Fujifilm Finepix F50fd 12MP Digital Camera with 3 x Optical Image Stabilization by FUJIFILM
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Digital camera reviews of Fujifilm Finepix F50fd 12MP Digital Camera with 3 x Optical Image Stabilization
Digital camera Review: Very disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this camera to replace a three year old 5MP Sony Cybershot. The 12MP, stabilization, red-eye removal, and face recognition were big pluses for the Fuji F50fd, and the multitude of various settings you could manually control was very appealing. It didn't measure up - my three year old camera beats it!
When I got the camera, I tried it out at my in-laws on Thanksgiving. The light was moderate - not very bright, but certainly not dark. I tried many different settings - full auto, indoors, manual, etc. There were posed shots and impromptu. I also took some video. 80% of the photos were very disappointing.
First off, the "face detection" worked only in bright lighting - the moderate lighting of my in-laws living room (overhead and lamps) was not enough to enable its use. The red-eye removal was very spotty - sometimes it worked and sometimes not. Now let's move on to the real disappointments...
The picture quality was terrible. Most of the photos came out incredibly grainy, almost like tiny pebbles that were used in a mosaic of my loved ones. Not only that, they were dark and sometimes out of focus. And the image stabilization touted simply did not work very well. I had blurry shots, even in posed photos. This is from a line of cameras that are famous for being great low-light cameras!
Less important, the video was very grainy and pixilated. It was a little better than the Sony I have now, but not by much. I expected more from something much newer than what I had.
Look, I bought this camera having seen the other bad reviews out there, but I figured they were blowing it out of proportions, and not only that, but the camera got good reviews from a lot of people and a lot of reputable websites (CNet, for one). But I was wrong - this was a terrible camera. I'm now back with my Sony (the pictures look better than the Fuji's) until I can find a camera that beats it.
Digital camera Review: Very noisy images
Summary: 1 Stars
This camera arrived a few days ago. I expected at least a decent camera, but what I got was a camera that can't even produce images at any iso that aren't completely speckled. I've taken about 50 pictures with it trying to find some redeeming quality. If it was only mostly bad I would keep it, but it's all bad. I have one word for this camera: HORRIBLE
I've had 2 powershots and 1 hp camera. They were all excellent compared to this camera. I would suggest trying this camera out at a local retailer before buying it as restocking fees apply where I bought this camera. I'll be replacing this camera with another powershot.
Digital camera Review: Very pleased with the results
Summary: 4 Stars
Reluctantly making the transition from film to digital, I liked the price and the resolution. I always liked Fujichrome Film and I needed the image stabilization feature. This was a good fit for me.
I took it to Zion National Park to test and am very happy with the results. With 3000x4000 size, these photos will print large and clean. The colors are excellent.
Batteries are not readily available, so I learned to leave the "Face Recognition" off unless I needed it, because it really uses up the power. This can do more than "point and shoot", but, for anyone who has any experience with digital cameras, it is that easy to use.
Digital camera Review: a good camera, but a bit disappointed
Summary: 4 Stars
I've now played with my F50FD for about a week. It's very easy to use, and I'm happy with it overall- it will serve me well as a extremely portable grab-n-go camera. (It fits in my jeans pocket *with* my cell phone and keys. It's very thin!)
The user interface is clean, easy to use, with helpful on-screen reminders that manage not to get in the way. Other pluses: the battery charger is travel-friendly (no cord), and there's no lens cap to lose. Autofocus performance is quite good-- hugely better than my previous Optio 555.
But my expectations were high, and it hasn't met them all. As we all feared, image quality above ISO400 is a disappointment. ISO800 is marginally useful, but at higher resolutions, the distinctive "oil painting"-style artifacts caused by their noise reduction algorithm become increasingly significant. At ISO1600+, your photo may be 12MP, but the effect of the noise reduction is that there's probably only about 1MP of actual information in the photo. I would much prefer that Fuji allow us to save photos in RAW format, so that we could use better noise reduction algorithms ourselves. The higher ISO modes should be viewed as a novelty.
Flash performance is mixed: red-eye hasn't been as bad as I feared, but the flash seems a bit weak. On sunny days, I could not coax the camera to adequately fill in the shadows on a subject's face from a distance of about 7'. On the other hand, the camera seems to be able to reduce the flash power as needed, making it usable at close ranges without burning out the subject.
The image stabilizer was of course a big draw, and there's definitely some improvement with it. There are no miracles here, but it's good for an f-stop or two.
Other nits: movie mode disables the zoom (grr!), and I cannot imagine a use for the IR transfer feature.
Overall, it's a fine camera and I'm happy with it. It didn't live up to all my expectations, but this camera had a lot of (perhaps unrealistic) buzz to live up to.
Digital camera Review: camera
Summary: 5 Stars
So far we are pleased with the camera. We had to get a ndw memory card for it, but now it is working fine.