need E550 camera opinion

[eastbluffs]

I'm on the verge of getting the new E550. Shot delay is a huge deal for me after owning a Nikon E5000 for 2 years, along with hundreds of shots of the backs of heads. The Super CCD HR sounds sensible (or is it hype?) and Fuji has a good reputation for quality shots. Also like the AA batterys. Does anyone know if a lack of Focus illuminator will cause much delay in low light conditions (maybe there's a laser they don't mention). Second, does the Super CCD HR introduce any new problems? (runner-up is Canon S60 - will that shoot better?) Thanks!

[Javair]

I have been intrigued by Fuji’s promotion of the E550, and have held off buying until I could see at least a demonstration of its capabilities in the store. (Of course a REVIEW by dcresourse would be better!) Best Buy had them in store as I passed through today, priced at $399.00 I asked the salesman to shoot a couple of photos at the highest quality settings. He shot a JPEG on Auto 6MP. It was terribly grainy. He shot a few at 100, 6MP, JPEG, and it was much better. The inside lighting was tough, and only one of four shots did not come out blurry. I asked him to shoot a TIFF or Raw, but we both were unsuccessful. (It would take time to learn the ins and outs of the controls, I suppose.) The Auto, 6MP, JPEG in the Kodak DX7630 was VASTLY better in the store. But I would really like to see what can be produced on the E550 by someone who really knows what they are doing.

[eastbluffs]

Yes, likewise. Seems that getting to know a camera is a large part of it. That, and having the inclination to use the knowlege.

I actually purchased a Minolta G500 today. I realize its obsolete, but I read great things about it and since its pretty old there's a lot written about it, seemingly all good. Guess that's one solution for avoiding Sales Hype. Still trying to ascertain if the G600 is the same camera at 6MB. Don't want to spoil a good formula.

Took about 50 test photos and so far am highly impressed. Will do more this weekend.

Will watch the E550 with interest, but don't need another compact one for a while.


Thanks for the reply!
Brad

[speaklightly]

This sounds like a very competent digital camera. The shutter delay is indeed minimal: .05 seconds.

Keep in mind it is poised and priced to compete directly with the Kodak 6.1mp digital camera, the DX-7630.

Stay tuned, I just ordered one!

Sarah Joyce

[speaklightly]

Well it is a done deal. I should receive the Fuji E-550 on next Monday or Tuesday. So I will have some results and camera comments to post with a week.

Sarah Joyce

[eyed]

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/0901/drev010.htm
your suggestions?

[speaklightly]

I now have taken over 300 digital photos with my Fuji E-550 and am very please with the results from this digital camera.Stay with the 6mp setting, the 12 mp mode has a lot of noise in it, and the 6mp mode does not. Otherwise be prepared to run your digital photos through some good noise reduction software such as Noise Ninja.

I have sent you a link to my gallery of Fuji E-550 digital photo. This will probably be the last link I can send as I am now in Europe conducting digital camera workshops.

Sarah Joyce

[rocky5689]

Hi Sarah
When you are can you plese also send me the lin k for the Photos for E550 and Sony W1 . Which one you would recomend for take good quality pics in auto mode and also in manual.

[RobbieG]

I've noticed when I use night mode with a flash, I get a weird background. It's almost like a double exposure, with the 2nd, more faded exposure a zoomed in version of the picture, mostly noticable in the background. If that doesn't make sense, take a look at this picture in this album:
http://www.photoaccess.com/share/guest.jsp?ID=A3DF012B981&cb=PA
notice how the sky has a "zoomed-in" sillouette of the trees in the background.

Any thoughts?

[dr150]

There's literally dozens of commentary on different forums about this camera:

Search for threads on the "E550" here. Here's two forums to get you started:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=9947991
&
http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/

-------------
I've also been doing quite a bit of substantial research recently after my bullet-proof master picture taker (the Olympus C-3000) crapped out on me after being dropped on its head too many times on my recent vacation to Switzerland. :=(

In essence, the Fuji E550 ($320 street) and more expensive upsoming F810 (all metal chasis) (under $500 street) are essentially the same--with the F810 only having more accessories (docking station), a Li-ion battery instead of AA's :=(, and a slimmer profile. The F810 is still not available in the States, btw.

Plusses:
As far as picture quality and features go (based on early user reviews), the E550 camera is at the top of the market for P&S. It's 6 Megapixels with the new recently upgraded HR sensor (12MP interpolated) vs SR (6MP interpolated). Carries the AA batts which are much cheaper, practical than Li-Ion! Has a rather slim profile. It's fully manual! CAn take high quality video at 30FPS. Has hard lens 2" LCD (like my old Olympus) which'll last longer than unprotected LCD's!! Very FAST response with shutter & start-up times. Has a 32.5 mm at wideangle--a HUGE PLUS, since ~38mm wideangle features of such cameras as the awesome/competitive Sony DSCW1 doesn't cut it for indoor close shots (~10 feet) Again my Oly C-3000 32mm wide spoiled me. I can't go to 38mm, sorry! That's a deal killer!............The ES550 also carries Wide and Zoom lenses as accessories.

Minuses:
The only gripes I can throw at the E550 is its somewhat flimsy construction. The handle creaks and that flash (I'm not the only one that has mentioned this) is cheap!!!!! It's a pop-up flash (ANY moving part will ultimately FAIL) and bends sideways as you retract it back into the chassis. A couple of thime the pop-up would extend and get jammed mid-way, so I had to use my finger to dislodge it!! This flash DOESN'T inspire confidence in the least! The buttons/rotary dial are also WAY cheapy to what I'm used to (my Oly). The USB/AV door isn't hinged, so you can lose this piece of plastic VERY easily!! Also the fit/finish of this plastic is lacking.........Another gripe is the memory it uses. It has the xD memory which is VERY expensive, even more expensive than Sony's Memory Stick! A 512 mb stick at Costco, for instance costs $160 vs a 1GB SD $100 vs [/b]1GB[/b] Memory Stick Pro $180. Thus, for the price of 1GB xd ($320), I can get 3 GB of SD!............Fuji, which co-developed this memory (along with Olympus I believe) is really making their money back with such expensive memory. Since a large card IS NECESSARY to use large MP's or videos (otherwise why buy such a high MP camera, right?), the total expense of 1GB xd ($320) plus street price of the E550 ($320 street) makes the $640 a very compelling detriment towards purchasing this camera!


Purchasing Alternatives:
In large part, the Canon S60 and s70 are similar products in performance and manual features but are pricier, but make ground in TOTAL expense when you factor in CHEAP CF memory of 1GB which is $80 to $100 for the faster Ultra II CF stuff...........My gripes are EQUALLY substantial for the top-line S series cameras. I recently tested the Canon s70 and was left VERY disappointed:

1.) The S70 exhibits substantial barrelling and vignetting (dark corners in shadows) at widezoom. This is typical of 28mm wide lenses, but the Canon really UNDERPERFORMED in this area. The shadows were much tooo much to ignore. My 32mm Oly also vignetted but was only very minor and only on some shots. The Canon was too substantial unfortunately.

2.) The S70 also purple fringed when taking contrasty pictures. Take a picture of a shaded tree in the afternoon against a blue sky. Again, this is an issue with 28 mm wide lenses. You just can't cheat physics and Canon is certainly no exception to this rule.

Now..........I have found a dark horse camera that beats the Fuji in picture taking and is cheaper. It's the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5. In a British photo mag "Digital Camera Shopper" (check your Barnes & Noble or Borders bookshops to see the August 12 camera shoot-out), Panny was given "Editors Choice" as best overall picture taker over such likes as the Fuji Finepix F710, Oly C-60, Kodak, Pentax, Sony p-93, Minolta.

Most of these cameras were in the 5-6 MP category. The Panny had 4MP. Yet it trounced the competition in terms of lack of noise, good detail, exposure, color, and other areas the detailed test went into. Since the Panny beat the Fuji F710, I have little doubt it'd do the same to the E550 or F810.

It doesn't surpise me that a 4MP would beat a 5-6 MP camera. The Panny LCD is 2.5" while the Fuji CCD is 1.7". Again, it's simple physics. If you fit more megapixels in a same size CCD, you'll get more noise, less detail, and less light hitting the sensor. That's why digital SLR's CAN'T be beat--they have large CCD's and lenses and thus take better pictures, more detail and have less grain.

The 2nd runner-iup of the shoot-out was the Kodak--again a camera that ALSO had a 2.5" CCD! All other cameras had smaller CCD's and thus performed accordingly. The Fuji placed 3rd in the shoot-out, btw.

The Panny was the only camera to score a perfect 5/5 stars in picture quality. Fuji and Kodak scored 4/5.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 (all metal body--<$400 street) has a little brother, the Panasonic DMC-LC70 ($240 street) that does most ALL of the features of the FX5. Perfromance on the LC70 has been hailed in the British magazine press and got a 17/20 in this month's issue of "What Digital Camera"--about as high as you can get without going into a digital SLR.

The 5MP DMC-LC80 is coming out very soon so it should be another contender. The slim/very sexy 5 MP FX7 (related to FX5) is also being introduced, but is pricey at $499 retail. The DMC-FZ15 or FZ20 zoom cameras recently introduced have been also getting raves like it's 2MP brother which is now a classic.....It looks like Panny's currently introduced line is really stepping in to compete VERY handily with anyone it seems.

Look at the folling links to inform yourself a little:
http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelList?storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&langId=-1&catGroupId=17168
http://www.dcmag.co.uk/news/article/mps/UAN/422/v/4/sp/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz3/page2.asp
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/lc70_pg5.html
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/fx5.html
http://panasonic.jp/dc/fx7_2/megaois.html

IMHO, the LC70 and LC80 are really the dark horse GIANT KILLERS in the point and shoot category. It carries the same innards as the sexy FX5 and FX7 and the legendary Leica lens. The quality fit & finish felt much better in my hands vs. the E550. No pop-up flash to worry about either. Panny LCD was crisp and had a protective plastic LCD. Equally important, the Panny uses SD memory. So cost of the camera and 1GB memory is $360 ($240+ $100) vs. $640 for the E550--a $280 savings. It's cheaper and assumingly a better picture taker over the Fuji (using the FX5 performance superiority over the F710 as basepoint since they carry the same innards--such as the 2.5" CCD).

If you have more cash, the FX5 and FX7 are the way to go b/c they have the image stabilizer technology. This will help TREMENDOUSLY when taking night pics. Blurring should go down dramatically. This technology is truly worth any price increase these cameras ask for. Currently this tech is only available in nice looking digital SLR's and Canon S1.........In addition the FX7 has a low-light focus assist lamp which'll allow for sharper pics.

The Fuji Finepix F810 would be my 3rd choice in the P&S category. It has the focus assist lamp (the E550 doesn't carry it) and is MUCH better constructed than the E550. It is also FULLY manual which the Panny FX7 is not (though the Panny has enough manual features for most people). The Fuji also has a slighty wider lens 32.5 vs. 35 for Panny (at least it's not 38mm!!) and has lens accessories.....STILL, the Panny FX7 should BEAT it in pics (the FX5 already beats the F710 in that mag shoot-out), especially when tossing in a AF lamp. The FX7 also doesn't have a pop-up flash like the F810 either....I'm not fretting over the Fuji's 12MP interpolation (E550 or F810)....early tests report it as overrated. One forum poster stated that the E550 12MP interpolated pics seemed worse overall than keeping it at 6MP setting--the poster was a digital photography lecturer/professor btw. The Fuji's

I'm not trying to pimp any mfgr. My research suggests only the facts and draws upon logical analogies on the latest and greatest products. IMHO, I still think one can't go wrong with a Sony, Canon, Panny, or Fuji.

But the current "performance winds" at the moment is favoring the Pannys and Fujis--two dark horses that seem to be doing an AMAZING catch-up to the Canons and Nikons of the world.

As for myself, I'll most likely buy the Panny FX7 next to see how it performs. The pics (Japanese websites) on the net look great and while a little pricey, for <$600 ($499 retail + $100 1GB memory), the FX7 should be a TOP pic taker this way short of an SLR. Of course, for $360 with memory the DC70 is very compelling as well!.........

[Beanboy]

Wish the Panasonics had a 640 movie mode.

[gcmoryc]

Being a "newbe," I apologize if I am mis-understanding something,
but isn't 1/1.7 a larger CCD then 1/2.5?

You keep on referring to the Panasonic DMC-FX5 as having a 2.5" CCD, and the Fuji E550 as having a 1.7" CCD -- aren't they 1/2.5 and 1/1.7 respectively, and therereby, isn't the E550 CCD actually bigger?

[D70FAN]

Being a "newbe," I apologize if I am mis-understanding something,
but isn't 1/1.7 a larger CCD then 1/2.5?

You keep on referring to the Panasonic DMC-FX5 as having a 2.5" CCD, and the Fuji E550 as having a 1.7" CCD -- aren't they 1/2.5 and 1/1.7 respectively, and therereby, isn't the E550 CCD actually bigger?

Yes, there is usually confusion when people are writing and confuse a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) used as image sensors with a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) used as display devices.

The CCD's you referenced are 1/1.7 or .58" and 1/2.5 or .40", and yes you are correct about the sizing. Obviously .40" is smaller than .58".

The E550 actually has a 2.0 Inch LCD and the DMC FX5 has a 1.5" LCD, so it appears that there is a lot of confusion going on in the original article.

Hope that helps.

[Voyager]

Another gripe is the memory it uses. It has the xD memory which is VERY expensive, even more expensive than Sony's Memory Stick! A 512 mb stick at Costco, for instance costs $160 vs a 1GB SD $100 vs [/b]1GB[/b] Memory Stick Pro $180. Thus, for the price of 1GB xd ($320), I can get 3 GB of SD!............Fuji, which co-developed this memory (along with Olympus I believe) is really making their money back with such expensive memory. Since a large card IS NECESSARY to use large MP's or videos (otherwise why buy such a high MP camera, right?), the total expense of 1GB xd ($320) plus street price of the E550 ($320 street) makes the $640 a very compelling detriment towards purchasing this camera!

<snip>

It doesn't surpise me that a 4MP would beat a 5-6 MP camera. The Panny LCD is 2.5" while the Fuji CCD is 1.7".

Last things first. I believe the comment directly quoted above is what is confusing people. You are comparing apples and oranged (more specifically, LCDs and CCDs). The Fuji has a larger CCD than the Panny.

Now on to your price comparisons. While I'll give you the fact that your post was written over a month ago, prices seem to have changed dramatically from your post. xD memory is now almost HALF of what it was a month ago (apparently). Your $160 512 MB of xD memory is now less than $90, while 1 GB of SD has come down only $20 (to about $80). While this is still a 2-for-1 gain of SD over xD, and you have to spend an extra $100 to get the same 1 GB of storage, the picture is not yet complete. Just as important as memory is the ability to use that memory - specifically BATTERIES. The CGA-S004 (used in the DMC-FX7) costs about $20 (and good luck finding them - I only found ONE source!) and since LIons typically have only half the capacity of NiMHs, it takes TWO to last as long as a $5 pair of 2300 mAH NiMHs. That means to get the power of an extra $10 set of 4 NiMHs, you have to spend about $40.

So, your real cost difference is about $60 for the Fuji E550 over the Panny. Total for 1GB + 3 'sets' of batteries + camera is about $490, not $640 (yes, I've found new 550s for less than $300 + $180 for 1GB + $10 for 4 2300 mAH NiMH batteries) vs your $539 ($419 unit + $40 batteries + $80 1GB SD). Hmmm... the $60 was using your cost figures. I guess some other prices have changed, as the FX7 actually would cost about $50 MORE than the Fuji for 1GB memory and two extra batteries (or two extra sets of AAs). Even if you don't count the batteries (which you have to), the Panny costs more.

I do appreciate your comments, and took a serious look at the LX80 (I didn't consider the LX7 due to the battery issue - I have a ton of AAs for other electronic items, and didn't want to have to carry around yet another type of battery and charger). I also considered the Casio QV-R61 (AAs AND SD memory - yeah!), but decided against it since it has no audio with the motion picture recording (how lame is that - no audio?!?!?). It was a tight race, but I chose the audio over the xD cost.

As I said, I appreciate your comments, and I'm sure the picture has changed in the last month (no pun intended), but the xD memory does seem to be dropping in price. New tech always starts high and usually comes down, as appears to be the case with the xD memory. Maybe by the end of the year, they will be about the same cost. While I would prefer an SD unit, I cannot find one that uses AAs and has the features I want.

Joe M.

[james morgan]

I am into two days of use and nearly there in accepting it.It does feel a bit flimsy and I am using 12Mpixels and downsizing in Irfanview 7 of bottom12 are e550 in link
http://www.pbase.com/jascm/start
I think its a keeper,any comments welcome.

jasm