Fuji F50 review coming

[bascom]

I'm glad to see the F50 was moved up on the review list here from late Nov to late Oct. Should be interesting.

[tom s]

Boston-based Digitalcamerainfo.com has just reviewed it

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Fuji-FinePix-F50fd-Digital-Camera-Review-16019.htm

Here's their conclusion:

>Likes
>- Excellent resolution
>- I-Flash properly exposes subjects
>- Great portraits
>- Aperture and shutter priority modes
>- 2 fps burst mode
>- Bargain $299 price


>Dislikes
>- LCD catches glare
>- High noise levels above ISO 100
>- Poor dynamic range
>- Poor white balance accuracy
>- Slow processing
>- Poor handling

One step forward, two steps back.
No wonder, F31fd price has risen at beachcamera.com compared to F50fd...

[bascom]

Thanks for the review info. Sounds like the F50 isn't as good as the F30/F31 but has a nice price. The review here was moved back to mid November.

[TheObiJuan]

I'm eager to see Jeff's review and potential comparison to the F31.

[ht-naimee]

any idea why it was moved back? i have been waiting for this for ages. jeff'S reviews are the best and most detailed.

[idasein]

So it looks like 12MP is a bit of a stretch for this camera. I'm not really sure how camera sensors work, but if you set this camera on 6MP, will it not just work like a regular 6MP camera? I have no use for 12MP anyway, but a 6MP F30 + image stabilization sounds like a very nice camera. Am I wrong?

[bascom]

Other people have suggested lowering the resolution on a camera to reduce the noise. But the consensus seems to be that won't improve the image quality. We'll see what the review says but here is discussion:

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33697

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33128


any idea why it was moved back? i have been waiting for this for ages. jeff'S reviews are the best and most detailed.
It must be delayed because Jeff is busy. Hold your horses, it's due in only 2 or 3 weeks..

[tim11]

Boston-based Digitalcamerainfo.com has just reviewed it

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Fuji-FinePix-F50fd-Digital-Camera-Review-16019.htm

-----
Absolutely disgusting at ISO800, 1600. Talking about stepping backwards.

[dalf]

Me too I'm waiting for this review!

I'm thinking of buying it but I will use 7megapixel (seldom 12). People are saying : so buy F31/30, but F50 has better IS, face recognition, and so on.

Anyway, I'll wait until this review come out to purchase it or not.

[bascom]

The F31 and F40 have FD but the F31 is hard to find.


any idea why it was moved back? i have been waiting for this for ages. jeff'S reviews are the best and most detailed.
Now it says he is waiting for a replacement camera. The first F50 must have had a problem.

[dalf]

Nooooooo
Now the F50 review is for the end of November :(

[bascom]

Yes the new camera must still be delayed. Meanwhile, here is another F50 review with another thumbs down:

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4764/camera-test-fujifilm-finepix-f50fd.html

[ht-naimee]

I'd really like to know what was wrong with the review one and how it presented.

[ht-naimee]

what the he**?

why on earth is the review being moved back all the time? first a broken camera and now it is being pushed back again :(:confused:


Jeff, would you care to comment? Is the camera so bad it is not worth you reviewing it? Or why have you so little interest in reviewing it?

One sad puppy requesting some info :(

[bascom]

It was moved from late Nov to early Dec so that's not much change. Now the Nikon D300 is on the list so probably Jeff is busy.

We've already cited two F50 reviews here from other sites and here is a new one: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2007_reviews/fuji_f50fd.html

They all say it's a good camera up until above ISO 400 when it gets too noisy. I'm looking forward to the review here, too, but don't you Jeff will say the same thing as the other sites did?

[jtda]

The DC Resource page review of the f40 indicated that the focus had shifted away from great ISO results to more megapixels, and the other sites' reviews of the f50 seem to show that it only gets worse. I know we're all waiting to see DCR's review for the same reason, but I doubt it'll will be so contrary to everyone else's. uh...I happen to have an f30 for sale...

[ht-naimee]

for one i would like a review wth good comparison shots so i can compare properly. most other reviews do not offer this.
and most other review sites contradict each other. some say color is perfect and better than f30 and some say it's not even as good as other P&S.
some say sharpness is exceptional and the picture quality at ISO 100 is far superior to any other model and far superior to the F30 and then conclude that the F30 is still the better camera (even though it onlyx scored better at ISO 400 and above).

[BiPolarBear]

I thought the very first review link posted contained comparison shots between the F50 and the F30.

[barryodriscoll]

Meant to post a new topic but made it as a reply to this thread by mistake, doh!

[ht-naimee]

i must say I am curious as to what is going on with the f50.
now the image gallery was reshot again. the third time now.

is there something major wrong with the camera like some kind of production mistake which we should know so we can return items affected by this (which average joe like me might not see at first glance)?
or does this camera just need some getting used to and then the pictures get better and the website is updated accordingly?

review has been bumped again also.

[Gekko4321]

I had an F30 and after the case seperated on me twice and Fuji kept wanting more and more money, I got rid of it. I am looking for replacement but cannot seem to find any sort of compact low light camera that performs as well (based on reviews). Very frustrating to hear that the fragile F30 is still the standard. F50 reviews keep coming in bad too. What about the F40? Is that a good alternative? If 12MP has crowded the F50 sensor then is the 8MP F40 the answer for now? Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[Akysten]

I've been playing with the Fuji F50 for about a week.

First, If you drop the MP to 6 or 3, you DO get more detail in your high ISO(800/1600) shot. I took some photos of the Christmas tree... at 1600, the noise reduction at 12mp took all the detail from the pine needles, but at 6mp, and even more so at 3mp, the details were much more crisp.. however, you're not working with 3MP, and there is STILL noise reduction.

I feel that lowering the MP in the camera is better than what most reviews have done, which was to resize the photo and use clean it up with a utility.
The problem with this is that those pine needles I talked about above are already done at 12mp/1600, but at 6mp, it's reasonable. At 3mp, I would call ISO 1600 usuable on this camera.

I do NOT like the noise reduction. In my opinion, anything over ISO 200.. though ISO 400 is good, has WAY too much loss of detail. My Canon S2 may have more color noise, but this can be cleaned up much better than what the noise reduction does to the image at 100%.

Now if you don't care about this, that's fine, but I'm trying to take details photos of tropical fish, the noise reduction, even at ISO400 is unacceptable for this purpose. BUT, it may work fine for you!

The good news is that you DO get cleaner/less noise reduction at lower MP. The bad news is that this noise is more than I'm willing to accept.

I do have other complaints with the camera:

- Doesn't recognize 4gb SD cards
- The camera just doesn't seem to focus well in low light, which is amplified by the small depth of field I get from this camera. If I focus on one fish, nothing else will be in focus, and it's not easy to manually override. My S2 does a better job for what I need to do.. and that's disapointing.

I had been holding out on the F30/F31 because I didn't like the XD card media. I was excited by this camera, giving some manual functions and SD card support as well. I had hoped that this would be a low cost option for taking shots at high ISO. I know I am not alone on this!
It's not a total failure... if you find the noise reduction and lower MP acceptable.. I can deal with the low MP, but I cannot deal with the noise.
I had hoped that this could server this purpose and the pocket camera I've been looking for.

I'm going to have to return this camera, and hold out for a Canon XTI which takes wonderful high ISO shots. It's just not nice enough of a camera to justify the price tag. I can think of 4 or 5 cameras that would serve that purpose better. A disapointment.

[bascom]

Thanks for the report. The F50 review here was delayed again while he gets a 3rd camera.

[ht-naimee]

I own a 4GB SDHC card and it works perfectly.