F40fd and F50fd comparison

hi guys been considering either of these two cameras as I can't find the F31fd anywhere locally > .

I'm not too bothered by the higher 12 megapixel count on the F50fd, so megapixels aren't a problem for me. After some reading up and research (i hope what i've found is correct/accurate..), I'm making the following comparison, but cannot make a conclusive judgment on which to get, so need some help here, thanks The prices of both F40fd/F50fd are not a concern for me though, so its not a factor.

F40fd has slightly better Image Quality, esp. at higher ISOs
F50fd has mechanical Image Stabilisation
F50fd has Aperture/Shutter Priority modes

So it seems that the real question here is: Is the slightly better IQ worth having instead of the mechanical IS?

The addition of the Aperture/Shutter Priority modes are a nice-to-have, but not neccesarily a must-have, i guess. Are these modes actually very useful in conventional photography? (Sorry if this sounds dumb, haha) -- ie. what advantage does it offer a photographer/camera?

I reasoned it as the F40fd having better image quality at higher ISOs, so I would be able to take photos at faster shutter speeds, reducing the need for IS -- hence compensating for the lack of IS on the F40fd... does this argument hold? ie. is the increase in shutter speed great enough?

Thanks so much in advance for any help given

God bless

The F50 is diffraction limited to an aperture of around f5.6 -- the image quality beyond this point is inferior (soft and lacks contrast) in comparison to an aperture of f4.5 - f2.8. Now, if you intend to utilize Fuji's automatic "Landscape Mode," you will get a superior image quality out of the F40 every single time because the F50 tends to automatically select an aperture higher than f4.5. So one must amost always use aperture priority with the F50.

With regards to IS, I don't think it's very effective for "low-frequency" vibration (slow shutter speed). I see a difference, though, in my number of "keepers" for shutter speeds of 1/60s or faster. So in my case, I can pretty much guarantee that I will have a sharp enough image from the F50 at 1/60s or faster when IS is ON; this is not the case for me when I use my F30 or if the F50's IS feature is OFF.

--
Best Regards,
Al G.

A General said:

...
With regards to IS, I don't think it's very effective for
"low-frequency" vibration (slow shutter speed). I see a difference,
though, in my number of "keepers" for shutter speeds of 1/60s or
faster. So in my case, I can pretty much guarantee that I will have
a sharp enough image from the F50 at 1/60s or faster when IS is ON;
this is not the case for me when I use my F30 or if the F50's IS
feature is OFF.

--
Best Regards,
Al G.

Click to expand...

Exactly my experience. IS is touted as 1-2 stops gain but when I tried it at 1/15 sec or slower, I still had blurry pictures most of the time unless my hand was steady in the first place.

Regarding manual aperture priority mode I think it's very limited use on compacts and I never had a need for it. The shutter priority mode though can be pretty useful. But I think with night mode you can still manually select a shutter time up to 4sec.

I really wish the F31fd would still be available. But I think the F40fd in terms of noise at higher ISO comes fairly close to the F31fd whereas the F50fd is pretty much the same as the competition. The F40fd is probably the last for now that still beats the competition in terms of noise at higher ISO's.

PS If you really want to compare/judge the F40fd against F50fd yourself you can compare similar pictures on dcresource.com:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f40fd-review/gallery.shtml
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f50fd-review/gallery.shtml

I don't know whether there is anything wrong with F50 settings but Stanford University shot with sculptures in front is really bad compared to F40 shot. In F40 shot stone lines are visible but in F50 shot they are like water-painted, not to mention the blur.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f40fd-review/DSCF0050.JPG
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f50fd-review/DSCF0038.JPG

Lucien said:

PS If you really want to compare/judge the F40fd against F50fd
yourself you can compare similar pictures on dcresource.com:

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f40fd-review/gallery.shtml
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f50fd-review/gallery.shtml

Click to expand...

I think it may have more to do with lighting conditions or changes to the building. Check out the D300 sample taken at the same time. The building looks similar to the F50fd.

http://dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d300-review/DSC_0043.JPG

donquijote said:

I don't know whether there is anything wrong with F50 settings but
Stanford University shot with sculptures in front is really bad
compared to F40 shot. In F40 shot stone lines are visible but in F50
shot they are like water-painted, not to mention the blur.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f40fd-review/DSCF0050.JPG
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_f50fd-review/DSCF0038.JPG

Lucien wrote:

Click to expand...

Looking at a 2nd Chinatown picture you see similar results. At the edge you some blurring and some distortion+CA. I also think the F40 does apply less default sharpening and at the same is a bit more gentle with noise processing.
Overall I think the F40 pictures have better PQ.

Here's another review: http://www.popphoto.com/cameras/4764/camera-test-fujifilm-finepix-f50fd.html

hmm, the F40 seems to produce better images, though it seems at times it might be because the lighting conditions differed when the photos were taken with the F50..

i've found yet another site, http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=246&t=410415 (sorry, but the site is in traditional chinese, and I think it wouldn't be that nice to just lift links to the images off of there, so pardon me), which gives sample photos of the F30, F40 and F50 (including 100% crops) at various ISO speeds. The F30 is clearly the leader, but the F40 seems to follow quickly behind and the F50 really does not seem to have as great image quality.

Thanks everyone for the help though! Esp. with regards to IS and the Aperture and Shutter Priorities and Image Quality as well.

I'm almost sure I prefer the F40fd already, but just a few more questions :X (heh. just want to get things cleared out)

1. The IS that the F50 has, is more useful to ensure clear photos at already high shutter speeds, ie. doesn't really give it a boost in the low-light department where shutter speeds are usually lower as the F50 cannot go too high into the ISOs.

Might I say therefore that the F50's IS advantage over the F40 is not that marked because in general for most photos you would require a stable enough hand in the first place, and the F50 merely allows you to keep more photos in usually better lighted conditions?

(I've used a Powershot A80 in the past, which I believe does not have IS, and yet produced decent images at about ISO100 consistently so I'm kind of abandoning the idea of IS since I survived without it on the A80)

What do you guys think?

2. The Aperture and Shutter Priority modes are USEFUL, but only to a certain extent -- the F40 does not entirely need to use the Aperture modes to take most photos in the first place compared to the F50 which sort of relies on it?

As for shutter priority modes the "Night" mode in the F40 can provide some sort of equivalent function by letting you select shutter speed up to 4 seconds?

3. Following from this, would you guys reccomend F40 over the F50 for these reasons? From what has been heard here?

Sorry for the long post :X Thanks for the patience and help offered!

Yeah that's pretty much a summary of what most said in reply.

I have heard stories where people claim to could get IS to work at 1/15 sec and slower. But I had no such luck with 2 different IS cameras. It was too unpredictable that I would risk it. Better to stabilize. However I do believe you might get slightly 'sharper' pictures around 1/20sec (but again: stabilizing camera somehow is just as effective).

I tried the link but I get an empty page? Is that the correct link?

Hi, thanks for the responses by the way!

Umm by stabilise I assume you would refer to the usage of a tripod or stable ground/objects in the surroundings? heh.

The site is under maintenance currently I believe.. x.x So sorry about that. the link should work soon though.

Not sure if this works, but a google cache of the site gives the links too: http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:WlXBEvLnCx4J:www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php%3Ff%3D246%26t%3D410415+http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php%3Ff%3D246%26t%3D410415&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=sg&client=firefox-a

in case you don't read chinese, the links are given as such:

Fxx ISO xxx
first link: the image itself
a line of text
second link: the 100% crop of the image

thanks so much once more!

I'm having the same problem... I ordered the F30 and my order was cancelled due to it being out of stock... after checking the post everyday!

My choice seems to be between the F40fd and F50fd but I've also seen the F470 £20 cheaper than the F40fd but don't understand where this fits in and whether its any good.

I've also thought about the the Cannon A570 since it seems to have good reviews... but it uses AA batteries.

Anyone any advice? Would another Brand i.e. Nikon sub-£150 be better?
Priorities
1. Price - sub £150
2. Image Quality (incl low light)
3. Size
4. Own battery

Get th F40 you will not regrett it. It is a great performer.

Dietmar

ang123 said:

I'm having the same problem... I ordered the F30 and my order was
cancelled due to it being out of stock... after checking the post
everyday!

My choice seems to be between the F40fd and F50fd but I've also seen
the F470 £20 cheaper than the F40fd but don't understand where this
fits in and whether its any good.

I've also thought about the the Cannon A570 since it seems to have
good reviews... but it uses AA batteries.

Anyone any advice? Would another Brand i.e. Nikon sub-£150 be better?
Priorities
1. Price - sub £150
2. Image Quality (incl low light)
3. Size
4. Own battery

Click to expand...

Instead of the F30 you still can find F20 at couple of places. The only downside is that it doesn't have ISO3200 compared to the F30/F31fd.

And otherwise the F40 is the next best thing available (with low noise at high ISO).

At ISO 3200, where the F50 is forced into its 6 MP mode, I measured noise using histogram std devn of grey patch at 5.49, vs F30's 4.21, only a modest degradation. This implies that if you ALWAYS used the F50 in its 6 MP mode, it MIGHT be pretty close to the F30 in image quality (noise). You give up the improved resolution, but do get other advantages, such as IS, FD, etc. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate images made at ISO 100 in 6 MP mode to evaluate this.
--
Russell
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/russ

what do you think of F50fd? I doubt choose between F50fd and F30. F50fd I like because most modern, compact size and with many technological innovations, while F30, even if a product has a lot of time, produces a very good picture iso high.

I usually use the digital camera 75% during the day and 25% indoors or in low light environments

robyfor said:

what do you think of F50fd? I doubt choose between F50fd and F30.
F50fd I like because most modern, compact size and with many
technological innovations, while F30, even if a product has a lot of
time, produces a very good picture iso high.
I usually use the digital camera 75% during the day and 25% indoors
or in low light environments

Click to expand...

I don't own an F50fd, but do own asn F30. I use low light a lot and would hate to give up much in noise department.

--
Russell
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/russ

I don't have either camera but I saw this on You Tube, it shows how both cameras compare in "movie" mode

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZNa5_FuQQt0
--
'Kicking Back With My s8000FD' & s700
Cameras Make Pictures, People Create Them