TECK13
Member
I’ve had my F45fd (F40fd) for a couple weeks now. I will start with value, for $104 it is spectacular.
Regarding design, the size of the camera is awesome, I found a small case for it and I can carry it around easily in the front or back pocket of my Levi’s. Looks don't matter much to me but the gun metal gray is attractive and I prefer over bright (i.e. reflective) silver.
Features: The flash is excellent, it doesn’t simply whitewash everything and it has a heck of a range. The movie mode is outstanding – works in low light. The sound, as others have noted, is a bit low and you cannot zoom during use. The start time is a huge improvement over what I am used to – hoping I miss a lot fewer shots from now on but the shot to shot time I would call simply average. The screen is excellent. Face detection in this version sort of works.
Ease of use: By reading the manual and understanding all the various modes one can “work around” the lack of manual controls. In fact the differences between modes actually make a noticeable difference in the pictures - which has not always been my experience with other P&S cameras. The menus are not super intuitive and a bit clunky but I guess I’ll get used to them. you have to go into the review mode if you want to examine a last shot for more than 3 seconds. All and all a easy camera to use.
Images: Most impressive to me are the nighttime shots I took with a tripod. I was worried that the nighttime mode with a max shutter speed of 3 sec would not be sufficient but I took a shot of the house across the street with only light from a street light and one porch light and it came out great. Colors are not perfect but never distracting and generally very pleasing. High ISO shot quality better than I expected. Pixel peeping reveals IQ to be nowhere as good as my Nikon D300 but then not much is. It is significantly better than the other two P&S I use however.
Bottom line. Except for the F31 there is not other P&S I’d rather own and for around 100 bucks the F45/F40 is a no brainer.
Regarding design, the size of the camera is awesome, I found a small case for it and I can carry it around easily in the front or back pocket of my Levi’s. Looks don't matter much to me but the gun metal gray is attractive and I prefer over bright (i.e. reflective) silver.
Features: The flash is excellent, it doesn’t simply whitewash everything and it has a heck of a range. The movie mode is outstanding – works in low light. The sound, as others have noted, is a bit low and you cannot zoom during use. The start time is a huge improvement over what I am used to – hoping I miss a lot fewer shots from now on but the shot to shot time I would call simply average. The screen is excellent. Face detection in this version sort of works.
Ease of use: By reading the manual and understanding all the various modes one can “work around” the lack of manual controls. In fact the differences between modes actually make a noticeable difference in the pictures - which has not always been my experience with other P&S cameras. The menus are not super intuitive and a bit clunky but I guess I’ll get used to them. you have to go into the review mode if you want to examine a last shot for more than 3 seconds. All and all a easy camera to use.
Images: Most impressive to me are the nighttime shots I took with a tripod. I was worried that the nighttime mode with a max shutter speed of 3 sec would not be sufficient but I took a shot of the house across the street with only light from a street light and one porch light and it came out great. Colors are not perfect but never distracting and generally very pleasing. High ISO shot quality better than I expected. Pixel peeping reveals IQ to be nowhere as good as my Nikon D300 but then not much is. It is significantly better than the other two P&S I use however.
Bottom line. Except for the F31 there is not other P&S I’d rather own and for around 100 bucks the F45/F40 is a no brainer.