Ever since Fuji introduced the FinePix F10, the company's double-digit-named F-series has been all about low noise at higher ISOs. Over the years, though, Fuji has developed the line into the very compact, classy-looking FinePix F50fd under review here. The F50fd sports a 12-megapixel Super CCD imaging sensor, 3x optical 35-to-105mm f/2.8-5.1 zoom lens, and 2.7-inch 230,000-pixel LCD. Its sensitivity reaches up to ISO 1,600 at full resolution, though the camera offers ISO 3,200 at a reduced resolution of 6MP and ISO 6,400 at 3MP. Better than that, the F50fd includes ... Expand full review
Ever since Fuji introduced the FinePix F10, the company's double-digit-named F-series has been all about low noise at higher ISOs. Over the years, though, Fuji has developed the line into the very compact, classy-looking FinePix F50fd under review here. The F50fd sports a 12-megapixel Super CCD imaging sensor, 3x optical 35-to-105mm f/2.8-5.1 zoom lens, and 2.7-inch 230,000-pixel LCD. Its sensitivity reaches up to ISO 1,600 at full resolution, though the camera offers ISO 3,200 at a reduced resolution of 6MP and ISO 6,400 at 3MP. Better than that, the F50fd includes manual exposure controls, including both aperture- and shutter-priority.
In CNET Labs' performance tests, the FinePix F50fd took longer than we'd like between shots, but was otherwise good. The camera took 1.8 seconds to start up and capture its first JPEG. Subsequent JPEGs took 2.9 seconds between shots with the flash turned off and 3.1 seconds with the flash turned on. That's a long time, especially compared to cameras such as Canon's PowerShot SD1000 and Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T20 checking in with shot-to-shot times of half that or less. The F50fd's shutter lag measured an impressive 0.5 second in our high-contrast test and 0.9 second in our low-contrast test, which mimic bright and dim shooting conditions, respectively. In our continuous shooting test, which we conducted in the Top Three burst modes, we were able to capture an average of 3 frames per second regardless of image size.
The FinePix X100 is aimed at the professional photographer or keen enthusiast looking for exceptional quality pictures from a compact camera. It is designed to appeal to the millions of DSLR users who need a slim back-up camera for high quality in-fill shots when the use of a bigger SLR system is either inconvenient or impractical. Or, of course, it can be used as a professionalmrs"s only top-end camera, if size and versatility are the primary considerations.
