Fujifilm Finepix F50fd 12MP Digital Camera Review
I must say that I was very negative about this camera when it was just announced.Why? I’ve got one word for you – Megapixels!I realize that for a regular consumer the more megapixels in a camera, means better picture quality.But if you know even just a little more about the digital technology and how it works, then you know that the above statement is nothing but simply a myth.The more megapixels on the same size sensor only means that you can blow up the picture that you’ve taken to a larger size.But what good does it do for you if the picture quality is actually worse?!By “worse” I mean that there is more digital noise present in photographs at higher ISO’s.Several months ago I actually considered getting an F30, and the only reason I didn’t was because it uses the stupid, and very slow xD card format.I have waited for Fuji to fix this “mistake” and implement the somewhat standard nowadays SD format, but they didn’t with F31fd.Then shortly thereafter came F40fd, and I almost wet my pants out of excitement when I found out that Fuji finally did include the support of SD, in addition to xD format.They did of course increase the number of megapixels from 6 to 8, but they also put a larger sensor in it, so that was actually not a bad thing.However, I was extremely disappointed when I found out that not only the picture quality slightly decreased for some reason (judging by the samples that I’ve seen), but also Fuji decided to eliminate the manual controls (shutter and aperture priorities) from it as well.Why, for crying out loud?!So my quest for the “perfect” compact digital camera continued, and I ended up with Panasonic LX2, which I’m still very happy with.However, since I’ve decided to replace my wife’s Casio S770, and always wanted to have something better for low-light situations, I kept my eyes open on Fuji’s line of F-cameras, which are considered to be the best in its class for that type of photography, mainly due to the Super CCD sensor that they use.And from what I’ve seen in the past, I wasn’t very surprised when I heard the announcement of a new F50fd camera soon.I was expecting more megapixels, but I was still a bit upset to see a jump to 12MP.Believe me, unless you’re printing poster size pictures, 6MP is more than enough!So my expectations of the camera were very low, despite the fact that Fuji kept the support of SD card format, and even brought back the manual controls!I was waiting for some samples/reviews to show up on the web, but up until now haven’t seen any, probably due to the fact that the camera hasn’t been sold anywhere yet (Amazon lists October 1st as a shipping date).So imagine my surprise when I saw it at a local Best Buy store this afternoon.I happened to have my SD card with me, so in it went into the camera, and half an hour later (I didn’t have more time as I was on my lunch break) I came out of the store having a card with a bunch of samples.After I came back to work, I loaded the sample images from the card onto my computer, and all I could say was WOW!Even at large magnifications, the pictures still maintained a good amount of clarity and detail.I was really amazed.I’ll break it down to Pros and Cons again for the ease of use:
PROS:
Ergonomics – Very well designed and solidly built.I don’t think I would add and/or subtract anything from it.The form, the lines, the button layout were certainly very well thought of by Fuji engineers, so the camera is easy and pleasant to use.
Display – The LCD is big and bright.It’s got the same number of pixels as previous models, but it’s slightly larger, 2.7″ vs. 2.5″, and it’s a welcome upgrade.
Image Stabilization – YES!!! Finally, Fuji decided to implement this very important feature in this model.It really helps if your hands are a little shaky, and/or when shooting in dim light.
Picture Quality – As I already mentioned, I didn’t expect this to be the case, but the picture quality is actually very, very good.I was really surprised to see an output like that from a tiny compact digital camera, especially considering the amount of megapixels that they’ve managed to squeeze into such a small sensor.The colors were very natural, the pictures looked very sharp all throughout, properly exposed, with good amount of detail, even when enlarged at 100%.Hats off to Fuji!However, if you are expecting to see less noise at higher ISO’s comparing to F30/F31fd models, you will be disappointed – it’s actually noisier.But no doubt that those who approach it with lower expectations will be delighted.
CONS:
Wide Angle – I’d love to see the lens that starts at more than just 35mm.I think it’s very much doable, and wouldn’t require a lot of effort on Fuji’s side.Why didn’t they do it?I don’t know.But it sure would be nice to take beautiful panoramic shots with this camera.
Zoom – 3x Optical Zoom just doesn’t cut it these days.We need more!
Menus – Perhaps I just got spoiled with Casio’s controls and navigation menus, but some of the ones that I’ve seen on this Fuji just didn’t seem very logical to me.It’s probably just a matter of preference and getting used to though, since I’ve never owned a Fuji camera before.
Megapixels – Yes, the picture quality is excellent.I could only imagine though how much better it would be if this was only a 6MP camera!Too bad, but I understand why they did it – market demands.
SUMMARY:
To summarize, I’m going to repeat myself here, but I didn’t expect much of this camera when it was announced.However, after I got a chance to evaluate it, I must say that my opinion has changed dramatically.I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the picture quality that this camera is capable of producing is on par, and even better than most of the top point and shoots out there, and in competent hands will produce stunning results.However, I’d recommend to wait for some professional reviews, as well as compare samples so you can judge for yourself prior to making a purchasing decision.
Product Description
Fujifilm FinePix F50fd12MP Super CCD, 3x Optical Zoom, 2.7″ LCD, New Dual Image Stabilization, Face Detection 2.0 with New Red Eye Reduction System, New Portrait Enhancer Mode, IR-Simple for sharing photos with friends, xD/SD/SD-HC Compatible Media Slot.
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