So I was all set to buy a Fuji F30 for low light/indoor photos until...

JP Lee · Oct 10, 2006

I realized that Panasonic's OIS will provide a couple of extra stops just like Fuji's high sensitivity will. Check out my post here...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=20394994

I do understand that OIS will not help with subject blur. But OIS will be effective in all situations and these new subcompacts without viewfinders are more difficult to hold steady.

So now I'm a bit torn between the Fuji F30 and the Panny FX01. I would say outdoors/in bright light, the Panny wins hands down. The colors are more vivid and natural. For indoor/low light shooting the Fuji is the undisputed king of subcompacts.

What would help are some ISO 200 and 400 samples of the FX01 in low light conditions with no postprocessing. I've been looking all over PBASE and here and haven't been able to find any. Can anyone help here?

P.S. I also like that the Panny uses SD cards and my wife, who'll be the primary user likes the pink

so we're almost there...

Ramblin · Oct 10, 2006

FUJI F30 will blow away the FX01 in low light. Noise is barely noticable in the F30 at ISO 200 - 400.

If I'm shooting indoors, I don't reach for the Panasonics unless I am using flash. You can over expose the panasonic cameras indoor/ low light and that helps a little.

Search the forum for "FX01 ISO400" "FX01 ISO 200" Lots of hits, maybe pictures

It would be cool if Fuji would do a 28mm - 140mm F30

JP Lee said:
I realized that Panasonic's OIS will provide a couple of extra
stops just like Fuji's high sensitivity will. Check out my post
here...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=20394994

I do understand that OIS will not help with subject blur. But OIS
will be effective in all situations and these new subcompacts
without viewfinders are more difficult to hold steady.

So now I'm a bit torn between the Fuji F30 and the Panny FX01. I
would say outdoors/in bright light, the Panny wins hands down. The
colors are more vivid and natural. For indoor/low light shooting
the Fuji is the undisputed king of subcompacts.

What would help are some ISO 200 and 400 samples of the FX01 in low
light conditions with no postprocessing. I've been looking all
over PBASE and here and haven't been able to find any. Can anyone
help here?

P.S. I also like that the Panny uses SD cards and my wife, who'll
be the primary user likes the pink so we're almost there...

--
Slow down! You'll miss... life

http://www.pbase.com/ramblin_mo/galleries
(See profile page for current and past cameras)

alasta · Oct 10, 2006

I'm in the same position. I was very, very close to buying an F30, but now I'm pretty sure that I'll go for the FX01 instead. Because my shooting will be roughly 50/50 between outdoor and indoor photos, it's a tough choice, but the small size and weight of the FX01 along with its wide angle capability will probably be the deciding factor.

I'm also a bit concerned about complaints of CA on the F30. I'm looking for a simple point and shoot camera, so I'm willing to sacrifice shutter priority and aperture priority options in favour of a camera which gets things right with a minimum of manual intervention.

Olga Johnson · Oct 10, 2006

The Fuji F30 does very well outdoors if you switch the White Balance from Auto. Indoors at high ISO only a dSLR could do better.

Olga

Erik37 · Oct 10, 2006

Ramblin said:
It would be cool if Fuji would do a 28mm - 140mm F30

Yes, I would be interested.

However, the FX01 gets so small and handy thanks to

1) Small sensor; and if memory serves,

2) Cutting edge optics using lots of asperical elements from
Panny's own factory.

So, an F30 28-140 mm might be unattractively large unless Fuji
are very clever. Going from 36mm to 28 is always a challenge or
most compacts would offer us that useful range.

Just my two öre
Erik from Sweden
Using the F Z 5

Bear 740 · Oct 10, 2006

I have used a friends Fuji F30 and for one it is one of the cheapest feeling cameras I have ever used, it does not have the quality feel and craftmanship of the Panny's at all. Second after looking at my outside pictures they all looked soft to me, which means that either the camera is doing a job on the noise or it has a terrible lens. I was very disappointed in the looks of the pictures as compared to my wife's TZ1, there simply were no comparison in my opinion. I do not have the FX01 to compare it with only the TZ1 which blew it out of the water and the indoor pics I took were not any better than the TZ1's especially in shapeness. I know some F30 owners will be letting me have it but sometimes people will just accept their purchases and the output. I own a FZ30 and refused to move to the FZ50 simply because of the sharpness of the FZ50 was in question and I am still not convinced at all it is a upgrade to the FZ30. If the FX01 is like most panny's it will have very sharp pics, and noise in higher ISO is not that big a deal to me, in most cases with the FZ30 it has not been a problem that Noise ninja or Adobe photoshop cannot correct without washing the picture out like the FZ50 does. As far as Fuji, I am still not sure they truly have a less noiser sensor, I think they have a pretty good incamera noise reduction going on but to me the pictures are just too soft.

Erik37 · Oct 10, 2006

by Phil's forum software. :-(

Should have read:

28mm + 1/1.7" -> bigger F30?

Seems everything from " on was cut off?

Just my two öre
Erik from Sweden
Using the F Z 5

Mark K · Oct 10, 2006

No thanks, I would never considered a Panosonic, untill a less noisy sensor is produced. To me a small DC functions as a good camera which can be used both outdoors and indoors. If Fuji launches an F40 with improved lens quality, smaller size, better indoor colour balance, wider coverage and improved macro........I will have one.
--
Mark K
http://www.pbase.com/herbridgemo

Erik37 · Oct 10, 2006

Bear 740 said:
As far as
Fuji, I am still not sure they truly have a less noiser sensor, I
think they have a pretty good incamera noise reduction going on but
to me the pictures are just too soft.

Their sensor tech in the S9x00 is about 1/3 of a stop less noisy than
ther FZ30 (looking at raw/ACR).

Also the F30 has a larger sensor, bigger pixels, than competing cameras,
which also contributes to less noise.

But I agree Fuji has better NR.

The F30 seems to be an improvement over the F10, but until looking
at raw from the sensor we can't say if it's an improvement in sensor or NR.

Just my two öre
Erik from Sweden
Using the F Z 5

Erik37 · Oct 10, 2006

(somehow I get a feeling you didn't...)

you'd understand that "smaller size" and "wider coverage"
are conflicting design goals and a tough challenge in
particular together with the 1/1.7" sensor.

Mark K said:
If Fuji
launches an F40 with improved lens quality, smaller size, better
indoor colour balance, wider coverage and improved macro........I
will have one.

Just my two öre
Erik from Sweden
Using the F Z 5

J1000 · Oct 10, 2006

JP Lee said:
P.S. I also like that the Panny uses SD cards and my wife, who'll
be the primary user likes the pink so we're almost there...

If it helps your decision, I find the FX01 extremely well designed in the usage department. Everything is in the right place and is quick and easy to execute. I don't remember anyone giving the F30 praise in this category. The FX01 is also very well built, quite attractive, and has the 28mm equiv. wide angle lens. Very important points!

LaRee · Oct 10, 2006

JP Lee said:
I realized that Panasonic's OIS will provide a couple of extra
stops just like Fuji's high sensitivity will. Check out my post
here...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1018&message=20394994

I do understand that OIS will not help with subject blur. But OIS
will be effective in all situations and these new subcompacts
without viewfinders are more difficult to hold steady.

So now I'm a bit torn between the Fuji F30 and the Panny FX01. I
would say outdoors/in bright light, the Panny wins hands down. The
colors are more vivid and natural. For indoor/low light shooting
the Fuji is the undisputed king of subcompacts.

What would help are some ISO 200 and 400 samples of the FX01 in low
light conditions with no postprocessing. I've been looking all
over PBASE and here and haven't been able to find any. Can anyone
help here?

P.S. I also like that the Panny uses SD cards and my wife, who'll
be the primary user likes the pink so we're almost there...

How about a nice photo of that pretty pink fx01?

It really has a beautiful finish. I've been quite happy with the photos the fx01 produces for me in all different situations. It is a joy to use. Here is a link of some fx01 shots from my gallery:

http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/share.mg?AlbumID=1661710&Page=1&ImageID=81375587
And some low light shots that are right outta the camera.
http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/1821682/6

I am not familiar with your other choice of cameras. I can only say I am very pleased with my fx01.
--
~~LaRee~~
http://www.laree.smugmug.com/

LaRee · Oct 10, 2006

I meant to start the link the page before I did. If you looked at the previous page in the last gallery I posted then you already saw these. But if you didn't here is a direct link:
http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/1821682/5

Pretty much that whole gallery is fx01 shots. It really makes a sweet go every where camera that travels well.
--
~~LaRee~~
http://www.laree.smugmug.com/

JP Lee · Oct 11, 2006

Ramblin said:
Search the forum for "FX01 ISO400" "FX01 ISO 200" Lots of hits,
maybe pictures

I have done this seach and there are no photos that show how good/bad it can be at ISO 200/400 in indoor/poor light situations. I really want a "worst case example" so I can determine wheather I can live with the noise or not...

JP Lee · Oct 11, 2006

LaRee said:
I meant to start the link the page before I did. If you looked at
the previous page in the last gallery I posted then you already saw
these. But if you didn't here is a direct link:
http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/1821682/5
Pretty much that whole gallery is fx01 shots. It really makes a
sweet go every where camera that travels well.
--
~~LaRee~~
http://www.laree.smugmug.com/

Nice job! The ISO 160 and 200 shotsw/o flash aren't bad at all. Were these all hand held? Any post processing? I hadn't realize the ISO was adjustable in sub stop increments. The DPREVIEW data sheet shows no ISO 160.

So as long as the subjects aren't moving too much I think the FX01 may just do.

danny_only · Oct 11, 2006

Hi JP,

Since you are living in the US and you are an experience film and digital photographers (judging from your equipments), why don't you buy both and test them by yourself, provided it is ethical and the re-stocking fees are reasonable for both parties. One possibility is that you may end up keeping both

which is also a happy ending.

We don't have this kind of return policy option in HK, so when I want to buy a certain camera, I rely on the users pictures which I can find in the forum, check if the camera usages are similar to my shooting habit, # of international awards received, if any and reviews. For reviews, I try to ignor the best remark review and the worst remark review, and take average. I believe if a camera is good, the majority reviews should indicate it is a good one, by the same token, poor performance camera can be dsicovered easily.

There are many Panasonic users who also own F30, I am one of them, I have a F30 and 6 Panny DCs. Love and using them all. As for the built quality, it is same as the 6 Panny DCs I own, it has heavy metal feel. For quality control issue, the F30 is made in China, where as my Panny were made in Japan, to some people it may be an issue. When talking about QC, no one can beat the Japanese, but then the F30 is highly in-expensive.

BTW, do not be misleaded, F30 also performs very well in day time and the lens is sharp. If you have a F30 in hand for testing, simply set LCD brightness to -3 and avoid using the multi-segment metering, use spot and average meterings, basically you can get good result from the F30. The flash system of F30 is also great for fill-in and general uses, look for the examples in the fuji forum.

I don't have any FX01, but I did play with a brother in church's FX01 for a while, loved it (I was actually the one who influenced him to buy a FZ5 and fx8, after seeing my FZ1 and all my FXs. He later trade-in the FX8 for the fx01, both black color ones, he told me not to tell his wife, because his wife could not tell fx8 from fx01

)

For best settings of the FX01, you may need to ask for the owners in this forum. LaRee can do magic with the FX01, actually she can do with any camera.

Good luck on your selection, if budget is not a concern, buy both

--
Best Regards,

Danny

My Albums
http://photobucket.com/albums/a44/yeeonly

ackab · Oct 11, 2006

After having experienced with a TZ1 and an FZ30 for a few months, I decided to get the F30 for low light situations. It was a good choice, I am very happy with how the F30 can perform up to ISO 1600. In low light and dynamic situations, both my panasonic perform very badly. The F30 is another world. Have a look at the Hugo P galleries:

http://www.photo.net/photos/hpic

http://hugopoon.blogspot.com

Have also a look at a recent post from Hugo on the fuji forum with some nice night shots you could forget about with the pannys:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=20356036

In summary, if you can afford it, get both cameras, they nicely complement each other.

Regards-Ackab

--
Panasonic Lumix shots gallery:
http://cellbiol.com/cellbiol_photos/

Fuji F30 shots gallery:
http://cellbiol.com/photography/gallery/fuji_f30/

ackab · Oct 11, 2006

I second that Danny! While we wait for a single camera with a leica lens, a fuji sensor AND OIS, we need both cameras

Cheers-Ackab

--
Panasonic Lumix shots gallery:
http://cellbiol.com/cellbiol_photos/

Fuji F30 shots gallery:
http://cellbiol.com/photography/gallery/fuji_f30/

GregGory · Oct 11, 2006

Mark K said:
No thanks, I would never considered a Panosonic, untill a less
noisy sensor is produced. To me a small DC functions as a good
camera which can be used both outdoors and indoors. If Fuji
launches an F40 with improved lens quality, smaller size, better
indoor colour balance, wider coverage and improved macro........I
will have one.
--
Mark K
http://www.pbase.com/herbridgemo

JP Lee · Oct 27, 2006

It'll be my wife's camera (got the pink one). After days of looking at PBASE images of both FX01 and the F30, I decided that the Fuji is really a niche camera designed for indoor/low light situations.

I was splitting hairs/pixel peeping for a while and the decision could have gone either way. The memory card type was the tie breaker. I have 5 1GB SD cards and a number of SD card readers. I just did not want to invest the $$$ on a priprietary storage format. Fuji , Olympus and Sony have got to ditch XD and the Memory Stick.... Oh and... it doesn't hurt that it comes in pink.

So I was all set to buy a Fuji F30 for low light/indoor photos until...

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