Nathan Wajsman wrote:
> ...... It is especially unfortunate that
> the compact camera makes are using the megapixel count as the most
> important product attribute to emphasize, and so we get all those
> cameras with fingernail-sized sensors onto which 8 or more megapixels
> have been crammed. As a result, performance at ISO speeds above 200
> suffers from image noise, and anything above 400 is virtually useless.
>
This is the second time you've made such a statement. While generally
true, it is not entirely true. The exceptions that prove/test the rule
are a handful of Fujis.
The F10, 11, 20, 30 and 31fd all share a 1/1.7" sensor with roughly
twice the surface area of the 1/2.5" sensor in most small digicams.
Combined with Fuji's unique, hexagonal pixel layout and whatever they do
in their processing engine, these cameras outperform the other little
guys in noise by a very significant margin, generally at least two stops.
The F10/11 were amazing and the F30 is even better. It appears that the
F31fd is simply an F30 with face detection added, which might actually
be a plus for street photography. The newest, the F40, finally ups the
pixel count from 6 to 8 mp, with an only very slightly, if at all,
larger, 1/1/6" sensor, so the jury is out on whether it will be better
or worse.
Unfortunately, Fuji doesn't have IS, so for static subjects, these
cameras aren't much ahead of the better smaller sensor cameras that have
good IS, although I think they may still have cleaner shadows at
equivalent shutter speed/iso combos.
With non-stationary subjects, like people, they are unmatched short of a
DSLR. Fuji also made a couple of superzooms using this sensor, but the
extra size and weight of a 12x zoom to cover the larger sensor and the
lack of IS make them less successful vs the competition, from my
perspective. Once you get to a certain size and weight, might as well
just go with a DSLR.
These cameras do, however, require some modest photographic smarts to
use to best advantage. The aren't quite the fool-proof outdoor, bright
light snap-shooters that many Can*n's, for example are. It's important
to "shoot to the right" to avoid blown highlights. The payoff is that
they don't chop off the shadows, only compress them at the bottom of the
histogram. And with the exceptionally low noise at low isos, the shadows
may be recovered quite nicely. With manual control in the F11 and 30,
this is easy.
I've posted these shots with the F30 here more than once, but... On the
first shot, I just over compensated, as you can see from the histogram,
but was able to recover. Most other shots in this little gallery used
negative exposure compensation to hold highlights, then PP to bring up
shadow detail. #13 also has a roll over to show the original.
http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Summita/
I'm not sure to what extent this little rant is a sell job for the
F30/31fd and to what extent it is about how, lost in among the endless
parade of me too digicams, there is often something to meet one's
specific needs that may be found with a little research.
I have a tele sort of eye, so the limited zoom range of the F30 is a
drawback for me. My latest project has been to find something with more
zoom range, not too much bigger and with a combination of IS and noise
performance to get me results I like. The Panny TZ3 looks like a
natural, but comparison of the studio shots from dpreview shows that its
smeary NR obscures fine detail compared to other brands to an extent I'm
not willing to deal with.
The current experiment is a Canyon A710 IS. Relatively small and light,
6x zoom, excellent IS and about the best balance I've found in this
class between inherent sensor noise and NR in capturing detail without
too much apparent noise.
Also, there is free 'hack' or add-on firmware that adds live RGB
histogram, flashing out of gamut, RAW output and many other goodies to
DIGIC II processor cameras, including the A710. I'm fairly pleased so
far, especially with the added features of the add-on firmware. I do
wish it went wider, like the TZ3, but if I continue to like it, I can
add a WA adapter.
Moose
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|