I chose the f20 vs. f30 because of the cost and the camera would act as a
small digital sketchpad for me.. I also found it to be the best value around while I
hold my breath for the release of the F series manual upgraded brother, the F50?).
While I am left with bits of desire for manual setings, the F20 has been truely
awesome. Its just a little physically bigger than I had thought/hoped.. relatively the
same length/height as other compacts, though it is thicker than I had expected.
Nevertheless, for what it lacks in stealth and pocketablilty.. it truely makes up in ISO
capture. OOooh man.. it can shoot at 800iso- and look far better than my canon
A-95 did at 200. With my A-95 I almost always have it on 50.. 100 if i really need
it.. if i'm feeling crazy and really want the shot- even though it will just be cluttered
with noise, I'll set it on 200/400. On the fuji- the chips programming to deal with
noise, is simply brilliant. Rather than odd colored pixels or bizarre artifacts, it almost
does a mixture of the gaussian blur and unsharpen mask effects of Photoshop...
when shooting at 1600 (highest I've used it at) - the photo is still worthy of having
and using to trace from, make a silkscreen, or many other uses where the photo is
used as a start rather than end product. The shots at 1600 would not look very
good blown up, or displayed on their own in a gallery- but hey, its at 1600 iso! I
am tempted to state that this camera's handling of noise is even superior to that of
my dads D80 (a rather risky statement). Soo its been a great little cam especially at
night.
Problems:
The downside. When shooting outdoors or with really contrasting light, it can be a
little funky when trying to light balance.. often the brights come out way over exposed
and even when set the compensation down 1%, while half pressing the button right
on the lightest source of the frame - it can still send those values into lost territory.
Thus I would have to say that its ability to capture on a wide scale of values, is not a
quality to brag about. However this problem can be managed to a degree, and
personally it is overlooked the minute you take that shot at night and it captures the
action, in focus due to the fact that you were allowed to shoot with a fast shutter
speed.
small digital sketchpad for me.. I also found it to be the best value around while I
hold my breath for the release of the F series manual upgraded brother, the F50?).
While I am left with bits of desire for manual setings, the F20 has been truely
awesome. Its just a little physically bigger than I had thought/hoped.. relatively the
same length/height as other compacts, though it is thicker than I had expected.
Nevertheless, for what it lacks in stealth and pocketablilty.. it truely makes up in ISO
capture. OOooh man.. it can shoot at 800iso- and look far better than my canon
A-95 did at 200. With my A-95 I almost always have it on 50.. 100 if i really need
it.. if i'm feeling crazy and really want the shot- even though it will just be cluttered
with noise, I'll set it on 200/400. On the fuji- the chips programming to deal with
noise, is simply brilliant. Rather than odd colored pixels or bizarre artifacts, it almost
does a mixture of the gaussian blur and unsharpen mask effects of Photoshop...
when shooting at 1600 (highest I've used it at) - the photo is still worthy of having
and using to trace from, make a silkscreen, or many other uses where the photo is
used as a start rather than end product. The shots at 1600 would not look very
good blown up, or displayed on their own in a gallery- but hey, its at 1600 iso! I
am tempted to state that this camera's handling of noise is even superior to that of
my dads D80 (a rather risky statement). Soo its been a great little cam especially at
night.
Problems:
The downside. When shooting outdoors or with really contrasting light, it can be a
little funky when trying to light balance.. often the brights come out way over exposed
and even when set the compensation down 1%, while half pressing the button right
on the lightest source of the frame - it can still send those values into lost territory.
Thus I would have to say that its ability to capture on a wide scale of values, is not a
quality to brag about. However this problem can be managed to a degree, and
personally it is overlooked the minute you take that shot at night and it captures the
action, in focus due to the fact that you were allowed to shoot with a fast shutter
speed.