Will be getting more samples up as soon as I can. I'd have time here at work to do them, but camera's aren't allowed. Brother ended up in the hospital with a heart problem a couple days ago. Weekend got messed up with working. Tripod is missing from the move... wondering if the ex has it. Things are just happening one after another..... so sorry for all that are waiting for the samples.
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E550 talk
- Thread starter Bradly
- Start date
chris gunn
Veteran Member
Since I couldn't get any in daylight, here's a quick comparison image from each. Just hand held, not exact framing, but it's something.......
S7000
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4150113922&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p26f3a8dc0ee3d6aa5937744070df1a50/f75db682.jpg&caption=s7000%20p-mode&album_id=4285866099&from_album=1
e550
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4150113959&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p88459435c7c0e3bf17e6467c82019408/f75db6a7.jpg&caption=e550%20p-mode&album_id=4285866099&from_album=1
Both at ISO 200. Will get another set with ISO 80 for the e550 in addition next time.
S7000
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4150113922&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p26f3a8dc0ee3d6aa5937744070df1a50/f75db682.jpg&caption=s7000%20p-mode&album_id=4285866099&from_album=1
e550
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4150113959&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p88459435c7c0e3bf17e6467c82019408/f75db6a7.jpg&caption=e550%20p-mode&album_id=4285866099&from_album=1
Both at ISO 200. Will get another set with ISO 80 for the e550 in addition next time.
chris gunn
Veteran Member
Thank you!
However, despite your efforts to get the same exposure, these
are flash pictures, with different flashes. Which tells us about their
flash system.
I'm downloading now... dial-up!
--
cheers!
Gunn
CF data base:
http://www.propassion.nl/finepix/
I know... but atleast I got something up.
I'm bringing the camera's with me to possibly get out in the morning (7 hours from now) from work and take a couple pictures if the sun's out like it's suppose to be. I have to leave them out in the car, but I can go out to the parking lot and maybe take a few shots of the field and trees across the road. There's also a small driving range building. Maybe even a sunrise if I get lucky. Then I'll be able to upload them around 18 hours from now.
The S7000 picture is slightly underexposed (perhaps due to flash's strength or flash exposure?). Also, even though the E550 shot is at a wider angle, there is virtually no vignetting, unlike the relatively darker corners in the S7000 shot--wonder if the vignetting in the S7000 shot is due to the flash or the lens or both?
The E550 shot has less noise, it looks to me. Also, if jpeg algorithm is the same for the two camera, the bigger file size of the S7000 would indicate a "noiser" shot, I believe.
The E550 shot has less noise, it looks to me. Also, if jpeg algorithm is the same for the two camera, the bigger file size of the S7000 would indicate a "noiser" shot, I believe.
appropriate because the S7000 shot is slightly underexposed, and thus really should not be used for noise comparison purposes.
Okeo
Senior Member
Thanks a lot for taking the time to put these pictures on the net.
Some interesting stuff... I myself feel there is a bit more noise in the E550 shot (which some expected as it is above its base ISO). It could also be that the sharpening in the E550 is a bit more aggressive, which makes the noise stand out a bit more.
I also see a bit more CA in the E550 shot... but not a huge difference.
I didn't spend too much time on these pictures, so I could be wrong, but those were my first impressions.
Looking forward to seeing more.. this E550 looks like an interesting little camera!
Thanks again.
--
Charles -- s602Z -- PBase supporter: http://www.pbase.com/okeo
Some interesting stuff... I myself feel there is a bit more noise in the E550 shot (which some expected as it is above its base ISO). It could also be that the sharpening in the E550 is a bit more aggressive, which makes the noise stand out a bit more.
I also see a bit more CA in the E550 shot... but not a huge difference.
I didn't spend too much time on these pictures, so I could be wrong, but those were my first impressions.
Looking forward to seeing more.. this E550 looks like an interesting little camera!
Thanks again.
--
Charles -- s602Z -- PBase supporter: http://www.pbase.com/okeo
Yea, 7000 is a bit underexposed. Not sure if it's the norm or not, but mine does that when there's the a lot of bright walls etc. in the image. Wanted to just leave the camera's as much at default as possible. I believe the dark corners are due to the less than adequate flash strength.
Still waiting for that sun to come out.....
Still waiting for that sun to come out.....
Grengo
Active member
Brandy, We waiiting
I know... but atleast I got something up.
I'm bringing the camera's with me to possibly get out in the
morning (7 hours from now) from work and take a couple pictures if
the sun's out like it's suppose to be. I have to leave them out in
the car, but I can go out to the parking lot and maybe take a few
shots of the field and trees across the road. There's also a small
driving range building. Maybe even a sunrise if I get lucky. Then
I'll be able to upload them around 18 hours from now.
I prefer vodka.....
I went and took a couple images with each camera during lunch, since it looked a little better out than this morning..... still gloomy though. Both camera's in P mode. ISO 200 for both and ISO 80 for the e550 used. If possible I'll take a couple more when I get home and then upload them.
I went and took a couple images with each camera during lunch, since it looked a little better out than this morning..... still gloomy though. Both camera's in P mode. ISO 200 for both and ISO 80 for the e550 used. If possible I'll take a couple more when I get home and then upload them.
Grengo
Active member
But now i drunk cognac from Dagestan ) he-he. With apple juice. And smoked WATERPUMP with apple tobacco
Yeahh.. i waiting.. waiting Quickly, please, quickly. And i will order in Italy onlineshop, my girlfriend now in Italy and back to Moscow 26 august.
Please, don't promise, just do it
YEEEEEEAAHHHHHHH DRINK DRUNK DRUNK
) he-he. With apple juice. And smoked WATERPUMP with apple tobacco Yeahh.. i waiting.. waiting
Quickly, please, quickly. And i will order in Italy onlineshop, my girlfriend now in Italy and back to Moscow 26 august. Please, don't promise, just do it
YEEEEEEAAHHHHHHH DRINK DRUNK DRUNK
I prefer vodka.....
I went and took a couple images with each camera during lunch,
since it looked a little better out than this morning..... still
gloomy though. Both camera's in P mode. ISO 200 for both and ISO 80
for the e550 used. If possible I'll take a couple more when I get
home and then upload them.
Mark McCormick
Senior Member
Just purchased an E550 a few days ago. This is my very first post to dpreview forums. Forgive me if too long, etc.
I believe there are two basic types of cameras in this world. Those that I can put in my pocket, and those that I can't. Happy to say the E550 passes my pocket test. Note: I do use a ziploc or sandwich bag when I do this to cameras. My Experience has shown me the hard way that static electricity will help dust get into most consumer cameras when constantly "wearing" them in a pants pocket.
E550 is a 6mp camera that obviously cannot go pixel for pixel up against DSLR 6mp image quality due to sensor size, etc., but I'm pleased to say that it is a significant jump in quality compared to my most recent pocket camera, the Canon S400 (which I like very much). For many of the new 5 and 6mp cameras I'm finding that image quality is a frustrating step backwards. E550 is a pleasant exception to this situation.
Normal sharpening is not overly aggressive in my opinion (a common complaint I have with most consumer digital cameras). Low setting leaves slightly soft images that joyfully accept lots of additional sharpening in PS without introducing too much unwanted noise or artifacts. Very easy to sharpen to personal taste.
Some minor chromatic aberations observed in some pictures I've taken, but significantly less than I've been used to with the S400. Not bad.
Lack of a focus assist light will no doubt be pointed out as one of the E550 drawbacks. The autofocus is very fast and functions well down into dim light, but there will be very dimly lit rooms where I will pop up the flash and autofocusing won't work. I have quickly mastered three workarounds. First, I practiced manual focusing and quickly got proficient despite a serious lack of feedback by the camera in manual focus mode. Second, I can usually find a brighter object somewhere nearby, perhaps even a lamp, and use it as a surrogate point of autofocus. Last method I tried was to use a penlight that takes a couple of AA batteries. Poor man's focus assist lamp! I hold it in my left hand with camera in my right hand, then, point, focus and shoot. It sounds a bit silly, but like Wagnerian operas, it's not as bad as it sounds. It gets the camera to easily autofocus in otherwise total darkness. And unlike most built-in assists, I can choose to keep it off when I want.
Another interesting quirk of the camera is the macro mode. Zooming is locked out as others have already noted. For me, this macro is good enough. Moreover, I hate to admit it but more often than not I will take a macro shot and then forget to reset to normal mode. Twice now, I have picked up the E550, started to take pictures and quickly realized the zoom lever wasn't working. You guessed it. I had left it in macro mode, and the E550's macro limiting "feature" saved me from taking a group of poorly focused pictures. A blessing in disquise from my perspective.
Power up time is very fast. Shot-to-shot time is less important to me than shutter lag. I'm unhappy with any camera that needs to "think" for a while longer after I press the button. This camera doesn't hesitate. Great. Subsequent time to recover for next shot is very good, except RAW format has no buffer so keep in mind if you are seriously into RAW shooting mode. Write time for RAW file is about 6 to seven seconds though I haven't clocked it precisely.
Photoshop CS won't read an E550 RAW file (at least not yet until next plug-in upgrade we can only hope). And Fuji's supplied EX lite for the camera doesn't do anything more than give you an 8bit tiff file with conversion using "standard" settings according to the manual. Looks as if even Fuji has nothing more sophisticated available for this camera right now, so I'd have to say the RAW feature is pretty limited at the moment.
Compression and resolution settings are lumped into the same selection on this camera so you have to pick a resolution setting that also has included your notion of how much compression is OK. My singular choice has thus become the 12MP fine mode. Many will no doubt find the 6Mp or 12Mp N setting to be their preferred choice.
A three second longest shutter speed is available on the S, M, and night mode settings. P and A, and auto mode bottom out at 1/4 second.
The real time displayed image you can freeze with half-button pressing doesn't always match the final exposure, and can be disconcerting. Actually, I seem to experience this on many digital cameras. Trust that the captured shot will be considerably better. It has been for me. Or use Fuji's wonderful Preview mode if you like, that holds the last shot on display for you to accept or cancel at will rather than having to switch to viewing mode. The Preview mode image does match up very well with the actual saved image exposure. Zooming into the picture is also available in this mode. Nice. As for switching from camera mode to viewing mode and back, I find suprisingly fast. However, cycling through numerous saved 12mp pictures is somewhat slow.
The E550's 640 x 480 30fps movie files are obviously not up to broadcast quality, but I'm still very impressed. They are significantly better than the feeble clips my S400 is able to make.
Overall impression: Fuji has a winner with the E550! A prosumer camera at a consumer level price and pocketable as well. Very nice image quality, noise well under control, very responsive. Easy for a photographically challenged friend or relative to use, but unlike other small cameras, this camera puts the thinking photographer first. The photographer's controls are easy to get to, with good display feedback on shutter and f stop values. The last time I felt this good about a digital camera purchase was my MX2700, another great Fuji digital camera which unfortunately succumbed to one of my children dropping it into a stream.
Sorry about the long post. I hope it gives some insight into this amazing little camera.
--
Mark McCormick
I believe there are two basic types of cameras in this world. Those that I can put in my pocket, and those that I can't. Happy to say the E550 passes my pocket test. Note: I do use a ziploc or sandwich bag when I do this to cameras. My Experience has shown me the hard way that static electricity will help dust get into most consumer cameras when constantly "wearing" them in a pants pocket.
E550 is a 6mp camera that obviously cannot go pixel for pixel up against DSLR 6mp image quality due to sensor size, etc., but I'm pleased to say that it is a significant jump in quality compared to my most recent pocket camera, the Canon S400 (which I like very much). For many of the new 5 and 6mp cameras I'm finding that image quality is a frustrating step backwards. E550 is a pleasant exception to this situation.
Normal sharpening is not overly aggressive in my opinion (a common complaint I have with most consumer digital cameras). Low setting leaves slightly soft images that joyfully accept lots of additional sharpening in PS without introducing too much unwanted noise or artifacts. Very easy to sharpen to personal taste.
Some minor chromatic aberations observed in some pictures I've taken, but significantly less than I've been used to with the S400. Not bad.
Lack of a focus assist light will no doubt be pointed out as one of the E550 drawbacks. The autofocus is very fast and functions well down into dim light, but there will be very dimly lit rooms where I will pop up the flash and autofocusing won't work. I have quickly mastered three workarounds. First, I practiced manual focusing and quickly got proficient despite a serious lack of feedback by the camera in manual focus mode. Second, I can usually find a brighter object somewhere nearby, perhaps even a lamp, and use it as a surrogate point of autofocus. Last method I tried was to use a penlight that takes a couple of AA batteries. Poor man's focus assist lamp! I hold it in my left hand with camera in my right hand, then, point, focus and shoot. It sounds a bit silly, but like Wagnerian operas, it's not as bad as it sounds. It gets the camera to easily autofocus in otherwise total darkness. And unlike most built-in assists, I can choose to keep it off when I want.
Another interesting quirk of the camera is the macro mode. Zooming is locked out as others have already noted. For me, this macro is good enough. Moreover, I hate to admit it but more often than not I will take a macro shot and then forget to reset to normal mode. Twice now, I have picked up the E550, started to take pictures and quickly realized the zoom lever wasn't working. You guessed it. I had left it in macro mode, and the E550's macro limiting "feature" saved me from taking a group of poorly focused pictures. A blessing in disquise from my perspective.
Power up time is very fast. Shot-to-shot time is less important to me than shutter lag. I'm unhappy with any camera that needs to "think" for a while longer after I press the button. This camera doesn't hesitate. Great. Subsequent time to recover for next shot is very good, except RAW format has no buffer so keep in mind if you are seriously into RAW shooting mode. Write time for RAW file is about 6 to seven seconds though I haven't clocked it precisely.
Photoshop CS won't read an E550 RAW file (at least not yet until next plug-in upgrade we can only hope). And Fuji's supplied EX lite for the camera doesn't do anything more than give you an 8bit tiff file with conversion using "standard" settings according to the manual. Looks as if even Fuji has nothing more sophisticated available for this camera right now, so I'd have to say the RAW feature is pretty limited at the moment.
Compression and resolution settings are lumped into the same selection on this camera so you have to pick a resolution setting that also has included your notion of how much compression is OK. My singular choice has thus become the 12MP fine mode. Many will no doubt find the 6Mp or 12Mp N setting to be their preferred choice.
A three second longest shutter speed is available on the S, M, and night mode settings. P and A, and auto mode bottom out at 1/4 second.
The real time displayed image you can freeze with half-button pressing doesn't always match the final exposure, and can be disconcerting. Actually, I seem to experience this on many digital cameras. Trust that the captured shot will be considerably better. It has been for me. Or use Fuji's wonderful Preview mode if you like, that holds the last shot on display for you to accept or cancel at will rather than having to switch to viewing mode. The Preview mode image does match up very well with the actual saved image exposure. Zooming into the picture is also available in this mode. Nice. As for switching from camera mode to viewing mode and back, I find suprisingly fast. However, cycling through numerous saved 12mp pictures is somewhat slow.
The E550's 640 x 480 30fps movie files are obviously not up to broadcast quality, but I'm still very impressed. They are significantly better than the feeble clips my S400 is able to make.
Overall impression: Fuji has a winner with the E550! A prosumer camera at a consumer level price and pocketable as well. Very nice image quality, noise well under control, very responsive. Easy for a photographically challenged friend or relative to use, but unlike other small cameras, this camera puts the thinking photographer first. The photographer's controls are easy to get to, with good display feedback on shutter and f stop values. The last time I felt this good about a digital camera purchase was my MX2700, another great Fuji digital camera which unfortunately succumbed to one of my children dropping it into a stream.
Sorry about the long post. I hope it gives some insight into this amazing little camera.
--
Mark McCormick
First thanks for a very informative and knowledgeable review! My main shooting camera is Canon 300D DSLR and I'm looking to replace my current backup Pentax Optio s4. Latter is an awesome device in its own merits (amazingly small) but I've got tired of noise (aven at ISO 50), soft optics and lack of manual exposure controls.
So I set my sites on E550 reading the manual and haven played with the one at BestBuy. Here're few questions:
1. Is there any histogram display (live or at least preview)?
2. Did you find it annoying that you can't set ISO Auto in PASM modes?
3. Could you please elaborate on noise?
Thanks!
http://www.pbase.com/klopus
So I set my sites on E550 reading the manual and haven played with the one at BestBuy. Here're few questions:
1. Is there any histogram display (live or at least preview)?
2. Did you find it annoying that you can't set ISO Auto in PASM modes?
3. Could you please elaborate on noise?
Thanks!
--
http://www.pbase.com/klopus
S7000 - iso200
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877847&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p0cc597865daa2e35d2b753ce13421241/f75a1c57.jpg&caption=s7000&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 - iso 200
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877872&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pa2c70962f94d8f3f7fd50eced8eae727/f75a1c70.jpg&caption=e550%201&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 - iso 80
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877901&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pe57bde5d196853528901986c727f5425/f75a1c8d.jpg&caption=e550%202&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 taken while driving
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877786&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p2fdb3cfbbd62f0f498aa537dcfd0ded3/f75a1c1a.jpg&caption=e550%20while%20driving,%20taken%20out%20the%20window&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877847&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p0cc597865daa2e35d2b753ce13421241/f75a1c57.jpg&caption=s7000&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 - iso 200
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877872&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pa2c70962f94d8f3f7fd50eced8eae727/f75a1c70.jpg&caption=e550%201&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 - iso 80
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877901&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/pe57bde5d196853528901986c727f5425/f75a1c8d.jpg&caption=e550%202&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
E550 taken while driving
http://www.imagestation.com/mypictures/inbox/view.html?id=4149877786&url=http%3A//www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid136/p2fdb3cfbbd62f0f498aa537dcfd0ded3/f75a1c1a.jpg&caption=e550%20while%20driving,%20taken%20out%20the%20window&album_id=4285856005&from_album=1
Mark McCormick
Senior Member
No live histogram but pressing the exposure compensation button when in playback mode or in what Fuji calls their Preview mode (i.e.,it holds the last shot on screen before saving to card so that you can accept or reject it quickly) brings you directly to a histogram.
I spent over thirty years using film. No within-roll change of ISO, no easy mid-photo session change unless you wasted film or had a second camera body handy, etc., so from this perpective, lack of auto ISO in PASM modes presents no problem to me at all. You raise a consideration I didn't even notice. ISO is quickly changed with what Fuji labels the photo mode (F) button though it takes one or two more toggles of the memu/OK button to complete. Really very quick and easy, and I'm a guy who hates burrowing through menus and layers.
I'm a little hesitant to critique the image quality with surgical precision at this point since haven't had the camera very long. There are things to quibble with on this camera, I've mentioned some, but thats the worst of it for me so far. Overall, I haven't encountered a real dislike yet, and I usually do in just minutes with many of the new cameras as I play with them briefly at the camera stores. Having said that, I have seen some random one pixel type black specs creeping into some mid tones if I get too aggressive with post sharpening. But my sense is that you need to look at 100% magnification in photoshop to start getting alarmed with this, and it is easy to back off while still reaching good sharpness. Blue skies, which often cause a mottling type of problem for many small sensors, are very smooth, though not quite going to meet your Canon DSLR performance. I don't think it is realistic (yet) to expect Pro performance from small consumer level digital cameras, but I intensely dislike ones that have a distinct video look, the look you get when you try to stomp out noise with a heavy handed use of "dust and scratches" filters that kill the higher frequency detail. This is the major problem I see with many of the newest 5 and 6mp consumer cameras. I prefer an optical, film-like appearance, and the E550 images, though they are not totally free of the video look, are still excellent in my opinion compared to other models. My overall sense is that with careful upsampling and resizing in photoshop, I can make a very fine 11x14 prints with this camera, certainly at ISO 80 and 100, quite possibly at 200. Will try some prints hopefully this week. Haven't used ISO 400 yet, but at 200 this camera still outperforms any consumer model I've tried before. I'm very happy so far, and as many will attest, Fuji works hard at very pleasing color sensibility. There is a little red-turns-orange problem that Fuji seems to retain year after year, but my guess it that it is an engineering compromise to deliver beautiful skin tones. Very easy to correct this flaw in PS. Skin tones straight from this camera are lovely. I think that must be a Fuji trademark! Haven't spent a lot of time looking at color temperature performance. My shots so far have been on AWB with very good results. Good gray balance, and again, very beautiful skin tones.
If I sound overly enthusiastic about this camera, its not because I work for Fuji or something. Its just because I've had pent up demand for a pocketable digital camera that moves me up the image quality scale from what I have experienced to date with my S400 and that has more traditional controls laid out for photographers, not ones designed to outsmart novices at the expense of knowledgeable users. The E550 has met my expectation.
--
Mark McCormick
R
Raist3d
Guest
Don't be sorry, totally the opposite, congratulations on a job well done. Many people are interested in this camera and at least when I want to find out more about a camera I appreciate in-depth preview / first look posts like these.
- Raist
R
Raist3d
Guest
E550 without quesiton has more resolution, even at ISO 200. At ISO 80 it is very apparent... the trees leaves are far more obvious than the S7000.
the S7000 has of course, less CA's, due to the better bigger lens... but it's clear the E550 has the better sensor and post processing.
the S7000 has of course, less CA's, due to the better bigger lens... but it's clear the E550 has the better sensor and post processing.
- Raist
LeeD
Leading Member
Hi, I'm thinking of getting the E550 too. My only concern is the battery life. Only 2 AAs for a 2" LCD?!
TIA
TIA
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