HS20, 30, or the 50 ?

Another thing you should look at is if you think you'll be using the wider end of the HS20/30 more or the longer zoom of the HS50? 22mm vs 24mm doesn't seem very significant but it is.

One of the reasons I got the HS20 (IC serial) is that I was pretty sure it would be one of the last really good (manual zoom, filter thread, RAW, expanded DR, good high ISO) cameras that takes AA batteries. I may have been right.....

There seems to have been such a difference between early HS20s and ones that came out later (I got mine around Thanksgiving) that they should have renamed it HS20 II

alexisgreat said:

alexisgreat wrote:

If you get the HS35 can you do me a favor and compare how it does in IR vs the HS20? It would be an interesting test as HS series cameras seem to do well in IR.

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I'm not the person to ask about IR photos. The more I see of them the less interest I have. It could be from seeing too many Hollywood B horror and SciFi movies using IR to show what the monster sees while tracking its victim. Anyway, don't modern cameras filter out IR? Or do you buy an IR filter and then take very slow shutter speed photos?

They do but HS series filter out less IR than other cameras. With the HS series you still need a filter, but it doesn't cripple shutter speeds as much and these cameras are better at higher ISOs than older cameras also (plus you have IS.)

BTW what do you think of my idea of renaming later HS20s as HS20 II? I would never buy a camera in the first 6 months of its introduction anyway.

Some IR can really pop like black and white photos- they look great where you have scenes of extreme contrast like dark pools of water with overhanging foliage and large areas of blue skies with puffy cumulus clouds in between. People overuse IR though.

alexisgreat said:

alexisgreat wrote:

They do but HS series filter out less IR than other cameras. With the HS series you still need a filter, but it doesn't cripple shutter speeds as much and these cameras are better at higher ISOs than older cameras also (plus you have IS.)

BTW what do you think of my idea of renaming later HS20s as HS20 II? I would never buy a camera in the first 6 months of its introduction anyway.

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You could do it. People in this forum could do it. But if Fuji renamed the last few batches of the HS20 "HS20 II" that would be another stupid blunder. Companies do that when they add significant features and hardware, but not enough to warrant a completely different model name. Early HS20 adopters would rightfully be mighty annoyed to see an HS20 II when it's basically just an HS20 with a nice firmware upgrade.

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alexisgreat said:

Some IR can really pop like black and white photos- they look great where you have scenes of extreme contrast like dark pools of water with overhanging foliage and large areas of blue skies with puffy cumulus clouds in between. People overuse IR though.

Click to expand...

Did you ever see Wolfen?

Wolfen trailer

That looks like it was done in IR......except camera IR is much better when you strip away the color info and then it has much more of a Twilight Zone / Tales from the Darkside otherworldly effect. This is what the world looks like beyond human sight (well some of it anyway.)

Anyway, with a company like Fuji it's probably a stupid blunder to be an early adopter lol.

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