it to anyone looking for a superior compact.
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Posted by terry at February 27, 2008 09:03 PM
Worth Checking Out
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