Fuji F30 - mixed thoughts. (1 Viewer)

I've been playing around with the F30 for a few days, and find it's a bit of a mixed bag really - one one hand you can get some pretty good pics out of it and on the other if not careful the camera does its best to take the edge off them by its agressive in-camera sharpening and noise reduction techniques. At times it's also a pain in the A*** with its settings, irregular white balance in poor light and a tendency to overexpose. But overall, in my non-expert opinion, I think it's one of the better digiscoping cameras on the market at the moment.

The lens is quite sharp and gives good detail, but one thing I found is the more you crank up the ISO the more the images look overprocessed resulting in lost detail and slightly 'blotchy' colours. Although noise is virtually non-existant Jpeg artifacts aren't and the higher the ISO used the worse these become, I found keeping the ISO as low as possible, but still giving a reasonable shutter speed, the better the images I got.
White balance was OK in AUTO in good light but a bit irregular when skies were grey and dull, trying SHADE in these conditions didn't seem much better but maybe I was expecting too much or just need to play around a bit more.
One thing I did find helped a lot was using EV compensation, minus values of 1/3 and 2/3 in bright light helped keep the highlights from being blown out and plus values in grey, dull light helped saturation and under-exposure of a dark bird against the sky.

Don't take what I've said above as bad points of the camera they probably apply to many others out there as well, it's more like helpful hints from the 500 or so shots I've taken so far.

Speed of operation is really fast, so fast in fact that when using top3 or bottom3 it's difficult to take just one frame, it's taken two before you realise it! The screen is really good, large, clear and usable for focusing.
The menus are quite easy to understand and access, ISO and EV, probably the settings changed most, have their own buttons which helps a lot.

That's about it for now, I'll post a bit more as I go along, and hopefully so will a few others as they find their way around the camera.

I,ve put some of the better pics I've taken below (and dumped loads more bad ones) with some of their EXIF data for reference.

Buzzard - ISO 100, 1/[email protected], +2/3 EV, 14.1mm zoom, WB-cloudy.

Cormorant - ISO 200, 1/[email protected], -2/3 EV, 22.1mm zoom, WB-auto.

Little Grebe - ISO 200, 1/[email protected], 18.1mm zoom, WB-auto.

Wigeon - ISO 400, 1/[email protected], 14.1mm zoom, WB-shade.

Spotted Sandpiper - ISO 400, 1/[email protected], -2/3 EV, 12.2mm zoom, WB- shade. (The -EV was a mistake on my part).

Regards

John

Would love a comparison with the Canon SD800 anf SD700 models.

Excellent photos John really good detail. I can tell from the data that some of it comes from good shutter speeds and low f-values. I too have a tendency to under expose shots to increase shutter speeds and adjust them accordingly in photo shop.

Is there any way you can save the settings once you have found the best ones?

This isn't about the quality of the pictures which look great but isn't your "cormorant", actually a Shag?

dipped said:

This isn't about the quality of the pictures which look great but isn't your "cormorant", actually a Shag?

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Yes, you're absolutely right, I've developed a bad habit of lumping the two together, I'll have to break this before I post any more.

Thanks

john

Paul Jarvis said:

Excellent photos John really good detail. I can tell from the data that some of it comes from good shutter speeds and low f-values. I too have a tendency to under expose shots to increase shutter speeds and adjust them accordingly in photo shop.

Is there any way you can save the settings once you have found the best ones?

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Paul, if you're still using your A620 there's no problem at all, just put everything you want into C (custom) Mode.
Select what shooting mode you want, AV, SV etc and press the Menu button while in it, pick all the settings you want, and save it to C when you've finished, it's as simple as that. You can even save the zoom setting by having the zoom in the position you want it just before you press the menu button. From now on use C Mode all the time. Most settings that need to be changed as you go along can be done with the FUNC button.

If you mean the F30, most of them stay the same until you change them but the top3, bottom3 default off every time you turn the camera off or even review an image and the lens reverts to min. zoom - crazy setup!!

Any problems or more information wanted just PM me.

Regards

John

john-henry said:

Paul, if you're still using your A620 there's no problem at all, just put everything you want into C (custom) Mode.
Select what shooting mode you want, AV, SV etc and press the Menu button while in it, pick all the settings you want, and save it to C when you've finished, it's as simple as that. You can even save the zoom setting by having the zoom in the position you want it just before you press the menu button. From now on use C Mode all the time. Most settings that need to be changed as you go along can be done with the FUNC button.

If you mean the F30, most of them stay the same until you change them but the top3, bottom3 default off every time you turn the camera off or even review an image and the lens reverts to min. zoom - crazy setup!!

Any problems or more information wanted just PM me.

Regards

John

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Hi John,
At the moment I am using the Fuji f11 which I am happy with but I was wondering if I had any thing to gain by upgrading to the f30, many thanks
Stan.

The dull weather had kept me trying the F30,but early this morning I had a go out my back window.I'd really only entered the date settings etc on christmas day;so in advance I set up Aperture mode,focus and white balance for conditions outside.The bird feeders were full and a lardy cheese concoction had starlings chattering.Camera on,zoom a tad,place onto eyepiece..here we go......focus scope on the bell feeder....no twigs in the way.....screen is bright!and full of text,,pressed the display button....clear screen.......enemy locked on....timer button once,twice,2 seconds,....fire......
I LEFT THE FLASH ON!! :h?: A flare of light lit the room and the garden and the tinsel on the tree!!The starlings booked,packed and f lew off in all directions.And still they chattered!I thought I'd destroyed the camera!

I keep telling myself 'I am an artiste'

Memo to myself : Read the Manual

John

I was wondering about the F30 settings. I hoped it would have been possible to save them like on the canon so when ever you switch the camera on or off they would be saved. So in that that respect the canons are possibly better.

Paul

Paul Jarvis said:

John

I was wondering about the F30 settings. I hoped it would have been possible to save them like on the canon so when ever you switch the camera on or off they would be saved. So in that that respect the canons are possibly better.

Paul

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No doubt about it Paul the Canon beats the F30 hands down on this score. The A620 would be my top camera choice if it didn't have the 4x lens - which I find with my scope gives only a limited vignetting free area in the mid range camera zoom and I prefer to use the whole range of camera and scope zoom.

Cheers for now

John

Ericmd said:

The dull weather had kept me trying the F30,but early this morning I had a go out my back window.I'd really only entered the date settings etc on christmas day;so in advance I set up Aperture mode,focus and white balance for conditions outside.The bird feeders were full and a lardy cheese concoction had starlings chattering.Camera on,zoom a tad,place onto eyepiece..here we go......focus scope on the bell feeder....no twigs in the way.....screen is bright!and full of text,,pressed the display button....clear screen.......enemy locked on....timer button once,twice,2 seconds,....fire......
I LEFT THE FLASH ON!! :h?: A flare of light lit the room and the garden and the tinsel on the tree!!The starlings booked,packed and f lew off in all directions.And still they chattered!I thought I'd destroyed the camera!

I keep telling myself 'I am an artiste'

Memo to myself : Read the Manual

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Gotta laugh haven't you Eric, we've all done similar things, the only good thing about it is you'll remember it next time, and luckily there will be a next time.

Regards

John

stanacko said:

Hi John,
At the moment I am using the Fuji f11 which I am happy with but I was wondering if I had any thing to gain by upgrading to the f30, many thanks
Stan.

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That's difficult to answer Stan, the screen is better, battery life better and maybe a few other little things, but if you're happy with what you've got why change?
If you've got some spare cash and fancy a new camera go for it but if it was me I'd hang on a few months and see what cameras come on the market next year, you never know might be a really good one.

Regards

John

Hi John
Looked at the photos and whilst they are fine to be honest nothing really outstanding, okay you are getting to know the camera but out of 500 shots. Looking back at your A95 photos in terms of the quality the F30 does not seem to have added anything but on the contrary the A95 shots do look better. So, yes it may just be down to practice but what do you feel, never mind comparing the cameras but compare the photos. Is the acquisition of the F30 progress.

Robert L Jarvis said:

Hi John
Looked at the photos and whilst they are fine to be honest nothing really outstanding, okay you are getting to know the camera but out of 500 shots. Looking back at your A95 photos in terms of the quality the F30 does not seem to have added anything but on the contrary the A95 shots do look better. So, yes it may just be down to practice but what do you feel, never mind comparing the cameras but compare the photos. Is the acquisition of the F30 progress.

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Hi Robert,
The first thing I'll say is I wouldn't swop my A95 for the Fuji, as far as I'm concerned the Fuji's quality is not as good, mainly down to the agressive NR and sharpening in-camera, but to be fair to the F30 I have been mainly using it where the A95 wouldn't have been usable i.e. very poor light and at ISO's where the A95 would have produced a lot of noise, so it's a bit of roundabout and swings really.
I think it will appeal to many digiscopers who are not seriously into it and are happy with a reasonable record shot where many other cameras haven't got the ISO capabilities to handle poor lighting, windy weather etc. so on that basis I think it deserves a place in the camera bag, and who knows when we eventually get some good weather and higher ISO's are not needed it may be a different matter altogether.
To sum it up you can get better pics in poor weather than with many other cameras.

I had a trip to the local Country Park today and have put a few more shots below, all taken at ISO 400 in pretty dull conditions as you can see from the shutter speeds, the way I look at it is using the A95 at ISO 100 I would have been lucky to get anything at all and lost out on a bit of fun.

(You don't have to look too closely to see the overprocessing, there might not be any noise but they certainly has a grainy look and as someone once mentioned a sort of watercolour look).

Best wishes

John

Blackbird - 1/50th f4.3.
Jay - 1/140th f3.7.
Robin - 1/160th f4.3.
Great Tit - 1/240th f3.7.
Wigeon - 1/550th f3.7.

John,
Nice set of images to show up why the F30 shines in dull conditions. Most digiscopers would be more than happy with these results. In good light I would also prefer less processing in-camera than you get with the F30 but I don't know any other digicam that will give these results at iso 400 and none that are usable at iso 800. I get very upset to miss photo opportunities due to not having the right kit so I would always like to have the F30 in the bag. I'm looking forward to seeing what Fuji come up with next. Neil.

Hi there John

I am new to digiscoping and I have just bought the F30 but have yet to really test it. As a novice I have a couple of queries about digiscoping settings in general.
- I get the impression that anything over ISO 400 is not worth bothering with if you want a decent looking image, and so if the light is so poor that even ISO 400 shots are beginning to blur then i guess there's not much chance of getting decent images by using other settings?
- You referred to NR, what does this mean?
- For your shots in the country park, did you specifically chose those shutter speeds and apertures or did you let the camera chose them automatically?

Many thanks
Hugh

Hugh

NR is short for noise reduction.

Malc

hughlewiswright said:

Hi there John

I am new to digiscoping and I have just bought the F30 but have yet to really test it. As a novice I have a couple of queries about digiscoping settings in general.
- I get the impression that anything over ISO 400 is not worth bothering with if you want a decent looking image, and so if the light is so poor that even ISO 400 shots are beginning to blur then i guess there's not much chance of getting decent images by using other settings?
- You referred to NR, what does this mean?
- For your shots in the country park, did you specifically chose those shutter speeds and apertures or did you let the camera chose them automatically?

Many thanks
Hugh

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Hugh, NR is noise reduction, i.e. reducing or eliminating the 'noise' produced by digital camera sensors, without going into in too much, noise is the equivelant of grain in 35mm film and is usually seen as red and blue pixels in unwanted places on your pictures. There are various programs, some free, to reduce noise but some camera manufacturers do it in-camera, several of these go a bit over the top with their processing and it degrades the image to varying extents. If you're careful and keep the ISO as low as you can but still maintaining a reasonable shutter speed much of this will be un-noticed with the F30.
Regarding shutter speeds and apertures, I use Aperture Priority as the shooting mode, this gives the minimum aperture and highest shutter speed for the available light reaching the camera lens, using different ISO values here will also increase/decrease the shutter speed without altering the aperture setting, (just like using a faster film in 35mm photography).

The main thing to remember is lower ISO's give better quality than higher ones, so the obvious thing is start at 100 ISO and if your shutter speed is a bit low move to 200 and 400 if you have to.

Hope this helps, if not ask again.

John

Neil said:

John,
Nice set of images to show up why the F30 shines in dull conditions. Most digiscopers would be more than happy with these results. In good light I would also prefer less processing in-camera than you get with the F30 but I don't know any other digicam that will give these results at iso 400 and none that are usable at iso 800. I get very upset to miss photo opportunities due to not having the right kit so I would always like to have the F30 in the bag. I'm looking forward to seeing what Fuji come up with next. Neil.

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Reducing the in-camera sharpening and NR would be a good start Neil, and a custom mode for favourite settings, but we shall see in the new year - talking of which I wish you a very happy and productive 2007.

Best wishes

John

Hi John Those last photos were indeed good and show the strength of the F30 in poor light. Look forward to seeing other examples.