Is it worth upgrading from F10 o F30?

[ekerry]

I have the fujifilm F10 and am thinking about the F30. Is it worth upgrading?

[P_Schneider]

Well I have both in the house and they both have their strong points.
You get the next gen sensor and processor with the F30.
You get more scene modes with the F30 BUT lose the ability to set your ISO.
You get I-flash with F30 which works pretty good.
You get Auto 400 and Auto 1600 ISO with the F30.
You get ISO 3200 with the F30 BUT lose ISO 80.
You get AP mode and SP mode on the dial with the F30.
You get an EV button on the outside of the F30. (which is nice!)
You get a higher resolution LCD on the F30.
You lose a bit on battery life but it's still outstanding on the F30.
You lose a central mount point with the F30, it's offset to one side.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. The F30 is well worth the upgrade money. I purchased the F30 for my wife for her first camera and she loves it. Probably the biggest thing to get used to coming from the F10 is the fact that you cant control ISO in the scene modes anymore. Some of the scene modes work pretty good and you can limit ISO in some of the modes so it's not completely up to the camera but I miss being able to set the ISO and leave there. Of course if you only shoot in manual mode then the above is a moot point.

[mattdm]

I have the fujifilm F10 and am thinking about the F30. Is it worth upgrading?

The general consensus is that Fuji will announce an F50 to replace the F30/F31fd in March at the PMA trade show. The F40 adds a much-wanted dual xD/SD slot, and goes to an 8 megapixel sensor. The F50 will probably do the same, maybe with another trick or two up its sleeve. Unless I had a bunch of money burning a hole in my pocket, I'd wait to see how that camera turns out. At the very least, it'll drive the price of the F31fd down.

[sjseto]

As an F10 owner, I did spring for the F30 when it came out. What I really wanted were the aperture and shutter priority modes that the F10 didn't have. As Paul mentioned, it is unfortunate that, while there are more scene modes in the F30, Fuji "dumbed them down" by not allowing you to select the ISO manually in any of them except, I believe, for Night Scene. Since I hardly ever use the scene modes it isn't that big of a deal, but novice users who use the scene modes might wonder why their photos turn out a bit grainier than they were expecting.

I think that the F30 actually has slightly improved battery life over the F10. The F10 was rated at 500 shots per charge, and the F30 at 580, if I'm not mistaken.

If you usually use the camera in Auto or in Scene modes, I'd stick with the F10. If you're used to the flexibility of aperture and shutter priority and miss it like I did, or if you're interested in life beyond auto settings, you can go for the F30 - but as Matt said, a successor to the F30 is probably going to be announced very soon. At this point, you might as well wait for it.

Stephanie

[ekerry]

Thanks to those who replied. Very helpful.