Richard Dunn
Senior Member
Well I've been using the F601 for about a 5 days now and have taken over 200 images and used most of the modes. I have also printed out about 10 images so far. So hears what I think to now.
The 601 is a really great camera. I have really warmed to it over the last week. It has just grown and grown on me.
It is lovely to hold and handle, it is light and looks great. Once I got used to the left side viewfinder and small control button I really enjoyed using it. It is smaller and lighter than the 4700 and much smaller than the 6800. I really loved having it around in my shirt pocket in the same way I did when the 4700 first came out. But this camera is so much better.
Images are clear crisp and saturated like the 4700 and not desaturated (slightly) like the 6800. I like the images straight from the camera. The 3M are sharper from the camera, but both 6m and 3m are good to view from the camera. They look initially more like the 6900 images than anything else. magnified up there is more noise than the 6900. But they print very well indeed in spite of that. I ahve been able to do 1/4 crops to A4 with crisp clear saturated images. I print at 240 dpi on an Epson 750 working at 720 dpi and I have to say the prints are as good as my 6900 so far.
But in addition night shots are so much better. No hot pixels and good blacks in the night sky. I took a whole load of pictures at a fair at night and these have come out very well indeed. (I'll post samples later in week). Also autofocus in dim light is better than the 4700/6900 and where this fails the old wide angle 5 feet to 12 feet works well. The flash is much brighter and this has allowed increased flash range.
High iso shots are interesting in that they are very grainy at 1600, but when printed at upto 7X5 aren't bad at all. For the first time I can take shots at handheld speeds in buildings with no flash. They look quite different done this way and much more interesting.
Video mode is wonderful with great VGA movies and clearer QVGA movies too. Sound sometimes loops though. Still worth having and much better than the 4700.
Manual modes offer full shutter and aperture control and this has allowed some added creativity though I mainly shot auto, its so good.
I miss an LCD with picture info however but I got used to this and flipped the main LCD on when needed. Battery life was no problem at all.
Well this is enough for now, I'll report further with some images posted next week I hope. I must admit I'd really like to keep this camera instead of giving it back to the camera shop and perhaps I'll exchange my Ixus V for one and trade up. Can't wait to see the S602 though if ht e601 is anything to go by it should be fantastic.--Best Wishes,
Richard Dunn
Warwick UK
http://www.pbase.com/rmwd/galleries
The 601 is a really great camera. I have really warmed to it over the last week. It has just grown and grown on me.
It is lovely to hold and handle, it is light and looks great. Once I got used to the left side viewfinder and small control button I really enjoyed using it. It is smaller and lighter than the 4700 and much smaller than the 6800. I really loved having it around in my shirt pocket in the same way I did when the 4700 first came out. But this camera is so much better.
Images are clear crisp and saturated like the 4700 and not desaturated (slightly) like the 6800. I like the images straight from the camera. The 3M are sharper from the camera, but both 6m and 3m are good to view from the camera. They look initially more like the 6900 images than anything else. magnified up there is more noise than the 6900. But they print very well indeed in spite of that. I ahve been able to do 1/4 crops to A4 with crisp clear saturated images. I print at 240 dpi on an Epson 750 working at 720 dpi and I have to say the prints are as good as my 6900 so far.
But in addition night shots are so much better. No hot pixels and good blacks in the night sky. I took a whole load of pictures at a fair at night and these have come out very well indeed. (I'll post samples later in week). Also autofocus in dim light is better than the 4700/6900 and where this fails the old wide angle 5 feet to 12 feet works well. The flash is much brighter and this has allowed increased flash range.
High iso shots are interesting in that they are very grainy at 1600, but when printed at upto 7X5 aren't bad at all. For the first time I can take shots at handheld speeds in buildings with no flash. They look quite different done this way and much more interesting.
Video mode is wonderful with great VGA movies and clearer QVGA movies too. Sound sometimes loops though. Still worth having and much better than the 4700.
Manual modes offer full shutter and aperture control and this has allowed some added creativity though I mainly shot auto, its so good.
I miss an LCD with picture info however but I got used to this and flipped the main LCD on when needed. Battery life was no problem at all.
Well this is enough for now, I'll report further with some images posted next week I hope. I must admit I'd really like to keep this camera instead of giving it back to the camera shop and perhaps I'll exchange my Ixus V for one and trade up. Can't wait to see the S602 though if ht e601 is anything to go by it should be fantastic.--Best Wishes,
Richard Dunn
Warwick UK
http://www.pbase.com/rmwd/galleries
