F70 EXR Request for Guidance and Potentially Silly Query

[Prodnose]

I have (very) recently purchased a new FinePix F70 EXR and am, so far, very impressed: it is a really nice little camera, although I have not given it a particularly extensive testing, as yet. The camera seems to have a lot of settings and features (certainly compared to my old point and shoot Ixus 500) and I would really appreciate any guidance you more knowledgeable and experienced users are able to offer on getting the best out of this camera. I am sure that there is lots of info. on this forum, already but it is a very extensive forum, so any pointers to relevant threads would be helpful if you don't feel like repeating something you've said ten times already. Thanks, in advance, for any advice you can give me.

And now for my potentially silly query: is there any point in the Pro Low Light and Pro Focus modes? It seems to me that if the Pro Low Light mode requires you to hold the camera steady, you might just as well use a lower shutter speed. With the Pro Focus setting, it seems you are losing information from the image by blurring the background and once you've lost it, you can't get it back. Isn't it better to create this effect by post processing, so you can control the extent of any blurring or sharpening to suit your requirements? Am I missing something? (OK, I guess the answer to that question is probably "yes", but, more precisely, what am I missing?)

 

[Lloydy]

... I have the F200 EXR, not the F70 EXR.

Settings ? I have been adding images, to the pages at the link below, of images taken since day one. Now seven pages worth after six months of use. I have taken just over 6,000 images, to date.

If you look through them, you can see which settings I have used, for which look. For most anyway.

In this regard, the F200 EXR is not dissimilar to the F70 EXR.

Pro Light, Pro Focus ? There are several threads on here about the good, or otherwise, of these modes. The F200 EXR does not have them, so I have nothing to comment on.

Above all, enjoy your camera.

Cheers.

http://www.pixplanet.biz/Posting-stuff_18_1.htm
--
Rgds, Dave.
Have fun - take lotsa pix.

My Site - http://www.pixplanet.biz
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[PAUL TILL]

I have (very) recently purchased a new FinePix F70 EXR and am, so far, very impressed: it is a really nice little camera, although I have not given it a particularly extensive testing, as yet. The camera seems to have a lot of settings and features (certainly compared to my old point and shoot Ixus 500) and I would really appreciate any guidance you more knowledgeable and experienced users are able to offer on getting the best out of this camera. I am sure that there is lots of info. on this forum, already but it is a very extensive forum, so any pointers to relevant threads would be helpful if you don't feel like repeating something you've said ten times already. Thanks, in advance, for any advice you can give me.

And now for my potentially silly query: is there any point in the Pro Low Light and Pro Focus modes? It seems to me that if the Pro Low Light mode requires you to hold the camera steady, you might just as well use a lower shutter speed. With the Pro Focus setting, it seems you are losing information from the image by blurring the background and once you've lost it, you can't get it back. Isn't it better to create this effect by post processing, so you can control the extent of any blurring or sharpening to suit your requirements? Am I missing something? (OK, I guess the answer to that question is probably "yes", but, more precisely, what am I missing?)

Personally I couldn’t find a point to them, as you said just use a longer shutter speed and lower ISO and get a better picture. The Pro Focus mode I also found disappointing and I could do a better job in CS4.

As the only advantage the F70 had over my F200 was reach I decided to sell my F70 and have just kept the F200.

Regards,

Paul.

 

[stewartpratt]

I would really appreciate any guidance you more knowledgeable and experienced users are able to offer on getting the best out of this camera.

Experiment, same as anything else, really. Try shooting similar scenes in different modes. Personally I've ended up using P most of the time, but also Pro Low Light and the EXR modes (though HR is similar to P). I bought the camera as a complement to a Ricoh GR, purely for its low light capability, so that's my main use for it.

And now for my potentially silly query: is there any point in the Pro Low Light and Pro Focus modes? It seems to me that if the Pro Low Light mode requires you to hold the camera steady, you might just as well use a lower shutter speed.

No, not quite. It takes four shots, typically at ISO 1600 and each exposed for the same time as it would choose if you used any other (single shot) mode at the same sensitivity. What it then does is average the values at each point in the image (a process known as stacking, it's extensively used in astrophotography) and this virtually eliminates noise from the image, because the noise is random so it cancels itself out as you add more frames. The good thing about this mode, though (and where it's better than the same mode on Pentax SLRs which requires a tripod), is that it's smart enough to align the images when you have some slight movement - so whilst each exposure needs to be sharp (which it helps with by setting a high ISO) they don't need to be identical. So you have three choices: shoot a conventional frame at low ISO (for low noise) but keep the camera dead steady; shoot a conventional frame at high ISO (to make the shutter speed faster) but live with high noise; or shoot four frames in PLL mode to get low noise and a decent shutter speed. Of course, it only works for static subjects (unless you want to get a bit creative, but it needs some constancy in the image to line everything up, otherwise it appears to discard any frames which look different).

With the Pro Focus setting, it seems you are losing information from the image by blurring the background and once you've lost it, you can't get it back. Isn't it better to create this effect by post processing, so you can control the extent of any blurring or sharpening to suit your requirements? Am I missing something?

All you're missing is the fact that it does it in-camera and without the need to open up software, manually select stuff, perform the effect - all of which takes time and requires you to know what you're doing.

Personally I find the PF mode very rarely works at all, and when it does the results are not good. It's a gimmick, really, but for a head-and-shoulders portrait snapshot printed at 6x4 for the family album it's probably got its fans.

--
http://flickr.com/photos/stewartpratt/

 

[Prodnose]

Thanks, Stewart, that's really helpful. What I hadn't appreciated about the PLL mode was the lining up that the camera is doing, so, effectively, the camera doesn't have to be kept as steady as it would for a conventional slow shutter speed shot. It's good to know that there is a point. I also don't feel quite so silly in questioning the Pro Focus setting.

I am slowly experimenting with different settings and features: I will get a better idea of which I like best in which conditions, over time.

 

[Prodnose]

Thanks, Lloydy: there are some very nice photos, there: you must take a lot of pictures every day.

 

[Prodnose]

Interesting thoughts. Thank you, Paul.

 

[Lloydy]

... Thanks.

Probably too many

When you have a camera which works well, it is easy to do though.

Cheers.
--
Rgds, Dave.
Have fun - take lotsa pix.

My Site - http://www.pixplanet.biz
My RedBubble Site - http://www.redbubble.com/people/pixplanet

 

[Alastair69]

Hi Prodnose,

When I first purchased the F70 EXR this is the website that I found very useful for settings and also a lot of explanations and articles with photos (a lot of the photos on this blog are taken with the F70):

http://kimletkeman.blogspot.com/2009/10/fuji-f70exr-how-to-shoot-it-mkii.html

Hope it helps you as much as it did me!