9500 for A4 prints compared to EOS 350D

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I am a S602Z owner and am getting fed up with getting fuzzy results in background grass and stone work, probably due to jpeg compression and the the cameras resolution. I want a camera that will produce proffesional looking prints at least at A4, possibly A3. I really like the idea of the S9500 for its versatility. My question is will the 9500 deliver at the print sizes i require or should i look to 350D or other entry SLR to produce nocticably improved results at the sizes i require.

I would like to hear what 9500 owners think of their prints.

Thanks
 
Well, this is what imaging-resource.com says on output quality:

'
S9500:

The Fujifilm FinePix S9000 produced very crisp-looking 13x19 inch prints on our i9900 printer. We've observed in the past that Fuji's SuperCCD sensor technology really shines in printed output, more so than when viewed on-screen, and the S9000 once again proves that out. Even 13x19 inch prints stood up very well to close inspection, appearing sharper than we'd normally expect 9-megapixel prints to look when printed at that size.

As noted above, the S9000 does fine at lower ISO settings, but its image quality degrades fairly rapidly above ISO 400. ISO 800 shots will probably be usable as 8x10 inch prints for most folks interested in displaying them on a wall or table, where they won't be scrutinized too closely. At 5x7 inches, ISO 800 shots are still a bit grainy, but should be satisfactory for most users. At ISO 1600 though, the noise is so high that the resulting images really shouldn't be considered for use printed any larger than 4x6 inches, and even there the color balance of the images may shift due to the large amount of blue-channel noise.

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EOS350D:

Excellent prints at 13x19 inches and larger. (Some sharpening in the computer helps though.) Very low noise, ISO 1600 shots look good even at 13x19. Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon i9900 studio printer, and on the Canon iP5000 here in the office. (See our Canon i9900 review for details on that model.) Prints from the Rebel XT look just beautiful at the 13x19 inch maximum paper size on our i9900, and judging from how clean they appeared at that size, could be blown up a fair bit larger and still hold together quite nicely. Like many Canon cameras, the in-camera sharpening of the XT is rather conservative (a wise approach that insures no detail is lost to overzealous sharpening), but the result is that its images have a bit of a soft look straight from the camera. A little work in Photoshop(tm) crisps things up nicely though, revealing an amazing level of detail. The harshest tests of print size re always high-ISO shots, but here again the XT came through with flying colors. ISO 1600 shots printed at 13x19 were noticeably grainy, but with most subjects (and viewers), you won't really be able to see it at viewing distances greater than about 18 inches or so. Printed at 8x10, ISO 1600 noise just won't be an issue at all, for any but the most extreme anti-noise fanatics. A very impressive performance. '

--
Feel free to visit me at pbase.com:

http://pbase.com/tominho
 
S9500 - A4 professional magazine print - very good quality!

I doubt you will see that big a diference on desktop printers. For A3 with the correct PP you can get desent results.
--
Here is a galery i started. I will upload all my pix with time.
http://public.fotki.com/powermag/
 
My experience is that if you really want excellent prints, the best result will be obtained with chemical processing (traditional photo processing). Just before I started to have regularly large prints (poster 19,7 x 26,4") I tried to print a part of the image with an HPA4 Deskjet mounted with "photo-cartridges") and at a scale identical to the one I asked at an external photo processing. My opinion is that it's very expensive to do that job "at home" and the result is poor compared to a traditional chemical processing. The source of my pictures are always the conversion from RAW (Fuji S9500) to TIFF Exiff through the original Fuji software or sometimes the very very interesting s7raw. I do not have any other comparison with other digital cameras but I can assure you of the VERY high quality I get with my S9500 in the above size !! The details on such a size are really surprising, the balance of colours and their gradation are reproduced the way I like it.
Don't know if it helps, but it's my opinion...
PFG

Some of my pics (cropped and resized) on:
http://users.skynet.be/pfg/PrivatePics_pfg.htm

Some of them can also be viewed (larger sizes) on:
http://users.skynet.be/PrivatePics_XL_pfg.htm
 
My experience is that the s9500 will not produce the detail that the 350 will, foilage is much better on the canon. Although both will produce large format pictures without any trouble
 
And you will find that any camera that gets a good image at 6mp or more can produce excellent large prints.

--
My gallery: http://letkeman.net/Photos
Fuji Finepix F11
Nikon D70s, Sigma 18-200, Nikkor 50mm 1.8D, Sigma 70-300APO
 
Thanks for all your help. I just downloaded a sample photo from each camera and sent it off for processing in A4 size. Just got them this morning. The results are very impressive. resolution is not a problem with either camera as expected, detail for A4 size is excellent on both. On initial examination the 9500 stands out as the better print, it appears sharper and the colours punchier. This could be partly down to the fact that photos were taken at different times of the day.

I was hoping this comparison would help me justify a move to an SLR but the S9500 just seems fantastic.

Mark
 
On initial examination the 9500 stands out as
the better print, it appears sharper and the colours punchier. This
could be partly down to the fact that photos were taken at
different times of the day.
It is entirely down to the lighting and processing of the individual photos.
I was hoping this comparison would help me justify a move to an SLR
but the S9500 just seems fantastic.
Why would it help justify the move? If you need the things that the dSLR will give you, and the list is very long, then move. Otherwise do not. It sounds like you are actually trying to justifying staying with what you have. Which is perfectly reasonable if that is all you need.

--
My gallery: http://letkeman.net/Photos
Fuji Finepix F11
Nikon D70s, Sigma 18-200, Nikkor 50mm 1.8D, Sigma 70-300APO
 
Why would it help justify the move? If you need the things that the
dSLR will give you, and the list is very long, then move. Otherwise
do not. It sounds like you are actually trying to justifying
staying with what you have. Which is perfectly reasonable if that
is all you need.
What I actually have is a fuji S602 Zoom. As I mentioned in my original post I was not satisfied with its capure of grass and stonework. What i was trying to justify is a need to purchase a DSLR rather than a compact like the S9500. Every where you read the DSLR gives the better quality images I just haven't seen the evidence myself.

My main priority is High Quality images hence my leaning towards the 350D but up popped the 9500 with all its many advantages over the DSLR in many areas such as; no lens change, no dust on sensor, live preview, tilting lcd.

My main photographic subjects include, the sea, landscapes, buildings and the odd animal in addition to family. If the DSLR would not produce any BETTER QUALITY than the 9500 in those kind of situations then I may just go for the 9500.

Anyone with experience shooting landscapes and seascapes with the 9500 I'd be glad to hear from them and see examples
 
But I might own the next version. (Hoping that an even better camera appears this summer.)

Yesterday I downloaded the "liquor and playing card" test shots for the S9500, FZ30, and 350D. I had them printed out at 8" x 12" on Fuji Crystal Archive paper.

If one were to place the three prints a few feet apart I doubt that anyone could pick out the 'best'. Even viewing from 'normal viewing distance' with all three prints side by side one can see very little difference.

With close scrutiny one can see that the 350D pulls ahead of the pack a bit. But it's not a big bit. It's not a big enough 'bit' to cause me to pay for and carry a dSLR with a couple of lenses.

BTW, there's something that I find very puzzling in the prints. With the 350D I can see a difference between level in the Kodak Gray Scale up to 13 at which point everything becomes black. I can see changes with the FZ30 and S9500 through level 15.

That's not supposed to happen, is it?
I am a S602Z owner and am getting fed up with getting fuzzy results
in background grass and stone work, probably due to jpeg
compression and the the cameras resolution. I want a camera that
will produce proffesional looking prints at least at A4, possibly
A3. I really like the idea of the S9500 for its versatility. My
question is will the 9500 deliver at the print sizes i require or
should i look to 350D or other entry SLR to produce nocticably
improved results at the sizes i require.

I would like to hear what 9500 owners think of their prints.

Thanks
--
bob

The Blind Pig Guild
A photo/travel club looking for members
http://www.jeber.com/Clubs/Blind-Pig/

Flowers of Asia
A photo club for appreciators of Asian flowers - looking for members
http://www.jeber.com/Clubs/Flowers-of--Asia/

Travel Galleries
http://www.pbase.com/bobtrips
 
Hi Mark
Have a look at my pics link below.

I find with landscape type pics that as long as you have good light and can use iso80/100 and f5.6 you get plenty of detail in the distance. But in all instances iso200 and above you start to loose detail unless you use raw. You don't notice it quite so much when you print.
--
Sel ................ :)
s9500, E550
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/%7Eselorme/photos.html
 
Thanks for all your help. I just downloaded a sample photo from
each camera and sent it off for processing in A4 size. Just got
them this morning. The results are very impressive. resolution is
not a problem with either camera as expected, detail for A4 size is
excellent on both. On initial examination the 9500 stands out as
the better print, it appears sharper and the colours punchier. This
could be partly down to the fact that photos were taken at
different times of the day.

I was hoping this comparison would help me justify a move to an SLR
but the S9500 just seems fantastic.

Mark
To get the best image quality and see where the dslr shines...you have to put good glass in front of it. I've seen alot of discussions here where members are comparing the s9K to a dslr with the kit lens, the kit lens is not considered good glass in most cases, particularly canon, while the fuji lens is a good lens, maybe not "L" quality, but certainly better than the 40 dollar kit lens you get with the canon. Your image quality with any dslr will be directly related to the glass you put in front of the sensor. if the resolving power of the lens is poor...it really doesn't matter much if the sensor has tremendous resolution.

So when justifying the expense of a dslr...you need to justify the expense of the lenses as well, you will only be happy with the kit lens or some cheapo telephoto for so long, eventually you will crave better glass. There are definitely good deals out there for nice lenses, but, they are still expensive when you compare it to a fixed lens point and shoot.

--
Kevin Riley
http://www.shutterbugs-gallery.com/gallery
http://www.aquariumadvice.com
 

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