B
Barry Fitzgerald
Guest
One of the better superzoom compacts I have tried offering a quite nice set of features.
Positive points are
+ Decent 27-270mm lens range and optics are quite good (least on my copy sharp)
+ EXR does indeed work esp the DR modes really does help cling onto highlights where most cameras run and hide
+ Metering is good mostly reliable and won't need much adjustment even in lower light levels
+ Flash is quite consistent with good powering down for closer up subjects can be fooled by overly reflective subjects though (as can most) so yes flash is intelligent to a point!
+ Nice build quality feels fairly well built at this price metal body is lacquered (I prefer the silver look)
+ Mostly good photos from this camera nice pleasant colour and good skin tones (with adjusted WB) Fuji do have a nice look about their tones for film and this has something similar
+ Above average performance for low light it's no DSLR but it's a cut above many models
+ Autofocus is quite speedy and the AF assist works well in low light levels too accuracy above average for a compact to very good
+ Pro low light works well merging multiple shots together to reduce noise
+ Manual controls and indication of metered exposure not a bad choice for lower light tripod shots
+ Decent overall feature set user set Auto ISO limit so you can keep it to ISO 400 or let it go to ISO 1600.
After around about a year of using this camera quite a lot I can say overall it's a good one and certainly one of the better ones in this price range. I've made small prints at ISO 1600 which is usable (with care) at low ISO levels the images made some very nice prints even at larger sizes. Performance is mostly very respectable in a variety of situations from normal daylight to even low light levels.
This is a decent option for a travelling person as the range is useful for landscape shots and the 10x zoom is probably enough for many people. The camera does very well indeed with highlights when using the half resolution DR modes holding on very well far better than other compacts do. This was my primary reason for purchasing. If you are mostly a stills shooter and want a good flexible small compact camera which does well in various situations this is a good bet. If you like shooting a lot of video you'd be better advised to find another option.
Overall 4.5 stars the good outweighs the bad but remember it's a compact so don't throw away your DSLR just yet!
Problems:
- Video mode is fairly bog standard resolution and uses a non compressed codec not a great choice for video shooters bar the odd quick clip here and there it's mediocre at best.
- Documentation is rather vague at times does not explain some areas well such as P mode and using half resolution for DR etc etc
- Zooming can be a bit "sharp" and jumpy but you can adjust to this with small presses on the lever
- F menu button is underused have to hit the main menu for white balance adjustments
- Auto WB can be a bit "green bias" cool in daylight I'd suggest using a custom one or adjusting in post
- Pro focus doesn't work that well sometimes not bad but other times looks like a bad photoshop job bit of a gimmick.
- Aperture priority is not very useful as the camera uses a built in ND filter
- Jpeg NR overly aggressive in shadows and high ISO whilst this is normal for many cameras a choice on NR levels would go down well
- So so battery life this is no Fujifilm F30! Get yourself a spare battery to take along whilst not terrible it's not great either
- Can be prone to purple fringing at times not a deal breaker just watch out for it
Positive points are
+ Decent 27-270mm lens range and optics are quite good (least on my copy sharp)
+ EXR does indeed work esp the DR modes really does help cling onto highlights where most cameras run and hide
+ Metering is good mostly reliable and won't need much adjustment even in lower light levels
+ Flash is quite consistent with good powering down for closer up subjects can be fooled by overly reflective subjects though (as can most) so yes flash is intelligent to a point!
+ Nice build quality feels fairly well built at this price metal body is lacquered (I prefer the silver look)
+ Mostly good photos from this camera nice pleasant colour and good skin tones (with adjusted WB) Fuji do have a nice look about their tones for film and this has something similar
+ Above average performance for low light it's no DSLR but it's a cut above many models
+ Autofocus is quite speedy and the AF assist works well in low light levels too accuracy above average for a compact to very good
+ Pro low light works well merging multiple shots together to reduce noise
+ Manual controls and indication of metered exposure not a bad choice for lower light tripod shots
+ Decent overall feature set user set Auto ISO limit so you can keep it to ISO 400 or let it go to ISO 1600.
After around about a year of using this camera quite a lot I can say overall it's a good one and certainly one of the better ones in this price range. I've made small prints at ISO 1600 which is usable (with care) at low ISO levels the images made some very nice prints even at larger sizes. Performance is mostly very respectable in a variety of situations from normal daylight to even low light levels.
This is a decent option for a travelling person as the range is useful for landscape shots and the 10x zoom is probably enough for many people. The camera does very well indeed with highlights when using the half resolution DR modes holding on very well far better than other compacts do. This was my primary reason for purchasing. If you are mostly a stills shooter and want a good flexible small compact camera which does well in various situations this is a good bet. If you like shooting a lot of video you'd be better advised to find another option.
Overall 4.5 stars the good outweighs the bad but remember it's a compact so don't throw away your DSLR just yet!
Problems:
- Video mode is fairly bog standard resolution and uses a non compressed codec not a great choice for video shooters bar the odd quick clip here and there it's mediocre at best.
- Documentation is rather vague at times does not explain some areas well such as P mode and using half resolution for DR etc etc
- Zooming can be a bit "sharp" and jumpy but you can adjust to this with small presses on the lever
- F menu button is underused have to hit the main menu for white balance adjustments
- Auto WB can be a bit "green bias" cool in daylight I'd suggest using a custom one or adjusting in post
- Pro focus doesn't work that well sometimes not bad but other times looks like a bad photoshop job bit of a gimmick.
- Aperture priority is not very useful as the camera uses a built in ND filter
- Jpeg NR overly aggressive in shadows and high ISO whilst this is normal for many cameras a choice on NR levels would go down well
- So so battery life this is no Fujifilm F30! Get yourself a spare battery to take along whilst not terrible it's not great either
- Can be prone to purple fringing at times not a deal breaker just watch out for it