A while ago, I posted some results of shooting in low light with the F30
vs. the F10 and an entry level DSLR, the 300D.
Some of the replies seemed to ignore the point of the tests, nose and
resolution, focusing instead on things like color balance, about which I
had done nothing. Others seemed to politely express disbelief in my
results and/or my interpretation of them.
dpreview has posted their test of the F30. As to low light performance,
they pretty much agree with what I concluded - even to the extent of
putting up a page comparing the F30 to an entry level DSLR, the D50, at
iso 800.
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"The FinePix F30 offers a tantalizing glimpse of how very different
compact cameras would be if all manufacturers put as much effort into
developing sensor and processing technology as they do into designing
and marketing pretty cameras with features no one ever asked for. Our
tests show that the F30's sensor gives you at least a two-stop advantage
over the best that conventional CCD technology can offer, and in many
cases a three-stop advantage, with ISO 800 output that can rival some
cameras at ISO 200.
Given that most 'average' casual snapshooters are likely to use their
camera at (dimly lit) social occasions more than at any other time, this
is a real, significant advantage; allowing flash-free photography
without blur. More serious photographers will welcome a camera that
brings the low light capabilities of a compact a step or two closer to
those of most digital SLRs. It's also, surprisingly, significantly
better than the F10, something I must admit I doubted would be true when
I started this test."
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They had less flattering things to say about daylight performance:
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"On the downside the F30 is not as impressive on bright sunny days as it
is indoors or at night; sure, the sharpness and low noise are still
there, but the tone curve often produces images that lack highlight or
shadow detail, yet can look a bit flat. You'll get some amazing results
if you know your way around Photoshop (or similar), but I often (though
by no means always) found the 'out of camera' results slightly
disappointing. Add to this the tendency to over expose and you've got a
camera that really needs to be used by someone who knows what they're
doing to get the most out of it."
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I agree here, too, both about the issue and the ability to "get some
amazing results", if you know how. Perhaps, already used to the F10, I
wasn't disappointed with the F30 in this area. Reading the details in
the review, I think they are saying the same thing I have found. The
F30, like the F10, easily blows out highlights, leaving little
compressed detail to be recovered in post. On the other hand, it mostly
compresses shadows, rather than dropping them to black. That means that
shooting in any contrasty situation requires downward exposure
compensation and/or use of spot metering to avoid blown highlights.
With this particular camera, "expose to the right" is a formula for lost
highlights; better to underexpose, and reorganize the histogram later.
Fortunately, with the F30, Fuji has added an EV comp button to the back,
making adjustment MUCH easier. I'm starting to routinely adjust it.The
interesting thing about this, of course, is that it makes the camera in
effect faster.
You can see what I'm talking about in some of the shots I posted a
little bit ago. When I first shot "Aerie", I made tow exposures a couple
of stops apart to later combine to cover the full rightness range of
bright sun. The next day, I took another, differently framed shot of it,
and really underexposed it. When I started looking at the results, I
started combining the light and dark shots. as I workde, i realized I
could get everything from just the dark one. You can see both the out of
camera image and the processed one here
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Summita/pages/DSCF1135a.htm>. None of
this would work if the camera didn't have such low noise, so the shadows
can be pulled up without the noise you would get with most P&Ss
On the original image, I"ve superimposed it's histogram. Notice I
underexposed more than I needed to, wasting some histogram room on top.
But see also how the shadow values are piled up high at the bottom, but
don't hit the end. Convert to 16 bit, play around a bit, and I get a
nice range of all the brightness of the original scene arranged as I
want it. I then tried the even more underexposed shot
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Summita/pages/DSCF1140a.htm>.
Two other shots in high contrast situations also have original,
unprocessed roll-overs. In one, I nailed the esposure, with the
highlights just touching the top of the histogram
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Summita/pages/DSCF1191as.htm>. With
the other, I lost some highlights, should have gone odwn another 1/3
stop, at least. But it does show what can be done with a very high
contrast subject in bringing up the shadows. For a display version, I
would probably leave them down a little further for drama
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/Summita/pages/DSCF1194a.htm>.
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"To sum up, the F30 is far and away the best low light compact camera on
the market today, bar none. It's the perfect 'social' camera for the
DSLR owner who doesn't want to lug all his or her gear to parties, and
it is - in expert hands - capable of superb results in any light. I
would even go as far as to suggest - funds permitting - getting one for
low light work even if you already own a camera you use for daylight
shooting... So then, Highly Recommended unless you rarely shoot indoors
or at night."
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What really surprised me is how much cleaner, sharper and more detailed
the F30 is at iso 100 than the Canon SD 700 IS at iso 80. I hadn't
expected superiority at low isos, but I'll be happy with it.
Moose
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