In the dying days

Humm I am in the same boat ..on the edge. I have to wiegh my love for huge IQ with my ADS!! LOL I was looking at my D90+70-300 Nikor VR lens I shot a while back and returned and man oh man..that lens was incredible re sharpness and color ..etc etc ..Eye popper stuff..BUT it is heavy and it requires lens changes if I want wider..and how do I haul all that around in the places I go..up cliffs down rivers ..The HS20 is a very very very tempting alternative ..especially with some stuff I just discoverred with it .
I have to make a decision today cuzz it goes back or stays today.
all the best

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Humm I would say in outright IQ the S200EXR edges out the HS20 ..but there is not a lot in it in most situations. The HS20 bests the S200EXR for size versatility and range. It is also the better canm as far as purple fringing goes as the S200EXR does it and the HS20 ..well I have seen zero from it. I haven't got this nailed but I think the in-camera lens correction on the HS20 is better too...Oh ya the HS20 flip down screen is a huge plus. All in all the HS 20 is the better cam all round.

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thanks so much for commenting ..love your stuff by the way ..all the best
g
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Hi there ..Ya I have zero problems with the camera. Good build good everything for the coin. Its focus can be slow ..but man it will focus in the dead of night!! A great effort by Fuji from my experience so far anyways
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After pouring over images i have concluded the HS20 is one simply amazing cam..BUT

buckshot crippled my test of it by suggesting I try out the 70-300VR lens in my D90.

I did ..crippled my vision completely ..with quite sharp big beautifully colored files that can be explored with cropping quite a bit.

Unfortunatelty and unfairly those DSLR shots with that lens became the standard the poor HS20 was fighting against.

I have a great bridge cam already in the S200EXR ( though messed up and in need of repair) , and after testing and looking and thinking I had to get real and say you know what, as good as the HS20 is, your DSLR needs a big zoom lens more than you need the HS20 right now.

I sat forever in the parking lot before I took the camera in. It is simply way too good and thereawere miles to explore in it yet ..BUT in the end ..I thought it wiser to invest in a lens that I can use for decades rather than upgrade my bridge cam.

It was very very cool shooting the HS20..Anyone who has a one ..know this. It is simply the best bridge cam out there right now IMHO. My plan now is to fix my S200EXR check out RAW through it now that it is supported ..and watch and wait till the HS20 price drops..and scoop one later.
All the best everyone and thanks for all your imput ..
g

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You might be better off buying a used s200exr rather than getting yours repaired depending on the cost.

I'm loving my s200, but finding out how to set it up for optimum IQ takes some experimenting. So far I have set noise reduction to low and sharpening high and figured out Medium size images at high iso are much better then high Iso HR images as the pixel binning takes place at 6MP.

What I find is that the noise reduction even when set low does smear fine detail and it's unpredictable in how it works especially when taking 12MP shots. HR is good in good light but still smears foliage detail a lot.

Now I need to play more with the Dynamic Range feature to fully understand. I am guessing the DR settng in program mode when using 12MP is a software mode? How does it create is dynamic range as opposed to the hardware EXR DR which splits the sensor and exposes different ISOs in one shot?

painterdude said:

Humm I would say in outright IQ the S200EXR edges out the HS20 ..but there is not a lot in it in most situations. The HS20 bests the S200EXR for size versatility and range. It is also the better canm as far as purple fringing goes as the S200EXR does it and the HS20 ..well I have seen zero from it. I haven't got this nailed but I think the in-camera lens correction on the HS20 is better too...Oh ya the HS20 flip down screen is a huge plus. All in all the HS 20 is the better cam all round.

Click to expand...

I knew you wouldn't keep it. Why not get a second hand S100FS it outdoes the S200EXR and has a flip down/up screen like you have come to like. I purchased another one today for £105 I'm off to pick it up this afternoon.

There are a lot of advantages to a DSLR which you don't need me to tell you about but for your kind of shooting I believe the S100FS would be all you need.

I know I've given the HS20 a bit of a bashing just lately but when I judge the IQ of my S100fs I am comparing it to my D90 and just lately a D7000. Like you I don't shoot sports so the focus speed advantage of a DSLR doesn't come into it. When I look at the images at the end of the day I'm more than pleased at how the S100 compares with the D90/D7000 and we are not talking kit lenses on either of them.

I don't think you can compare the HS20's IQ with any DSLR and some people will say why should you it's a bridge camera. I don't look at it like that I look at the price and for the same money as an HS20 you can get a very nice DSLR and lens or three S100FS's and any one of those three S100's will match the IQ of a lot of DSLR's on the market.

You mentioned the dreaded PF but I have to say I've not noticed it with my current S100, I don't know if the lens is better on this one to my other S100's or whether Fuji did something on later models. Don't forget the CA/PF is being removed in camera on the HS20 and your D90 so having to click one button in CS5 to correct it on the S100/200 is only the same as the others are doing in camera.

I look forward to seeing how you get on and what you end up with, but don't forget the main thing, it's all about enjoying your hobby and to do that the camera must be a joy to use and it's IQ has to at least live up to your own expectations.

Paul.

The thing is Paul, painterdude came to a logical conclusion to his needs and requirements from a camera without having to ridicule the HS20 to death.

I applaud him for his rational approach and I believe that for him, he absolutely made the right choice.

But as a superzoom, and I am sure painterdude agrees, the HS20 is great (when it isn't full of dirt).

When you compare it with the Panasonic FZ's or the other CMOS hyperzooms it holds up very well and even exceeds most of them.
The manual control pushes it well ahead in my opinion.

But I also am beginning to understand your (and others) position on the S100, and I have to admit, I can't understand why oh why Fuji dropped such a clear point of difference and valid marketing prospect.

But I couldn't get one of these S100's if I tried, they are not available in NZ new, and they appear to be as scarce as hens teeth on the second hand market.

I might be able to get a cheap Panasonic FZ30, but I am starting to think that the S100 may be even better than the much famed FZ30/50.

The problem with the HS20 is not the design as much as the blarrdee shocking quality control from Fuji.

But I agree, it is no S100fs (from what I hear )