Fuji F50fd digital camera (Fujifilm Finepix F50fd)

Member Name: divegal

Product:	Fujifilm Finepix F50fd
Date:	03/11/08 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to use

Disadvantages: Digital noise at higher ISO

Fuji, like other camera manufacturers seem to bring out new models about 2-3 times a year each one with more features, more mega pixels and more little tweaks than the next that its hard to see where it will all stop!

I had a Fuji f31fd which I bought in summer of 2007 when it was just out and now its already been overtaken by the F40 and the f50 and now the all new F100. The F50fd is still available everywhere right now and has many things to offer in a digital compact camera although in my opinion its nowhere near as good as the F31fd!

Ok! So lets see what this camera has to offer!

It has an amazing 12 million mega pixels for those who like the more pixels the better school of thought but in my opinion this is a slight disadvantage in that I understand that the sensor used is the same size as the one that was previously used in the lower megapixel F31fd .

In the case of a digital camera if you want to get satisfying photos from your camera there are a number of things which you have to take into consideration. And having a camera with the most mega pixels is not all what its about Its also the size of the sensor, the lens and the ability to reduce its noise.

I haven't a great understanding of cameras or a huge amount of photography but if there is that huge amount of pixels in a camera that uses the same size sensor as one that has half this then surely something has to give?

In the case of the Fuji F50 its that on the higher ISO settings there is quite a bit of noise evident and in case like me not so long back, you thought that noise was something that comes from people's stereos or kids out playing in the street then I will enlighten you!

The higher the ISO you set for a digital camera the more noise is shown in your finished photo. This shows itself as a grainy type effect with colours showing where there should be none. For instance if you take a photo of a nice blue patch of ocean if there is lots of 'noise' due to maybe a high ISO setting then the photo image will shows little bits of other colours like pink, red , purple and such like.

Ok so lesson over! Basically at high ISO settings -above 800 I have found there is more noise on my images than I would like whereas the earlier F31fd didn't have this problem. This is the only major drawback to the camera though as far as I have used it and I knew about it before I bought it and still enjoy it! The F50 does give you the chance to alter the quality of the settings however so instead of taking images at 12 mega pixels you can take them at 6 mega pixels to try to get over this problem. It does mean that your finished image will look better at an A4 size than A3 but it depends on how big you want to print at. I have not fully looked at this issue yet but am hoping to get some low light shots taken soon to play with this new function.

The camera itself, as most compacts now, is fairly small and light and comes with a camera handle to safeguard you dropping it whilst taking that important shot! The camera itself is easy to hold and fits in the hand well.

The LCD is bigger than in the previous range and its now 2.7 inches which makes it much easier to see your shot. Like other Fuji's it also has a range of scene settings to choose from whether its natural light, partytime, sports etc and as a bonus for me as a diver there is also an underwater setting to boot! This settings helps to restore the colours usually lost when underwater and is great for the low light levels we get here in the UK

As part of the standard functions that most cameras now seem to have are things to make your photos a little better with face detection, red eye correction and this Fuji also has new image stabilisation which helps with camera shake and blurring.

The camera can be used in full auto mode, aperture priority and shutter-priority exposure modes as well as self timer mode so you don't have to be left out of the shot! There is also a choice of auto or custom white balance or various pre loaded white balance settings .

The F50 also has video capability complete with sound and as a bonus it takes the cheaper Sd memory cards or XD picture cards so take your pick. White balance cannot be set on the video as far as I have worked out which is fairly usual.

All in all it's a decent camera for the money. Personally I don't think its as good as the F31fd in the noise department but I have taken loads of shots in different conditions since I bought it and have been very pleased. Downloading your images is a doddle and it even has IR capability to link with other devices that have it as well to get high speed transfer . Like most digital cameras of this range it takes JPEG format and not RAW as in most digital SLR but that's not a problem for me. One minor niggle is the zoom button which is now located on the top of the camera but this is something that you soon get used to.

I hope this review has helped you.

Summary: a good camera in its range with some great features

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