For almost a year I have been without a small point and shoot camera, after missing 100 beautiful sunsets, missing 1000 great moments etc I decided to get me a new one.
So after reading several reviews, user opinions, fora, viewing photos, comparing data etc etc, I order a Fujifilm F30 with 1Gb XD card.
But, does it live up to the hype created by some reviewers?
One even said that image quality and high iso performance put it on par with dSLR's. Well, don't believe the hype but it is pretty darn good.
I wanted to know myself, but since I was comparing them anyway why not share here (and some other places).
So I put them both on a tripod, put them next to eachother and fired some shots. I cheated with the D70. Cheated? Yes, I mounted a very sharp 30mm f/1.4 prime, shot in raw and converted to jpeg with all the power of the big box under my desk. :) I used Nikon Capture, which produces results exactly like the camera would.
Let's start with a comparing ISO performance.
The exposure values for each ISO were almost the same, so neither company lied about ISO. The Fuji had -2/3EV and the D70 -1/3 EV applied. Both in aperture priority, AF, AWB. The D70 sharpness is set to normal (in raw conversion) and the Fuji has unchangeable hard default settings.
The Nikon has no ISO100, so that's a ISO200. It also has no ISO3200, so that's an ISO1600 shot underexposed a stop and corrected with 1 stop exposure compensation in the raw converter.
100% crops.
I think that the Fuji is always at least two stops behind the D70 when it comes to noise. But it takes good care of chroma noise and tries to maintain detail as long as possible. The grass of the D70 looks soft because of the shallow DOF. Both lenses were at f/4.
Sharpness is very good. When you compare it to a kitlens the F30 will win.
In my opinion this is excellent performance from such a tiny sensor. I have not seen any competion that can come close (friends, family, online).
More images and comments are here:
//www.pbase.com/azrifel/f30_vs_d70
- situation and settings
- sharpness 100% crops
- fullsize F30 ISO 100
- fullsize D70 ISO 200
- high noise indoor crop comparisson
- DPC resized compared
The camera's screen is great. Matte finish, no glare, very sharp, very detailed and very responsive.
Focussing so far has been fast and accurate. Shutterlag is minimal (a claimed 0.06 seconds, a huge difference from what I was used to with my older camera's -Sony P1, Fuji S602, Canon A60).
Controls were easy to use and find, but I am used to the Fuji solutions.
It will be a great companion to the D70 I think.
Other useful read when you are considering this camera:
DPReview revies the F30
People should make up their own mind, I am not claiming this is the best solution. It is for me, your mileage may vary.
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