Compared to... Fuji FinePix F10

Let's first look at how the F30 compares to its predecessor, the F10, which was for nearly a year and a half the camera by which we judged all other 6MP compacts. We have included samples for the lowest ISO setting, ISO 400 and ISO 800. On the subsequent pages you'll also find ISO 1600 and 3200 samples for the FinePix F30.

Note: The F10's lack of aperture control means we cannot select our normal (F5.0) aperture, and this may have a very slight effect on the sharpness of the F10's result.

Studio scene comparison (Fujifilm F30 @ ISO 100, Fujifilm F10 @ ISO 80)

  • Fuji FinePix F30 : Aperture Priority mode, ISO 100, Default Image Parameters,
    Manual white balance, +0.33 EV compensation
     
  • Fuji FinePix F10 : Program mode, ISO 80, Default Image Parameters,
    Manual white balance, +0.67 EV compensation
     
  • Lighting: Daylight simulation, >98% CRI
Fujifilm FinePix F30
Fujifilm FinePix F10
ISO 100, 1/61 sec, F4.9
ISO 80, 1/70 sec, F4.3
3,170 KB JPEG
2,967 KB JPEG

Even taking into account the effects of sample variation, the slightly different exposure levels and the different aperture, it would seem that Fuji has managed to improve - albeit only marginally - the already excellent F10. Most of the difference is down to processing (the lens is exactly the same); the F30 files have a little more sharpening applied, but they also seem - even at this low ISO setting - to be cleaner, with less evidence of noise reduction, though careful examination of the output of both cameras suggests that there is very little difference in the actual resolution.