Fujifilm FinePix F50FD > Reviews > Just point and shoot!

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Good
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Overall Look & Design	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	High mega pixel, enough functions to play, looks good and feels great .
Disadvantages:	Could do with a manual focus and a mode for landscape shooting .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I thought having reviewed some of the DSLR cameras I own or use it was about time I spoke a little about one of my favourite point and shoot digital cameras. There are so many digital cameras to choose from these days you would be forgiven for thinking they are probably much alike. With the more basic range of digitals this may well be true but if you are looking for a point and shoot that will offer you top quality pictures at high resolution then there is plenty shopping around to be done.

One of my favourite digital cameras in the point and shoot range has to be the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd, this camera comes along to take the place of the earlier version known to us as the F31fd. It improves upon the F31fd in many ways not least with the fact that Fuji has doubled the mega pixel from 6 to 12. Along with the bigger mega pixel comes a slightly larger screen jumping from 2.4 to 2.7 inches. The main changes come however in the range of functions on board this super slim camera and also the far superior lens being used.

The ISO range has been increased to 100-6400 and the F50fd also offers a CCD-shift image stabilisation system, allowing you take more natural photos in low-light conditions without having to resort to using the flash. It`s predecessor was well known for being well out in front in it`s ability to produce good images in low light and the new F50fd surpasses that.

Basically anyone could use this camera, with some cameras I have reviewed in the past a general amount of knowledge would be required to produce the best from them but with this one a child could pick it up and start taking very good pictures. If you are looking for a camera that you can tamper with the settings and produce images that you have chosen the settings for entirely then this is not for you but if you are happy to sit back and let the camera decide what`s best or just get involved slightly with the settings side then this will be right up your street.

With dimensions of 92.5(W)× 59.2(H)× 22.9(D) mm and weighing only 155g, this is a camera that you could easily pop into a pocket or for the ladies a handbag. When in use it fits very neatly and comfortably into the palm of the hand which is very important in producing good images believe it or not. If you feel uncomfortable using the camera then you will produce more hand movement and be inclined to shoot quicker to get the picture taken rather than waiting for that perfect moment therefore not getting the best from the camera.

There are limited controls on this camera and all are easily within reach when the camera is in hand, there is a wheel at the top right which allows you to switch from auto to various other settings including the one for image stabilisation which allows you to take the photo with far less chance of any blur. There is also an option to use facial recognition, this is a fantastic new development in point and shoot digitals that has been around in DSLR`s for some time now. With facial recognition the camera can self focus on up to ten faces giving the faces in your photo`s the cameras full attention and allowing for better skin tone capture and clarity.

Just below this wheel there is another function dial which allows you to choose whether to shoot in normal mode, macro mode or super macro. Macro and super macro are settings for getting the best out of close up shots and are very useful for taking close up portrait shots. Also on this dial is the flash function, allowing you to choose from forced flash (flashes every time), auto flash (flashes when the camera detects it`s needed), no flash (never flashes) or red eye reduction flash (flashes once very quickly then a second time whilst taking the photo to avoid bad red eye in pictures). The other functions on this dial are for use when viewing your photos on screen and they allow you to search through the images on the camera and / or memory card as well as zooming the view and choosing to delete unwanted images.

There is one final function on this dial and that is the timer function which allows you to choose from various timing settings to allow you to take family portraits. When used with a tripod the timer function can produce very good family portraits. Simply set everyone in their poses set the timer and join them in your chosen position the camera will then take the photo automatically. You may perhaps have to try a few times till you get the perfect picture but it is a handy function.

Although there is only the two function dials they between them allow you to choose quite a range of settings, as I mentioned earlier not enough to allow you to really feel that you are in control of the camera but enough to allow your involvement. You can for instance adjust the shutter speeds, aperture-priority and also choose whether to shoot in colour, chrome or black and white (when used in black and white mode this camera can produce quite stunning images).

One thing this point and shoot does very well is something a lot of point and shoot`s don't do at all and that is continuous shooting. You simply set the camera to take continuous shot`s point at the person or object to be photographed, press down the shutter button and keep it held whilst the camera takes shot after shot after shot.

This is particularly handy when shooting small children who wont keep still, in a matter of 6 seconds you can have a range of photo`s of them to choose from almost always finding a good one from the bunch. It is also a good function to use when capturing things in motion such as a bird in flight, kids at play or even perhaps motorbikes or cars if you are at race events, used on the highest shutter speed you will be able to capture great motion shots without blur over and over again.

Along with all the other still photography options on this camera there is of course the option to take video footage with sound. I am never a big fan of this in camera`s I believe a camera to be for stills and a camcorder to be for video and when you see the video produced by both options it`s clear why I feel that way.

This camera will take decent video clips but no better and only in good light, if the lighting is poor then the video will be very grainy and if you attempt to take outdoor video in strong winds then the wind will almost certainly be all you hear. Don't let yourself be put off the camera by this though because others are no better.

If you have never used a digital camera before, or you're upgrading from a more basic model this camera comes with a fantastic manual which explains every function on the camera in the simplest terms, the manual is clear and very useful. Even if you think you know it all I would still recommend having a look through and getting to know how it all works on this particular camera, I am a professional but still read the manual cover to cover.

As a true photographer there are things not on this camera that I would have liked to be included such as an infinity mode for landscape shooting, a manual focus and an option to save images as RAW thus allowing the option to professionally photo shop them. These things will however make little or no difference to the average point and shoot user and even though I would rather have them the camera is not too badly let down by the fact they are missing and once again they are also missing from most other point and shoots in this price range.

The camera also comes with simple to install and easy to understand software to allow you to connect the camera to your PC or laptop to upload your photos. The software is pretty basic but never the less useful and once again all you can really expect from cameras of this type.

I purchased this camera mainly for my other half to use as the range of DSLR`s I own are to large, heavy and complicated for her to use on a daily basis. I have however found myself turning more and more to this camera for basic everyday usage as it is able to provide me with very decent images of very high resolution so the need to drag out the professional equipment is becoming less and less.

I paid the very reasonable price of £147.89 and have unbelievably seen it even cheaper since. This camera is very widely available both in store and online many places so be sure to shop around and get the best offer. Professional camera stores will offer the best package of extras but will of course be much more expensive so weigh up the options of the extras and the extra price to see if you are indeed getting a good deal.

THE IMAGES

I have used this camera in every mode possible and can tell you that the images are always very useable but do vary depending on the settings used. When used in low light although this camera is geared up to take low light photo`s without flash the images do suffer a bit and are no where near as clear or bright in colour as if the flash had been used.

When used in black and white as I mentioned earlier the camera can produce stunning images, so if black and white photography is your thing then this camera will be a joy to use. Images captured using continuous shooting are very high quality unlike some other cameras they tend to be almost as good as the ones taken using single shooting mode, some other point and shoots suffer from grainy or blurry images when using this function.

The facial recognition does at least work on this camera where as I have found with other point and shoots it tends to appear to do nothing at all. This camera definitely does capture sharper brighter faces when used but it obviously cant compare to how this function works in DSLR camera`s so not one for the purist.
The anti blur system seem to work fairly well, I tested this by taking photo`s on continuous shooting and starting at the top of my subject and quickly lowering the camera still shooting as I did so.

The outcome was three of the seven photo`s taken showed slight blur at the top of the subject but the other four were almost perfect. Bearing in mind that this is only designed to eliminate hand shake it came through this stringent test with flying colours.

My overall opinion on the images taken by this camera would be to say that to the untrained eye they would seem to be excellent whilst to the trained eye they would certainly class as better than average getting an overall 7/10 from me.

I would recommend this camera to anyone who likes to get a little involved on the settings front but is quite happy to turn the dial to auto and let the camera figure out what`s best. If you like to tinker with your photos in photo shop or similar programmes then the high mega pixel and quality of these photos allow you to do so very well.

As well as the range of functions and the size and weight of this camera it also has stylish looks on its side. It`s an eye catching little number which at a single glance oozes class and appears to be much more expensive than it actually is.

I hope if you are in the market for a digital camera you have found this to be of some use to you, if you have any further questions feel free to message me.

Thanks for reading!

©2008 thebigc