......but I'm not a "low light" kind of guy ???

Everyone keeps talking about the F30 / F31's being so great in low light. Well, that's all fine and dandy.... Maybe some day I'll need some good shots after the sun has fallen below the trees, or on a heavily overcasted day.... (I hate being stuck inside though.... growing up, that just meant I was in trouble again ;-)

But 98% of my shots will be in direct sunlight ! Even in the DPreview, Simon Joinson states > this is a camera that wins a Highly Recommended only if you regularly shoot in low light - if you only ever take pictures in blazing sunshine there are competitors with far more impressive feature lists or lower prices

Uhhh.... Okay Simon, so how about some suggestions ? I certainly haven't found any "cheaper" 6 to 8 MP compacts, that rate any higher in Image Quality, than the F30 / F31. Have I overlooked them ?

Anyway, yes, I hate digital noise..... but fortunately, I shoot with more than enough light, most of the time. So, is their a better compact digi-cam for me, than the F31 ?

Thank you,
Fish

PS, No matter what compact I get, it's mostly just going to be my back up camera anyway. I'll be pulling the trigger on my S6000 tomorrow evening..... and feeling pretty confident about that particular decision, I might add ;-)

--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

I was in Best Buy tonight and they have the Panasonic TZ1 on sale for $150 (half price). If we didn't already have on in the family, I would have bought it--it's a better cam than the new TZ3 IMO.

I use a Panny FX07 for my" always with me" camera and it's a winner, too. Go read the specs on them--you will be impressed.

Joe

PS--I just bought an F31 for those low light moments. :-D
--



Jotor's Salt Lake City
http://flickr.com/photos/jotor/sets/72157594289600015/show/

I have four cameras: a Fuji F31fd, Canon S400, A620, and a 5D with several L-series lenses. (I've also used some Panasonics and several other Canon digicams.) I would estimate that 90% of my shots are not in low light. Of my three non-DSLRs, the camera whose image quality--in bright, medium, or low light--comes closes to that of the 5D is the F31fd. Here's a typical shot in bright light (ISO100, 1/500, f/5.0).

Bob

All this talk about low-light is only because digicams of the past have sucked in that area.

Fuji's strong contrast curve works well with blue skies and green grass, but clips highlights somewhat easily. If you meter well and watch your white balance then you have nothing to worry about.

--
-Dave

the Fuji F series can do quite well. personally, I use one of my other cameras in good light as they do perform better overall. Panny makes some great stuff. I tend to fall back on my old trusty Sony 717 though.....IMO still has better image quality than most any of the current lineup of cameras.

work with the settings on the Fuji to a -EV and it will perform quite nicely.

--
-tim
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.pbase.com/pdqgp

I'm still curious as to what "other cameras" Simon was talking about ? Of course he did say, > more impressive feature lists or lower prices

Anyway, I'm fixing to do something I've never even considered in the past..... Tommorrow evening, I'm going to place an order for two cameras... the S6000fd and the F31

......and I will have the new pick-and-pluck foam for my Pelican case.... So, both of my sweet new cameras (plus spare batts, and memory) my certified digital scale, and my cell phone, all in a totally impact resistant, completely waterproof Pelican ! (I love Pelican cases BTW)

Yea' buddies..... I'm already doing my little happy dance over here ;-)

Peace,
Fish

--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

I've never seen a black tree before

for any of you who would know.... The whole face detection thing means zero to me. I almost never shoot people (as the main subject anyway). My concern is, can this "face detection" feature be disabled ? ....or should I say, does it have to be "enabled" to work ? Reason being, if I'm holding a fish out in front of me, I sure don't want the camera to look right past this beautiful fish, and focus on my ugly mug ! If one or the other is slightly OOF, I'd sure want it to be me, and not the fish !

Any need for concern here ?

Thanks again,
Fish
--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

Fish Chris said:

Fish Chris said:

Any need for concern here ?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

None at all. A single button switches FD off and on.

Excellent. I didn't really think so.... just last minute "what if's"

Thank you,
Fish

--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

Fish Chris said:

I'm still curious as to what "other cameras" Simon was talking about
? Of course he did say, > more impressive feature lists or lower
prices

Anyway, I'm fixing to do something I've never even considered in the
past..... Tommorrow evening, I'm going to place an order for two
cameras... the S6000fd and the F31

Click to expand...

I have the absolute base F series the F20, frankly it rocks, i had a S6500fd for 2 weeks, and well, could NOT wait to hand it back, appaling camera for mine

Read some posts here, not everybody is happy with the S6500fd [i was very unhappy with it actually, happy to return it]

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Cheers

M
'Everyday above earth is a gooooooooood day'
Mike Mad-Dog Adams

Hey Robert, I think this photo looks phenominal ! Amazing detail ! Can't wait to see the scale detail of a giant fish ;-) Even the "black tree" that Sridhar mentions below doesn't look too bad On my monitor, it looks more like a deep burgundy, mixed with a little dark green here and there. I forget the name of those trees, but I have seen them.

One thing that did catch my eye about this photo though..... Following the line along the roof, it appears somewhat curved in towards the right side. Was that in the actual construction ? ....or, an optical illusion ? ....or (is it called) linear distortion ?

Thank you for posting this shot,
Fish
--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

Hello mpmp. I'm curious as to what you didn't like about your S6500 ? Remember too, that I'm coming from an S7000 which I have always loved. I don't see a whole lot of differences between the S7000 and the S6000.... No hot shoe... No seperate dial for exposure... no CF cards.... I have no major problems with this stuff though.

Did you have PQ issues ?

Thank you,
Fish
--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

All cameras aren't for everyone. No matter how good a camera is, it's still personal taste. I have the 6000 and an f20 and I love them both. Like all cameras in this category, they have there limitations and there querks. I wish the 6000 did some things differently, but I don't think there is a better camera for the money. I have several pics from the 6000 and the f20 you can see at the host site. Take a look and judge for yourself. Here's a couple from the s6000......





and a couple from the f20





You can see more here.....
http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w6/Soundman500/
Mark

If you don't mind exposure compensation, the f30/f31 is great in daylight/outdoors too. I think the talk about it not being so great came because of clipping while using auto modes. If you're not bothered using manual settings I think it's the one of the best in daylight too.

Sharpness and AF is much better than the IXUS cameras and other compacts for example, which is a very important factor. Occasional clipping issues are very easy to be avoided with the f30/f31. (the overwhelming reason some say "it's not so good" in daylight/outdoors)

Whether or not low light shooting is a priority depends on what your alternatives are. I am considering getting a Fuji to compliment my KM DSLR for evening shots & party interiors when it would be inappropriate to use a large DSLR for casual shots in informal settings.
--
Keith-C

Fish Chris said:

Hello mpmp. I'm curious as to what you didn't like about your S6500 ?
Remember too, that I'm coming from an S7000 which I have always
loved. I don't see a whole lot of differences between the S7000 and
the S6000.... No hot shoe... No seperate dial for exposure... no CF
cards.... I have no major problems with this stuff though.

Did you have PQ issues ?

Thank you,
Fish
--
Please check out 'Fish Chris Photo .com' at the following link:
http://www.trophybassonly.com/id182.htm

Click to expand...

Hi Fish, nothing wrong with the way it worked, just the photos,,,,YUK

To many where out of focus/blured, noise was a issue, the size and the weight of the camera is insane [more than a DSLR]

I want to go on the record and state i am a Fuji FanBoy, but no matter how i tried could not love the S6500sd.

Buy one with option of return, just in case

Maybe it does like the air in Australia?

All the best

Cheers

M

--
'Everyday above earth is a gooooooooood day'
Mike Mad-Dog Adams

Perhaps you should look at this Ricoh. It promises higher resolution at low ISO & has a novel EVF attachment & image stabilisation but is not so good at higher ISO's compared to the Fuji 30D. It's also much more expensive.

When are Fuji going to implement image stabilisation in a compact ?

http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4342/camera-test-ricoh-caplio-gx100.html

Keith-C

Here is bright light:



And this is low light:



--
Victor
Bucuresti, Romania
http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/victor_petcu/

These nice pictures show that the default output is on the contrasty side. An earlier image was criticised for the 'dark' tree but the information is there - here is a quick treatment to illustrate this - curves applied together with some perspective correction. It would look better if performed on the original.

PS - is that buildings roof a bit twisted or is this edge distortion showing ?



--
Keith-C