Impressive performance from the F30

[Jeff Keller]

Just took my FinePix F30 out of the box and took this shot at ISO 1600:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f30-review/DSCF0011.JPG

Compare to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/sony/dsc_h5-review/DSC00014.JPG) (ISO 1000) and Casio Exilim EX-Z600 (http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/casio/exilim_z600-review/CIMG0106.JPG) (ISO 800) to see how well the F30 does!

What do you guys think?

[Clyde]

Just took my FinePix F30 out of the box and took this shot at ISO 1600:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f30-review/DSCF0011.JPG


The imaginary ultra-compact with IS and good high ISO performance, and maybe a 4x optical zoom is some sort of unholy grail.

Though it is just a matter of lust, it would be the ideal companion camera to my canon 350XT. The XT is the anti-pocket camera, and it would be nice to have something that was always in my pocket to capture those unpredictable moments of beauty that catch me unawares and camera-less.

If the camera existed, and I had the money, the money would probably go for a good lens instead (70-200 f/4 L?) Anyway, looks like the f30 may be the closest thing to the unholy grail so far.

Thanks,

Clyde

[Duwenbasden]

:eek: Now the competition continues! F30, TZ-1 or the SD700IS! This is driving me insane... :mad: :D

[sjseto]

Ooooh, nice! Thanks for the teaser, Jeff! I'm looking forward to your review. :)

Stephanie

[AlexMonro]

Looks like low-noise Fuji does it again, particularly compared to Sony. I'm looking forward to the full review to see how the rest of it compares.:) Thanks Jeff!

[Roger955]

The Casio photo seems a tad better (though with a green cast), but it's shot at ISO 800 compared with the Fuji's ISO 1600. In comparison, the Sony is just awful. I wonder if the Sony uses the same processor found in other contemporary cameras - e.g. the canon sd630

As is the case with another member, I've been trying to decide as between the Fuji F30, the Panasonic TZ1, the SD700IS (and the SD 630).

I'd love to have more optical zoom than 3X, and image stabilization is desirable, but ultimately, the camera which produces the best images will be my choice. From what I've seen so far, the TZ1's images are simply too noisy (and it's not as easily pocketable as the others).

Some reviewers, including Jeff, raved about the F10's image quality, and justifiably so (purple fringing notwithstanding). I anticpate that the F30 will be even better. And, it now has more exposure control. As well, that foolish terminal adapter may be a thing of the past, though I'm not sure. Pity it uses XD memory cards.

I can't wait to read Jeff's review of the F30 and the SD700IS. I suspect the
F30 will produce better images.

I note that the F30 is now on Jeff's current (June) review list, so I'll see tight for now.

[Duwenbasden]

Good SD700IS:
-OIS
-Smaller
-Burst mode
-SD card
-4X zoom

Good F30:
-ISO3200
-low noise
-Manual controls

Oh decisions...

[petraki]

Hello Jeff,

as an ex-owner of a Fuji E550, I've been following the developmenmts of Fuji, and it seems they're on the right track!
The photo you made with it really looks impressive, compared to the others.
What I did'nt like about the E550:
invisible LCD in bright weather-tiny viewfinder(gone now with the F30-that's also a solution :o) -purple fringing-noise of course- now belongs to the past?

I don't like flash photography, so the F30 seems to be the camera for me!

I found the colors in the E550 a bit disappointing, especially outside in sunny weather. not much depth in green foliages or sky: looked like old-fashioned postcards. Very flat! And a lot of B/W contrast. Is that better now as well?
Thanks for your reviews! They are the best. I'm looking forward to your F30 review. greetings from Holland!

[kegs94]

Looks pretty good, how's ISO 3200? I'd really like to see a F10 to F30 comparison when you do the review. At a glance, it looks like the noise reduction in F30 is a little higher than I'd expect, but I also notice some of the banding problems I see in my F10 aren't present.

Looking forward to the review.

[Roger955]

Just now I took a close look at Jeff's SD700 pics and compared them to those of the F10. The F10's are superior, with better detail, and less noise.

I'm anticipating that the F30's will be even better yet, making the choice between the two that much easier, given that the F30 allows the user more exposure control. I think I'll be able to forego the IS of the Canon, given that the F30's higher ISO range will offset its lack of IS. Too bad the F10 doesn't have a 4X optical zoom. Maybe next time?

[AlexMonro]

Roger, don't forget that the faster shutter speeds made possible by the higher ISO will also help with motion blur of a moving subject. IS only helps with camera shake.

[pina]

that's right: OIS can only be used to capture still objects. When you're going to f.e. a party, then you're OIS won't help much for capturing good images. OIS only helps to stabilze your camera when it's using longer shutter speeds.

If you're having a higher iso, then the shutter speed will be so fast that you don't have to need an OIS to stabilize your camera. But, if you're sitting on a f.e. a bike, then OIS would be useful the compensate the shake while you're riding your bike.

Canon uses ISO800 by having a slower shutter speed with OIS. Fuji uses ISO800 by using a better sensor with faster shutter speeds, without OIS. The drawback of the slower shutter speed is, that during the period that the shutter is open, you just hope that the subject you're photographing isn't moving at that time. Anyithin that moves, will be a big blurry blub.

[Roger955]

You make a good point about IS versus high ISO capability.

Some users have commented on a bit of a purple-fringing concern regarding the F10. I've seen a few examples of it in very challenging shots, but it generally doesn't seem to be omnipresent. Perhaps there will be less with the F30.

Incidentally, in another Fuji thread, someone posted this link, which contains outstanding F10 pics, by apparently non-professional users.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/finepixf10/pool/

R

[Chefi]

Hello Jeff,

Good comparison F30/H5/Z600.
I'm looking forward to your F30 review.
From the pictures below I see again purple fringing and some "pinkish" coloration. Are they more or less compared to F11?

tp://www.dcview.com.tw/article/newreadarticle.asp?id=4611

http://www.veiry.net/test10fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test11fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test12fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test13fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test14fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test15fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test16fuji.jpg
http://www.veiry.net/test17fuji.jpg

Best regards,
Chefi

[Chefi]

Maybe comparison for purple fringing and "pinkish" coloration F30/H5/Z600 is more interesting than F30/F11.

Chefi

[Roger955]

The DCView link works but the others don't seem to.

There are some pics at the DCView link, but I can't see much evidence of purple fringing. Perhaps I'm not looking hard enough, or maybe there's a way to enlarge the photos to better examine them?

[Roger955]

Actually, I CAN see a bit of purple fringing on image 106, if I enlarge it considerably.

[Chefi]

Roger955

1. Several hours ago lone informed that he wthdraw his sample photos (from Monaco) from the forum:
http://forum.hardware.fr/hardwarefr/Photonumerique/Topic-unique-Fujifilm-Finepix-F10-F11-nouveau-F30-sujet-7959-60.htm
2. When I compare the ColorChecker of F11

http://www.dcview.com.tw/article/newreadarticle.asp?id=4177

and F30

http://www.dcview.com.tw/article/newreadarticle.asp?id=4555

I have the impression that the white circle of F30 is shfted more toward "pink" than F11.
On DCView some sample photos (with the horse and the musicians) and other sample photos in the Internet the white and grey surfaces have a little pinkish coloration.

Chefi

[Chefi]

Roger955

The missing sample photos from the French forum are again on the net:

http://lonneki.free.fr/f30/

When you look at monaco4.jpg you will notice the pinkish cast of the street surface.

I was about to order F30. But now I will wait for the review.

[snaz]

On the samples you linked to there is an unacceptable amount of PF/CA for my tastes. Doesn't look good to me. Need the review!!

[Roger955]

thanks, Chefi, for the link to the sample pics. I agree, they aren't terribly impressive. The F10 and F11 have both made better images.

Let's hope there's simply something odd with that particlar unit.

You're right though, it's a good idea to wait for Jeff's review.

[petraki]

There's an interesting french review on the F30.

http://www.newtale.eu/bis/index.php/option/content/task/view/id/24

worth looking at!!

The F30 seems to perform better on most points than the F11.
But when I look at the samples, I still see an awful lot of bluefringe in the pictures!! This was one of the reasons why I was disappointed with the E-550...
The same goes for the colour, (as far as I can judge, of course)
Not much nuance.
But of course: hardly any noise!!
The F30 looks like the perfect "candid camera" to carry around for picturing people, and of course for evening or night scenes and all that.

[petraki]

... but when there's enough light around, you might be better off with a camera that gives richer colour, (and less purple) like my Canon G6 for instance. anyway, that's what I think...

[pavsci03]

It's hard for me to comprehend how how big or small a camera it is. Probably cause my hands are kind of large (tip of teh thumb to tip of the pinky is 12 inches). I'm not worried about the camera being too big in my hand, but just wondering how it will feel in my pocket. Is this camera considered compact or ultra-compact? I doesn't seem like the latter based upon what is now considered ultra-compact, but its by no means a canon a-series. No stores have teh camera yet, so this question is for anyone that has had hands on experience with the f30. Size wise, what other cameras on the market does it compare to? is sd550 a good comparison?

[sjseto]

I now have the F30 in my posession, so I can say that it is almost identical in shape and weight to its predecessor, the F10. Shape-wise, it's a bit more rounded. I think you're right when you say that it's in between compact and ultra-compact. According to the specs on this site it is similar in size to the Canon SD550 and even a bit lighter.

Stephanie

[petraki]

Thanks for showing the F30 pictures in your gallery. Very impressive! Especially the indoor photos without flash of course. The outdoor pics were made by dim light, so it seems. (the houses) What about purple fringing by bright weather?

[pavsci03]

it seems like xD is such an obscure format, biggest cards made are only 1 gig? why didn't fuji opt to go for a more universally accepted media format like sd that comes in higher capacities? is xD performance better?

while it might seem kind of picky, i'm quite disappointed with the lack of an external battery charger. I'm gonna be doing a lot of sight seeing in the next year, so I was planning on investing in a second battery for whichever camera i get. having to spend teh extra 60 bucks on top of the extra battery and the extra cost xD cards have are making me rethink purchasing an f30. but then i see jeff's pictures at iso 1600 looking better than other cameras at 200 and 400. such a tough decision....

[Duwenbasden]

is xD performance better?

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in comparison to performance. xD is slow, low capacity, and overall stupid (only on Fuji and Oly cams, while SD are in... everything)

I am planning to buy the F30, but really pissed at the xD.

[Cosmic Heretic]

Any good info on the 'Picture Stabilization' setting of this camera? Is it OIS or a shutter/f-stop/ISO setting. I am waiting for Jeff's reviews on this and the SD700IS and getting whichever does better at low light, no flash pics. I am a noob and will probably benefit from the back-to-back flash/non-flash picture setting.

[marvins4]

Any good info on the 'Picture Stabilization' setting of this camera? Is it OIS or a shutter/f-stop/ISO setting. I am waiting for Jeff's reviews on this and the SD700IS and getting whichever does better at low light, no flash pics. I am a noob and will probably benefit from the back-to-back flash/non-flash picture setting.
I have also spent a good while trying to decide between these two cameras. I actually found some comparison pictures between the F30 and the 700IS over on the dpreview forums that showed the F30 handles low light MUCH better. There were even a couple people there that were putting their 700IS on ebay in favor of the F30. However, the 'picture stabilization' mode on the F30 is NOT OIS, it is just a different setting that helps to elimiate the effects of camera shake. The good thing is that it also helps with active subjects, unlike OIS, and performs very well at high ISO's.

[Cosmic Heretic]

I have also spent a good while trying to decide between these two cameras. I actually found some comparison pictures between the F30 and the 700IS over on the dpreview forums that showed the F30 handles low light MUCH better. There were even a couple people there that were putting their 700IS on ebay in favor of the F30. However, the 'picture stabilization' mode on the F30 is NOT OIS, it is just a different setting that helps to elimiate the effects of camera shake. The good thing is that it also helps with active subjects, unlike OIS, and performs very well at high ISO's.

Thanks for the info. Please post a link to the comparison pics. Did you get your F30 yet?

[marvins4]

Thanks for the info. Please post a link to the comparison pics. Did you get your F30 yet?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=18819453

This link doesn't have the comparison photos I found yesterday, I am still trying to find those again, but it is a good discussion. There is actually alot of good posts about the F30 in the Fuji form at that site. I just ordered mine this morning from Digital Foto club, in stock, for $367 (ship inc). It also qualifies for a $50 rebate from Fuji. Can't wait.

[marvins4]

Thanks for the info. Please post a link to the comparison pics. Did you get your F30 yet?
Here is a good comparison for noise levels in the 700IS (IXUS 800IS in other countries) and the Fuji F30.

http://lonneki.free.fr/f30/pages/test%20iso%20ixus%20vs%20fuji.htm

[Cosmic Heretic]

Here is a good comparison for noise levels in the 700IS (IXUS 800IS in other countries) and the Fuji F30.

http://lonneki.free.fr/f30/pages/test%20iso%20ixus%20vs%20fuji.htm

WOW is all I have to say to that ISO comparison! Between these posts and the forums at dpreview I think I found my next camera. I can't get a price in Canada close to yours even with the dollar exchange not to mention a rebate.

[DarkDTSHD]

I'm considering the F30 myself. After just returning a faulty Sony H5 last night. I found out that along with several others have run into battery related problems. Mine would give me bogus battery level readouts. Even flutuate! One moment I would see a half-full reading. Turn it on a 2nd time and see it read full. Then a second or two later...half-full! :P And, there's the kicker, it would suddenly shutdown. With fresh fully charged Sony NiMH batteries inside. Did this a total of 5x out of 40 odd shots. Pathetic!! Sony needs to step it up with their quality control department! Letting new H series cameras ship with those problems is ridiculous!

The question I have about the F30 at this point is this. I was at the Fujifilm website. Noticed that the F30 has the IS function on the mode dial. Does that mean it's not available when using a scene mode (e.g. portrait, landscape, sports...etc.)? Sort of gave me the impression that Fuji's version of the IS might be a "scene mode" in itself. Or do you simply have to set the scene modes using the menu and have the mode dial set to IS to have IS on when using scene modes? Correct me if I'm wrong. :)

And Jeff, how has the F30 been for you so far? Any problems? Do you get accurate battery level readings and no sudden shutdowns?

Look forwards to that review too! Perhaps you (Jeff) could mention a little something about your experiences in those areas.

[guitone]

Jeff, very nice...how do you think the F30 stacks up to the F10/F11? That is the question that enquiring minds would like answered.

[petraki]

Hello Guitone,

check out this French website:

http://www.newtale.eu/bis/index.php/option/content/task/view/id/24

[petraki]

Here is a nice gallery to compare F10 and F30:

http://www.pbase.com/sjseto/fujifilm_finepix_f30

[guitone]

Hello Guitone,

check out this French website:

http://www.newtale.eu/bis/index.php/option/content/task/view/id/24

Thanks for the links...I have seen the French site and I believe his F11 was broken, no way that a well functioning F11 would look so bad...My interest is in whether the F30 is significantly better than the 11...the ISO 3200 is fine but not a deal breaker....What I have heard about that I like most is that there should be less PP needed as the pics will have better sharpness and more contrast.

Thanks again

[guitone]

I have just spent the better part of a week playing with the F30 and my F11. The F11 does some things better, the F30 does others, but I think it is a learning curve more than anything else. The F30 is sharper, but not tons, loses a bit of detail at high ISO but there is less noise, has more contrast. Setting the LCD at -3 should help to get an accurate read on what you are shooting. I decided to keep both for now, one will go to my daughter or on ebay later. With the $50 rebate and the price I got it was an easy decision. I like the shape in my hands a bit better on the F30, I like the F11 just fine as well. I think these low light wonders from fuji are just that, low light wonders. The F30 performs very well in the bright sunlight, the LCD is easier to read than the F11, that is a very nice feature. I don't think you can go wrong with either. The PF issue can be PP or you can use a highter F stop to control it as well from my readings at the dpreview site. I am not a canon fan as I have not been thrilled with the sharpness of the couple of S (60, 70 and 80) that I have tried, I think the fuji is sharper, but that may just be my bias. I took pics side by side with my Oly7070 and was very surprised at how both of my fujis help up to this cam. Good luck on whatever you decide, I am also curious about the upcoming review. None of these little cams are going to be perfect...for me the ability to shoot in low light with no flash is really worth some other trade offs.

[tim11]

Can anyone tell me how F30 performs in red-eye dept? Thanks.
This little unit maybe be perfect complement to my FZ20.

[petraki]

Here's another review on the F30.
it mentions noticeable chromatic aberration on all focus-lengths, and here and there undersaturaturated colours.
for the rest it's quite positive!
http://www.neocamera.com/review_fuji_f30_more.html
for the rest it's quite positive.

[petraki]

...i mean undersaturated.
just a few days waiting for Jeff's review...

[sjseto]

Can anyone tell me how F30 performs in red-eye dept? Thanks.
This little unit maybe be perfect complement to my FZ20.

I'll try to get around to doing more extensive flash tests with my F30 in the next few days.

The F10 wasn't great in the red eye department. I took a lot of pictures of people with dilated pupils (has to do with my job) and got plenty of red eye (although that was the worst possible scenario for a compact camera). I found that the best way to deal with it, aside from using the red-eye reduction flash, was to stand slightly at an angle to the person's front.

If you look at the flash pictures in my gallery that I've taken so far, there's no red eye problem - but, as a subject, I rarely have problems with red eye in pictures.

Stephanie

[petraki]

I find redeye easy enough to fix with photoshop (or any other program)
Purple can be fixed too- but that's sometimes quite a job.
The neocamera test mentioned chromatic aberration(purple) as a major problem with the F30, but I don't seen much of it in your (Stephanie's) picture gallery. I saw quite some of it in the French test, though. How about that?

[sjseto]

Sometimes reviewers seek out situations where they know that purple fringing will likely make an appearance - for example, the "purple fringing torture tunnel" that Jeff photographs for his reviews.

Since I actually want my photos to turn out well, I try to do the opposite. I'm funny that way. :) So, I try to avoid things like dark foregrounds against really bright white skies. I would do that anyway, not just with the F10/F30.

If I can't avoid those elements in my photographs, I do what I can to minimize it. Dial in -1/3 EV exposure compensation, or put as little of the bright white sky in the photo as possible. That sort of thing.

Stephanie

[P_Schneider]

I do get a bit of PF on my F10 shots but I found a freebie plugin that works pretty good. The page says it's designed for a Sony cam but it works just fine for my F10.

PFree (http://www.sd3.info/pf828/PFree/PFree0-1.html)

[dkangel]

Just now I took a close look at Jeff's SD700 pics and compared them to those of the F10.

Where is the comparison with the SD700 you are speaking of? Man this is a tough decision. The SD700 has better overall color,contrast, and sharpness in normal lighting but the F30 destroys it in low light. I guess I have to decide if I will be doing more low light pics or more outdoor, normal light photos.

[Roger955]

I compared Jeff's gallery of the F10 photos with the gallery of the SD700 pics.

If I recall correctly, other members have posted direct comparisons between the two.

I bought the F30, becasue of superior picture quality. It's en route to me now.

R

[Roger955]

here's an example of a comparison rreferred to earlier.

http://lonneki.free.fr/f30/pages/tes...0vs%20fuji.htm

[TroyR]

Where is the comparison with the SD700 you are speaking of? Man this is a tough decision. The SD700 has better overall color,contrast, and sharpness in normal lighting but the F30 destroys it in low light. I guess I have to decide if I will be doing more low light pics or more outdoor, normal light photos.

From the above review:
http://www.neocamera.com/review_canon_sd700.html

Assessment
The Canon Powershot SD700 IS almost turns in an excellent performance for an ultra-compact cameras. It does produce well-focused images with accurate exposure, low image noise and good color but its ultra-compact lens lets it down with the usual corner-softness, barrel distortion and inexcusable vignetting. Less important weaknesses, include a weak flash and poor battery life.

Compared to the excellent SD550, the SD700 not only trades one megapixel of resolution of a slightly greater zoom but looses flash power and optical quality. However, it does gain stabilization which counterbalances the weaker flash, but does nothing for the vignetting. As such the SD550 is still generally a better choose.

Several ultra-compact cameras do much better than this digital camera, most notably the recently-reviewed Fuji Finepix F30 which produces sharper images without vignetting and with much less image noise. The F30 also sports ISO sensitivities up to 3200, a battery life of 580 shots-per-charge and semiautomatic exposure modes. Another superior and cheaper alternative to the Canon Powershot SD700 IS is the excellent Fuji Finepx F10 which produces images of outstanding quality for an ultra-compact.

[dkangel]

From the above review:
http://www.neocamera.com/review_canon_sd700.html



Thanks for that assessment. However I disagree some of it. Why? Because I did a search on tags on Flickr for both the F30 and the SD700 and found that in almost EVERY case the photos taken with the SD700 had more contrast, sharpness, etc. Now I realize this isnt exactly a scientific test but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The only reason I am even considering the F30 is because of its good ISO abilities.

[tim11]

I'm waiting for Jeff's review on F30. It can't be too long now; it is due in June.
Thanks those who answer my red-eye question. I realised it's a big ask to expect a compact to perform with flying colour in red-eye. I hope with its high ISO capability I'd hardly need to use the flash.

[sjseto]

Thanks for that assessment. However I disagree some of it. Why? Because I did a search on tags on Flickr for both the F30 and the SD700 and found that in almost EVERY case the photos taken with the SD700 had more contrast, sharpness, etc.

I've looked at Jeff's galleries for both the SD700 and the F30 and I'd say in terms of sharpness, some look better for the Canon, and some look better for the F30. For example, the SD700 photo of the Transamerica pyramid looks sharper, but the F30 Chinatown pictures look sharper. I'm not too concerned either way because you're looking at the photos at full size and when they're reduced to a size that you'd actually want to view them at (or printed, I expect), I think that the difference would be negligable.

The SD700 does seem to have slightly more saturated colours. But I think that some of the F30's shots look a bit overexposed, and that can make colours look a bit washed out. Sometimes I take shots at both normal exposure and -1/3 EV if I want to be sure to capture a shot the way I want it.

One area where the SD700 seems to be significantly better than the F30 is lack of purple fringing. I didn't see any in the SD700's photos, but a fair bit in some of the F30's photos. A couple of things seem to help with this; a smaller aperture (which you can control on the F30, thanks to the aperture priority mode) and some negative exposure compensation.

Some people might make the argument that one shouldn't have to fiddle with the camera to get it to do its best. I can understand that. I actually didn't want to recommend the F10 to people if they were going to use it on full auto all the time, because I knew they'd be disappointed.

So I guess, as you said, you need to consider what's going to be your priority. Personally, I don't think that the SD700's outdoors-in-bright-light photos are significantly better than the F30's, and the ability to control aperture, shutter speed, and the awesome high ISO capability are more important to me. Not to mention the stellar battery life; the thing really does seem to go on forever.

But both are excellent cameras, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either one.

Stephanie

[georges.ays]

Hello Everyone,

I got the camera one week ago and were trying to take as many photos as possible in different situations. The pictures look great on the LCD, but I realized they were significantly darker on the computer even for daylight images or night images. I guess this is because the the LCD is too bright, so I turned the LCD brightness down to -3. Also, for the night mode, I realized that the ISO only went up to 200, though a higher ISO would have produced a better image.

I was wondering what would be a remedy to these problems. Please note that I am not so experienced with manual control but learning ;). What (manual) settings do you recommend to use in daylight and night to get the best shot possible?

Thanks in advance for your advice

[guitone]

Use the F30 in M mode, play around with the white balance (use auto, fine, shade) until you see what you like. Also adjust the EV if you want to see what works best for you in bright sunlight. The M mode is really like auto but allows you to tweak many of the features of this cam. You can set the ISO to any number in M so this gives you the greatest flexibility.

Hello Everyone,

I got the camera one week ago and were trying to take as many photos as possible in different situations. The pictures look great on the LCD, but I realized they were significantly darker on the computer even for daylight images or night images. I guess this is because the the LCD is too bright, so I turned the LCD brightness down to -3. Also, for the night mode, I realized that the ISO only went up to 200, though a higher ISO would have produced a better image.

I was wondering what would be a remedy to these problems. Please note that I am not so experienced with manual control but learning ;). What (manual) settings do you recommend to use in daylight and night to get the best shot possible?

Thanks in advance for your advice

[sjseto]

Also, for the night mode, I realized that the ISO only went up to 200, though a higher ISO would have produced a better image.

I think it limits the ISO to 200 so that the images remain relatively noise-free. What works better than increasing the ISO is to use longer exposure times. Normally, the shutter speed in Night Mode is limited to a maximum of 3 seconds. I don't know if you tried this already, but if you go into the setup menu, you'll find an option for "long exposure". Turn it on, and you'll be able to set the shutter speed as long as 15 seconds. You will, of course, require a tripod for the best results.

If you really do want to increase the ISO for taking night pictures, you can go into shutter prioritiy mode. You don't have the long exposure option here (therefore, the longest shutter speed you can select is 3 seconds), but you can set the ISO as high as you want; you just have to do it manually, because there is no auto ISO option in this mode. Make sure that the exposure information at the bottom of the screen is green (indicating correct exposure) and not red.

Stephanie

[Plasma99]

I just read the review of the F30 and he doesn't talk about the iFlash feature at all. At least I think it is the F30 that has this feature. Anyway, assuming it does, how well does it work?

[Duwenbasden]

the SD700 not only trades one megapixel of resolution
6MP VS 7.1MP -- i'd pick the 6MP, 7.1MP is too noisy.

>However, it does gain stabilization
Just try taking a pic on 1/10 second shutter.

>As such the SD550 is still generally a better choose.

OIS, 6MP less noise, 4x = SD700IS > SD550

[petraki]

Howdy Jeff,

Thanks a lot for your great (and long awaited) review on the F30.

I'm glad it confirmed some things I mentioned before: first and foremost the blue fringe (look at the palms at Stanford, photo 12) even worse in my opinion than the Tunnel of Doom!) but in most outside pictures it's more or less present.
But look also at the pavement in front(photo 12): here's the other problem (of the super CCR?).. the pavement is grey (which is normal of course, but I mean: a grey that you would see in B&W photo's: not at trace of colour) The same goes for photo 4 in Chinatown.
The trees outside your window (photo 3) show the same: just grey without ANY color, which is not natural.The outside view from your window looks like a B&W picture, painted in with watercolour. The fields in the back are all in the same green, the mountains in the same lilac , and the sky in the same blue. add to that the purple in the branches, and you see a picture that just isn't right.
So your conclusion that the colours are maybe a bit dull, is more than right. I even think it's an understatement.
What a shame for such an otherwise perfect little camera.
If you want a little pocketcamera for "candid" shots in the evening without flash, this is it. but for scenery, it's just not, in my humble opinion.

[AlexMonro]

The default colour mode for Fuji cameras is a very natural colour, which can look dull compared with other makes. If you want bright, saturated, contrasty colours, choose the "Chrome" option under Colour in the F menu. I once said to a Fuji rep that they should've called it the Velvia button!:)