My F200EXR a Lemon?

Having seen all the rave reviews on the F200EXR, and esp its low light performance, I bought one for my wife 2 days ago. I immediately tried it with some indoor shots and it was noisy. Last night fiddles more with EXR modes, and no matter what I did with the 4 EXR setting, the pics are still so noisy (my wife says "blur") it is not acceptable at all. Such indoor one are with normal indoor lighting, not the candle light kind of dim light. Then I took out my Panny LX3 and took same shots and all pic captured by the LX3 are so much crispier clear.

I'm sure the F200EXR can do much better than this in normal indoor shot; though I haven't tried outdoor one yet.

I start to wonder if I've got a Lemon...???

We can't say much without seeing samples.

It could be a lemon or it could be user error.

Post some samples so we can help you out further.

Cheers

But seriously, is it noisy or is it blurry?
There is a big difference.

Post some pics.

Or if you don't know how to, just tell us what mode you used in EXR and also what the camera chose to shoot at, ie. iso, aperture, shutter speed. And also what iso setting you used. It sounds like your shutter speed is too slow, which can be corrected by using, say Auto iso 800 or 1600.

Here's some sample comparing LX3 and F200EXR:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35484092@N08/

For LX3, I simply set it to IA; while for F200EXR, I set it to EXR(auto). So both using their fully auto function. Both without flash and under indoor halogen bulb downlight.

As you can see, the F200EXR is so much noisier than the LX3. Particularly when you look at the walnut wood panel background against the bowling balls photo, the F200EXR is very noisy.

I'll try some outdoor shots later. But nomatter how good the F200EXR is for outdoor; and if its indoor performance is really like that (hope mine is faulty), then it is difficult to live with...I hope mine is just a lemon or I better get a Lumix FX48 for my wife....at least can share the batteries with the LX3. Actually my wife has been using an old model Lumix FX01 but recently LCD became faulty and too expensive to repair so I got the F200EXF for her...

Your comment is welcome!

Oh, I'm no photo guru....any idea why the flame under the barbecue burning charcoal taken by the LX3 become violet in colour (taken under IA) when it should be something like orange.

And, by the way, the F200EXR really give an annoying noise when the camera try to continuously AF under EXR mode. The manual said it is normal but hell, it is really annoying.....

Thanks!

... the DR it is able to achieve -not- the noise performance IMO. I had one for a while and simply think the noise performance is a bit over-rated while the DR advantage is a bit under-rated. While the F200EXR is better than average in reguards to ISO performance (at the time it was reviewed) ... even the prior F100fd (mainly thru ISO800) and F31fd (thru the entire range) pull more detail and do a better job in my comparisons/tests. And the LX3 -does- do better in noise performance and has the faster f/2 lens. IMO the LX3 and S90 are the ones you should consider if shooting in low light and maybe not the F200EXR ... the f/3.3 lens can't keep up with f/2 or even f/2.8 for (needed) extra shutter speed and keeping the ISO lower in low light. If it were me I'd go with the S90 - and that's why I did. The LX3 is great but the 60mm reach is a bit limiting and the Canon processing also appeals to me a bit more than the Pan.

netuse said:

Having seen all the rave reviews on the F200EXR, and esp its low light performance, I bought one for my wife 2 days ago. I immediately tried it with some indoor shots and it was noisy. Last night fiddles more with EXR modes, and no matter what I did with the 4 EXR setting, the pics are still so noisy (my wife says "blur") it is not acceptable at all. Such indoor one are with normal indoor lighting, not the candle light kind of dim light. Then I took out my Panny LX3 and took same shots and all pic captured by the LX3 are so much crispier clear.

I'm sure the F200EXR can do much better than this in normal indoor shot; though I haven't tried outdoor one yet.

I start to wonder if I've got a Lemon...???

Click to expand...

The F200EXR is noisy, and that´s the good thing because it means NR is comparatively low and therefore there is a lot more low contrast detail than with most other compacts.

EXR said:

The F200EXR is noisy, and that´s the good thing because it means NR is comparatively low and therefore there is a lot more low contrast detail than with most other compacts.

Click to expand...

I just compared the F200EXR to the G11 and I don't find that to be true anymore. I'm not sure what mode the F200 was shot in here in these comparisons but still it looks as though the G11 ain't too shabby against it ... also the S90 can now be compared on the drop down camera selector.
See here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

I've uploaded a few more photos for comparison.

One is my wife and my daughter sitting by the dining table. Again, both the LX3 and the F200EXR have flash suppressed, and set to IA/EXR(auto) respectively. It is clear that the F200EXR is much more noisier than the LX3 - which should be the case when LX3 has a much faster lens. However, the issue is not to compare with LX3. The F200EXR looks in its own right. When the photo is viewed on the full computer screen, it becomes unbearably noisy.

I havent tried using the flash though. Maybe I'll try it later and maybe with the flash, the low light performance would be better. I will also try with more outdoor shots later.

Thanks everyone for the valuable comments!

Agreed - from what I've experienced so far, the F200 is a DR machine (and some) which does the Hi-ISO trick to a reasonable degree as well (though not as well as a proper Low noise sensor like the LX3 or G11 ones) .

BTW, Both the F31 and the LX3 quite heavily overstate their ISOs, Dunno about the F200, it may also but if it doesn't it could be one reason why it looks worse, better check those shutter speeds when comparing.

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

AdamT said:

Agreed - from what I've experienced so far, the F200 is a DR machine (and some) which does the Hi-ISO trick to a reasonable degree as well (though not as well as a proper Low noise sensor like the LX3 or G11 ones) .

Click to expand...

Yep the Achilles' heel of P&S cameras is noise and DR (IQ wise - forget speed) and the F200EXR takes a very good stab at DR but IMO could have done better in the noise/ISO performance. The S200EXR is intersting in that the RAW data is avail for manipulation so it would be interesting just 'how much' processing Fuji is doing to get the jpg results in the F200/F70EXR.

Adam-T said:

BTW, Both the F31 and the LX3 quite heavily overstate their ISOs, Dunno about the F200, it may also but if it doesn't it could be one reason why it looks worse, better check those shutter speeds when comparing.

Click to expand...

Can't say if the LX3 does/doesn't over-state ISO's -but- one still has to be somewhat impressed with Pan for the effort and results the LX3 is capable of. The F31 I've never noticed to have ISO discrepencies but the lack of IS and decent WA really hurts against the newer cams.

Adam-T said:

--
Please ignore the Typos, I'm the world's worst Typist

Click to expand...

netuse said:

I've uploaded a few more photos for comparison.

One is my wife and my daughter sitting by the dining table. Again, both the LX3 and the F200EXR have flash suppressed, and set to IA/EXR(auto) respectively. It is clear that the F200EXR is much more noisier than the LX3 - which should be the case when LX3 has a much faster lens. However, the issue is not to compare with LX3. The F200EXR looks in its own right. When the photo is viewed on the full computer screen, it becomes unbearably noisy.

I havent tried using the flash though. Maybe I'll try it later and maybe with the flash, the low light performance would be better. I will also try with more outdoor shots later.

Thanks everyone for the valuable comments!

Click to expand...

You're comparing LX3 pic (iso 250, f2, 1/30sec) with F200 pic (iso 1600! , f3.3, 1/120sec). Can you see where the problem lies?

It's because in full auto mode, the F200 loves to up the iso unnecessarily... 1600 in this case! You try to set the LX3 to iso 1600 and take the same picture, then tell me if you see noise! :O

Take the following advice instead. It'll save you a lot of problems down the line.

Optimal settings for F200 is:

P mode, 6mp (ie. medium size), auto iso 400-800 (depending on how dim and how steady you shoot), auto DR (or some would prefer DR400).

That's it! As simple as that! Forget about the silly battery-draining and noisily clicking EXR Auto.
And you still retain complete control over the flash if you want it.