Fuji F30 upgrade

now i know that i have asked this before but I need to upgrade my Fuji F30 - which was an excellent camera - but its broke. People keep telling me to fix it ... but it has been fixed twice already and its time to get a new one. i bought a Z20 a while back which i DO NOT like!

What can i get for the same quality pictures? We have toddlers who obviously move a lot, and use the camera for this. This, also obviously, is often indoors so requires a camera that can handle taking good low light pictures. Ive heard the F40/50 aren't so good at this....

can anyone help me?? budget is not really an issue, quality and size is it cant be too bulky ... needs to be able to go in a pocket when going down to the park for instance.

Thanks for any help. and if you recommend other brands thats fine too ... im open to suggestions ....

the F200EXR.

I'm coming from an F30 too, and just got an F200EXR 1 week ago when it went on sale.

After doing a bunch of comparisons, the F200EXR is comparable with the F30 in low light and much better in good light, especially with higher DR.

Also, the IS works very well and the 5x wide angle lens is significantly better with sharp corners and no purple fringing.

Without hesitation, I can second rax's recommendation of the 200EXR.

Our kids are 4 and 2 and the Auto EXR feature works pretty well. Just pull it out, don't think about it, and it gives high resolution in good light, very good low light photos indoors when it reads the light as being on the low side, and kicks into high dynamic range when the sunshine and shadows are mixed.

Now, it doesn't match my DSLR with a 1.8 aperture lens when I want to get serious about moving kids after dark, but it is a very quick solution that is top notch for a compact camera photographing young kids indoors without using the flash, imho...

cheers guys

how good are the night shots?

But what's surprisingly effective is the IS and WA, which is perfect for indoor shots!

Everything's relative.

Compared to any other compact I've shot with - very, very good. I'll leave the exact comparison with the F30 to others, as I've never had a F30, but I would classify it as a good 2+ stops above the average small sensor compact.

In 6 mp mode, there is good color, little chroma noise, little luminance noise, but when you pixel peep, there is visible smearing at high ISO. Can start to look a touch like a painting at 100% crop with very little light.

If you're talking looking at uncropped photo on screen, or 4X6 (maybe 5X7) at ISO 1600 at night, with not all that much light, in 6 mp mode - surprisingly good. If you really want to push it, I would recommend M mode, where you play shutter speed off against ISO for the particular circumstances. I don't know if an 8 X 10 with just a shaded 60 watt bulb or two for illumination is going to be the best idea though...

Compared to a DSLR with a fast lens shooting in RAW... no, it's not there yet, doesn't compete. But the gap is much narrower...

Would any of you feel it would be good as a camera to take to a concert? With an SLR I find the smallest satisfactory aperture for concerts is 2.8. Since the F200's max aperture is smaller that 2.8, would you say the Fuji F200 is not a satisfactory camera for concerts?

Hi,

As an owner of F30, prvious owner of F100fd, etc etc, I'd suggest you consider a Panasonic LX3 as an ideal upgrade that would be great for your intended uses... f2-2.8 lens, HD video, RAW, multi-format aspect ratios (3:2, 4:3, and brilliant 16:9 - also for video !)

That f2 lens also means great light-gathering ability, so also ideal for concerts !

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All the best,
Nick

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http://www.proweddingphotos.co.uk (D3/D200)

TelaMoon said:

Since the F200's max aperture is smaller that 2.8,
would you say the Fuji F200 is not a satisfactory camera for concerts?
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Click to expand...

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That´s only about 1/3 stop slower, this wouldn´t make a big difference.

A real advantage would be the F2.0-lens of the LX3, this makes a great difference to either 2,8 or 3,3.

If you define your minimum acceptable level of quality as being 2.8 aperture with a DSLR sensor, then no compact can meet your criteria.

The Fuji F200EXR and Panasonic LX-3 would likely be your two best compact choices if you do go for convenience over pure quality, and each have their pros and cons. The LX-3 has a substantively faster lens and full manual controls - but is limited to 3X zoom, and the chip is not optimized for low light (unlike the Super and EXR CCDs). The Fuji F200EXR has the more sophisticated sensor for low light situations, and also offers a range from wide angle all the way to 5X, as well as being less expensive and more truly pocketable.

TelaMoon said:

Would any of you feel it would be good as a camera to take to a
concert? With an SLR I find the smallest satisfactory aperture for
concerts is 2.8. Since the F200's max aperture is smaller that 2.8,
would you say the Fuji F200 is not a satisfactory camera for concerts?
--

Click to expand...