Fuji F30 - mixed thoughts. (4 Viewers)

[john-henry]

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

I printed a couple off at 7" x 5" today and I must admit they looked pretty good, clear, sharp, full of detail and of course no noise, for 400 ISO I am really impressed with its print quality.

Have a good new year Robert.

John

 

[scampo]

...

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

Many reviews suggest that the F30 is very useable up to 1600ASA with 7"x5" prints entirely possible even at 3200ASA - I suppose it's a compromise but no other digicam comes close. I just haven't had the chance to put mine to use yet. The shots posted are very fine indded.

 

[john-henry]

Many reviews suggest that the F30 is very useable up to 1600ASA with 7"x5" prints entirely possible even at 3200ASA - I suppose it's a compromise but no other digicam comes close. I just haven't had the chance to put mine to use yet. The shots posted are very fine indded.

Hi Steve,
I wonder what these reviewers photograph to make such statements, it's certainly not birds or anything else with fine detail. In very poor light at 400 ISO you can see the detail just starting to degrade, see the Robin pic above, and in good light I can't think why anyone would want to use 1600 or 3200 when it's a well known fact that lower ISO's give better quality, and better prints.
Here's hoping for some decent weather soon so we can all try out some of our ideas.

regards

John

 

[scampo]

Hi Steve,
I wonder what these reviewers photograph to make such statements, it's certainly not birds or anything else with fine detail. In very poor light at 400 ISO you can see the detail just starting to degrade, see the Robin pic above, and in good light I can't think why anyone would want to use 1600 or 3200 when it's a well known fact that lower ISO's give better quality, and better prints.
Here's hoping for some decent weather soon so we can all try out some of our ideas.

regards

John

Thanks, John - as you say, let's look forward to better weather.

Regarding the ASA ratings and noise I can only think that whatever the F30 can do, it must be doing it better than other small digicams or the reviewers are all writing a lot of nonsense. But then again...

 

[john-henry]

Been out today for another play with the F30, weather a mix of sun and grey skies and quite windy.
The more I'm using the camera the more impressed I'm getting with its high ISO performance, tried a few shots at ISO800 today, a Rook in good light and a Squirrel in poor light, not a sign of any noise and detail not bad at all, all things considered.
The worst was a Chaffinch at ISO400 in poor light and in the shade so what would you expect! The Mallard was the same lighting conditions but with a bit more reflected light on it and the Jay, well the shutter speed says it all.

John

 

[erniehatt]

Been out today for another play with the F30, weather a mix of sun and grey skies and quite windy.
The more I'm using the camera the more impressed I'm getting with its high ISO performance, tried a few shots at ISO800 today, a Rook in good light and a Squirrel in poor light, not a sign of any noise and detail not bad at all, all things considered.
The worst was a Chaffinch at ISO400 in poor light and in the shade so what would you expect! The Mallard was the same lighting conditions but with a bit more reflected light on it and the Jay, well the shutter speed says it all.

John

John, I must say the two shots at ISO 800 are most inpressive. Ernie

 

[Neil]

John, I nice set of examples of how capable the F30 is . The squirrel is great. Neil.

 

[scampo]

Been out today for another play with the F30, weather a mix of sun and grey skies and quite windy.
The more I'm using the camera the more impressed I'm getting with its high ISO performance, tried a few shots at ISO800 today, a Rook in good light and a Squirrel in poor light, not a sign of any noise and detail not bad at all, all things considered.
The worst was a Chaffinch at ISO400 in poor light and in the shade so what would you expect! The Mallard was the same lighting conditions but with a bit more reflected light on it and the Jay, well the shutter speed says it all.

John

Your impression of the F30 seems to be on the "up" from your earlier post. Those shots are excellent, poor light or no. The squirrel posed beautifully!

I haven't yet been able to get out and about with the camera and was beginning to have some doubts after your earlier post but if I could take shots of the quality you have posted, I'd be thrilled!

 

[jourdaj]

Been out today for another play with the F30, weather a mix of sun and grey skies and quite windy.
The more I'm using the camera the more impressed I'm getting with its high ISO performance, tried a few shots at ISO800 today, a Rook in good light and a Squirrel in poor light, not a sign of any noise and detail not bad at all, all things considered.
The worst was a Chaffinch at ISO400 in poor light and in the shade so what would you expect! The Mallard was the same lighting conditions but with a bit more reflected light on it and the Jay, well the shutter speed says it all.

John

John,

Thanks for the great thread! Question - I'm assuming that you've taken these with your Zeiss 85. Are you using the 20-60X Zoom eyepiece, and can you comment on vignetting w/ the F30. I'm ready to throw my hat into the F30 ring and ready to compare results w/ the Canon A620.

Jerry

 

[john-henry]

John,

Thanks for the great thread! Question - I'm assuming that you've taken these with your Zeiss 85. Are you using the 20-60X Zoom eyepiece, and can you comment on vignetting w/ the F30. I'm ready to throw my hat into the F30 ring and ready to compare results w/ the Canon A620.

Jerry

Yes Jerry all taken with Zeiss 85 and 20-60x zoom, vignetting is no problem, a couple of steps of camera zoom and vignetting is gone at 20x, with the scope on 30x another step and that's clear as well.

I must say the more I'm using the F30 the more impressed with it I am, especially for this time of year. It's fast in use, got a great resolution screen and seems to autofocus very well.

Regards

John

 

[Winterdune]

Yes Jerry all taken with Zeiss 85 and 20-60x zoom, vignetting is no problem, a couple of steps of camera zoom and vignetting is gone at 20x, with the scope on 30x another step and that's clear as well.

I must say the more I'm using the F30 the more impressed with it I am, especially for this time of year. It's fast in use, got a great resolution screen and seems to autofocus very well.

Regards

John

Hi John,
How are you attaching the camera to the scope?
Thanks,
Sean

 

[john-henry]

Hi John,
How are you attaching the camera to the scope?
Thanks,
Sean

Sean,
I use a homemade swing-out bracket I made a year or two ago. it's full of holes now from using various cameras on it but still works well, if I didn't have this I would probably buy the SRB-Griturn swing-out adapter which seems ideal.

regards

John

 

[Winterdune]

Sean,
I use a homemade swing-out bracket I made a year or two ago. it's full of holes now from using various cameras on it but still works well, if I didn't have this I would probably buy the SRB-Griturn swing-out adapter which seems ideal.

regards

John

Yes - I have more or less decided to do that.
Thanks,
Sean

 

[ray2758]

All lovely photos, I like the Squirrel, a value-added photo. :clap: :clap:

 

[john-henry]

Some sunshine today, at last, so thought I'd have a trip to Drift Reservoir to try for some pics of the Barnacle Goose and a Pink-foot that's been around for a while. It might have been sunny but on arriving I found it was blowing a gale straight down the reservoir, Oh heck - or words to that effect! To make matters worse the geese were on the far side of the res. and any approach towards them would only send them forther away. Anyway I was going to give it a try so headed up the left hand side were there might be a little shelter from some trees, luckily something spooked the geese and the Barnacle and some Canadas flew over to my side, I managed a few shots of the Barnacle from 60-70 yards before it got wary and flew back to the other side. The point I'm trying to make is if it wasn't for the high ISO of the F30 I wouldn't even have bothered, sorry for being so long winded about it.
I've put a couple of shots below, more or less identical shots, both from the same distance, one in sunshine and one in cloudy skies, the strange thing is I prefer the cloudy one, highlights are not burnt out even though I used an EV of -2/3 on both.
I also tried a record shot of both geese in with the locals, this was taken from the opposite side of the reservoir from where they were, must be well over 100 yards.
I'd had enough of being buffeted by the wind by now and decided to go into Penzance and try my luck at Purple Sandpipers wintering near the bathing pool, good light here and out of the wind.
A couple of shots below at ISO100 and distances of about 15-20 yards.

End of essay.

John

 

[Feathered one]

John
The pictures of the geese have a very large DOF. Would you attribute this to the settings you used on the Fuji, or the Zeiss 85 and or eyepiece.

The pictures of the Purple Sandpipers are fantastic, as are the pictures in your gallery.
I have been particularly interested to see the birds you saw in Portugal.

We are off to Extremadura for a week late March, then 2 weeks in Portugal near Portalegre, about halfway up Portugal near the Spanish Border, in late September. Both are not Birding exclusively, but hope to get some good shots as well.

Malc

 

[jourdaj]

John
The pictures of the geese have a very large DOF. Would you attribute this to the settings you used on the Fuji, or the Zeiss 85 and or eyepiece.

The pictures of the Purple Sandpipers are fantastic, as are the pictures in your gallery.
I have been particularly interested to see the birds you saw in Portugal.

We are off to Extremadura for a week late March, then 2 weeks in Portugal near Portalegre, about halfway up Portugal near the Spanish Border, in late September. Both are not Birding exclusively, but hope to get some good shots as well.

Malc

John,

I agree w/ Malc, the Purple Sandpipers are stunning! Well done!

Jerry

 

[john-henry]

John
The pictures of the geese have a very large DOF. Would you attribute this to the settings you used on the Fuji, or the Zeiss 85 and or eyepiece.

The pictures of the Purple Sandpipers are fantastic, as are the pictures in your gallery.
I have been particularly interested to see the birds you saw in Portugal.

We are off to Extremadura for a week late March, then 2 weeks in Portugal near Portalegre, about halfway up Portugal near the Spanish Border, in late September. Both are not Birding exclusively, but hope to get some good shots as well.

Malc

Hi Malc,
I think the DOF was more because of the distance than anything, they were over 100 yards away so it's bound to be pretty deep.

I'm just planning a trip to Extremadura in early May so would be interested in hearing from you when you get back in March, you'll have a great time it's a fantastic area, take plenty of cards and battery power. Have you been before?

Portugal is great, far more birds than people give it credit for, it's so underwatched don't be surprised if you see anything anywhere.

Thanks for your kind words on the Purple Sands, the're lovely little birds, I've stuck a couple more below.

regards

John

 

[john-henry]

John,

I agree w/ Malc, the Purple Sandpipers are stunning! Well done!

Jerry

Thanks Jerry,
Hope you will post some of yours as you go along, give us all a look at some of the American birds for a change.

Regards

John

 

[erniehatt]

John, thankyou for a very informative unbiased review of the f30, there is no comments about it being better than others, as some I have read, this is what New Commers requier. Very Nice images too. Ernie