Fujifilm HS50 EXR has arrived ! (1 Viewer)

[kennethwfd]

ok, but I've gone over my camera settings, followed Mike Atkinson's advice, here are 2 from today. with plenty of puddles all the blackbirds seem to be bathing, the fuji is really capable of capturing fast burst, with the recommended settings A mode, aperture open ISO low I'm still getting motion blur on some of the shots where the bird is moving really fast.

Also investigated the AF point. Well to be precise, the Fuji has an AF area, which apparently can only be accessed in S mode on the focus mode dial. you then need to select area in the AF mode p3 of the shooting menu, pressing the OK button allows you to shift the focus area, don't forget to press OK again after your selection or the camera won't take any shots.

Had I not clipped the bird's tail and got the AF area over the head in the second would have been well pleased with these

 

[earleybird]

I like the both images but particularly the second one. its the kind of shot I prefer with plenty of action and interest .
You must be very pleased with the improved image detail

Looks like its having a bad feather day:-O

 

[Keith Dickinson]

I'm out tomorrow, have copied Jom's settings into the HS50 and tweaked Lightroom so that it is as close to Jom's silkypix set-up as possible. So we'll see what sort of results I can get.

 

[earleybird]

good luck i'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Don't forget Joms settings are appropriate for a very different ambient natural light than we currently have in the UK so that may make some difference. His images are going to look a lot more vibrant than ours taken in the UK.

I'll have another look at his settings and see how they compare with mine

 

[Keith Dickinson]

It's more some of the deeper settings that I have copied, color / sharpness/tone / noise reduction that sort of stuff. Sticking with aperture priority mode and I've limited the iso to max 400. I'm now shooting RAW only though as the Adobe update came through, this is the same as I was doing with my HS20 so it's something I'm happy with.

 

[kennethwfd]

I like the both images but particularly the second one. its the kind of shot I prefer with plenty of action and interest .
You must be very pleased with the improved image detail

Looks like its having a bad feather day:-O

just had a bath and was in the process of drying out

 

[Joms]

Added more BIF shots and mallard pair on my Flickr account...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joms_birding/

 

[kennethwfd]

It's more some of the deeper settings that I have copied, color / sharpness/tone / noise reduction that sort of stuff. Sticking with aperture priority mode and I've limited the iso to max 400. I'm now shooting RAW only though as the Adobe update came through, this is the same as I was doing with my HS20 so it's something I'm happy with.

would this work with PS Elements & where do you obtain it?

Update. have spoken to Adobe and PSE11 has a plug in which supports the HS50

 

[Keith Dickinson]

The Camera Raw plug-in was released only last week. So much happier now I can process in Lightroom 4.4 and Photoshop rather than the Silkypix software.

 

[punta]

Good luck with getting the best out of the hs50 guys. For me it was just not doing it so I have returned it.

 

[Joms]

Good luck with getting the best out of the hs50 guys. For me it was just not doing it so I have returned it.

You should have given it another week or so although in my hands at the very first shot, I know I would hit it (see my cardinal shots). Been there done that, I have vast experience with HS camera. You need a little learning curve with HS cameras as it was not designed to shoot automatically and will produce great results. Good luck on your next search for its replacement.

 

[earleybird]

I have to agree with joms on this.

I think 7x days to test a camera is not enough.

I wish that I saw your images and read your posts with more attention Punta because I hadn't realised that you were thinking of returning the camera.

I don't wish to be rude but most of your images do not appear to have been composed with as much thought as they might have. When you try to capture a small bird next to a large object like a seed feeder, any camera is going to struggle to spot focus on the smaller bird. The camera does not know that you only want to focus on the bird. It sees both objects as one object because they are joined somewhere along their edges the bird superimposed upon part of the feeder, branch, whatever.

If you look at some of my shots you'll see that the HS50 is perfectly capable of capturing some fine feather detail given the right camera settings and the right picture composition.

Heres an example of how easy it is to get a shot of a relatively large bird ,(collared Dove) at close up (9 feet) and still get a soft looking shot. if the shot was of a smaller bird at 15 feet and max zoom 185mm FL then the problem is compounded.

One Dove image is in focus whereas the other is slightly out of focus with the twigs in the background sharply in focus. The AF was confused momentarily about what it was I wanted to capture . the twigs, the fence,. the bird , the seed tray or all of them .

If I wanted to get some good shots of this bird I would remove this seed tray and put it somewhere in the clear from other objects . I'd think about what is in the background and the foreground and around the bird so that the shot would be well composed. I'd pre-focus several times testing the light and the shutter speed and adjust the ISO to get the best possible combination

All being well the shots should all be in focus and not need much if any PP .
None of my images have had any pp whatsoever but I appreciate that everyones interpretation is different in terms of colour, saturation, hardness, sharpness,contrast, light etc
ISO400 FL 50mm 1/280 f/5.6 distance 9x feet

 

[Gordon W]

Very interesting thread. I bought an HS50 last week and have been wrestling with its learning curve since then, but feel I'm finally getting a grip on it. When I bought the HS50, I had intended on buying a Canon SX50, understanding the camera store had no HS50s in stock, but as it turned out some arrived that very morning, so I got to handle both cameras in the store and walked out with the HS50 because I much preferred its manual zoom and better EVF and haven't been disappointed with the decision. For a point 'n shoot, the HS50's focusing is amazingly fast and accurate. So far it's focused where I wanted it to and even managed to catch a couple birds in flight.

I'm not a birder, but I like to photograph birds when the opportunity arises. My normal wildlife lens is a Canon 100-400mm with a 1.4x TC, but due to its size and weight I don't normally have it with me, so I've missed a lot of bird photos because of that. The HS50 should rectify that situation.

These are a few of the birds I got with it so far.

 

[Keith Dickinson]

From a birding point of view today went well, added Cetti's warbler to my county list but photography wise the light was poor all day. Best capture was this reed bunting.
f5.6 at 1/105, iso 100 with +0.33 exp compensation. 160.5 fl

Got loads of pictures that I'm going to be learning from though.

 

[earleybird]

thats a vey nice reed Bunting keith. The day wasn't a total loss then ?

Knowing you I suspect that this is a Raw image that has been pp'd yes ?

I am surprised that you went with ISO100 on a day with such low light levels but you seem to have got away with it.:t:

I like the way that you have chosen to compose the image too.

 

[earleybird]

Very interesting thread. I bought an HS50 last week and have been wrestling with its learning curve since then, but feel I'm finally getting a grip on it. When I bought the HS50, I had intended on buying a Canon SX50, understanding the camera store had no HS50s in stock, but as it turned out some arrived that very morning, so I got to handle both cameras in the store and walked out with the HS50 because I much preferred its manual zoom and better EVF and haven't been disappointed with the decision. For a point 'n shoot, the HS50's focusing is amazingly fast and accurate. So far it's focused where I wanted it to and even managed to catch a couple birds in flight.

I'm not a birder, but I like to photograph birds when the opportunity arises. My normal wildlife lens is a Canon 100-400mm with a 1.4x TC, but due to its size and weight I don't normally have it with me, so I've missed a lot of bird photos because of that. The HS50 should rectify that situation.

These are a few of the birds I got with it so far.

Hi Gordon. Welcome to the thread. :t:

Everybody in the UK is probably in bed now or on the way so I'm sure you'll get more responses from this side of the pond in 8x hours time lol.

Love the Sparrow ? shot the other passerine with the black head looks just like our Blackcap
I can see that the light there is quite different from the UK and presumably presents a different set of challenges.

When you get a minute could you let us have the exif for the images and the species too please as I'm barely familiar with the UK species atm.

Hope that you will consider joining the Fuji HS50 users Group on Flickr (link in my sig)and add some images

 

[Wildmoreway]

I have to agree with joms on this.

I think 7x days to test a camera is not enough.

I wish that I saw your images and read your posts with more attention Punta because I hadn't realised that you were thinking of returning the camera.

I would tend to agree, when I bought my HS10 I was rather disapointed with the results I got, but other people were getting good results and over time by working out how other people got good results I managed to get a quite a few reasonable shots. In my opinion even a month is a very short time in which to evaluate a camera let alone seven days.

I won't mentioned which superzoom is my main one at the moment (it isn't a fuji) but I will be visiting this thread to see how you guys are getting on as I have in the past had several of the larger Fujis (S602Pro, S7000, S20Pro, S9500, HS10 and HS20) and build quality wise they have all been excellent cameras (and the S602Pro at ten years old is still in regular use with a friend of mine).

 

[elkcub]

I have to agree with joms on this.

I think 7x days to test a camera is not enough.

I wish that I saw your images and read your posts with more attention Punta because I hadn't realised that you were thinking of returning the camera.

I don't wish to be rude but most of your images do not appear to have been composed with as much thought as they might have. When you try to capture a small bird next to a large object like a seed feeder, any camera is going to struggle to spot focus on the smaller bird. The camera does not know that you only want to focus on the bird. It sees both objects as one object because they are joined somewhere along their edges the bird superimposed upon part of the feeder, branch, whatever.

If you look at some of my shots you'll see that the HS50 is perfectly capable of capturing some fine feather detail given the right camera settings and the right picture composition.

Heres an example of how easy it is to get a shot of a relatively large bird ,(collared Dove) at close up (9 feet) and still get a soft looking shot. if the shot was of a smaller bird at 15 feet and max zoom 185mm FL then the problem is compounded.

One Dove image is in focus whereas the other is slightly out of focus with the twigs in the background sharply in focus. The AF was confused momentarily about what it was I wanted to capture . the twigs, the fence,. the bird , the seed tray or all of them .

If I wanted to get some good shots of this bird I would remove this seed tray and put it somewhere in the clear from other objects . I'd think about what is in the background and the foreground and around the bird so that the shot would be well composed. I'd pre-focus several times testing the light and the shutter speed and adjust the ISO to get the best possible combination
pr
All being well the shots should all be in focus and not need much if any PP .
None of my images have had any pp whatsoever but I appreciate that everyones interpretation is different in terms of colour, saturation, hardness, sharpness,contrast, light etc
ISO400 FL 50mm 1/280 f/5.6 distance 9x feet

Hi Earlybird,

This thread will be invaluable when my HS50 finally arrives in a few days. One question you've already answered in how much effort I should put into PP, which I could spend a lot of time on but doesn't interest me all that much. I'd rather refine my shooting techniques with advise like you've presented here.

Many thanks, :t:
Ed

 

[KaceyLamphere]

I want the HS50 so bad I will be saving up for it! Thank you for all the information on it I currently have the HS20 and its great!!! I can only imagine how happy I will be with with the HS50!

 

[Gordon W]

Hi Gordon. Welcome to the thread. :t:

Everybody in the UK is probably in bed now or on the way so I'm sure you'll get more responses from this side of the pond in 8x hours time lol.

Love the Sparrow ? shot the other passerine with the black head looks just like our Blackcap
I can see that the light there is quite different from the UK and presumably presents a different set of challenges.

When you get a minute could you let us have the exif for the images and the species too please as I'm barely familiar with the UK species atm.

Hope that you will consider joining the Fuji HS50 users Group on Flickr (link in my sig)and add some images

The light here in eastern Ontario, Canada, earleybird, has been mostly overcast for what seems like months, maybe one day a week we'll see some sunny blue sky. My primarily interest is sunrise landscape photography, so the hours I'm typically out and about with a camera don't have the best light intensity for bird photography.

Anyway, EXIF data for the birds I posted are:

American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea)
1/210s f/5.6 at 185.0mm (1000mm EFL Handheld) iso100

Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
1/60s f/5.6 at 185.0mm (1000mm EFL Handheld) iso400

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
1/480s f/5.6 at 185.0mm (1,000mm EFL Handheld) iso640

Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
1/480s f/5.6 at 185.0mm (1000mm EFL Handheld) iso1000
​

I need to configure 'C' mode with settings more suitable for birds. At the moment I shoot Aperture priority (wide open), L, JPEG+RAW, auto ISO, auto DR, auto WB, Sharpness +2, NR 0, photometry Multi, AF mode Center, and several of those aren't best for birds in flight. Sometimes I use the JPEG, other times (like when highlights are blown) I process the RAW. Can't decide whether SilkyPix does better than Lightroom, but I find LR easier to work with.

Here are a couple more HS50 bird photos. I don't care much for feeders or wires being in bird photos, but my purpose with these was testing the camera. EXIF data:

Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea)
1/850s f/5.6 at 185.0mm (1000mm EFL Handheld) iso400

Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
1/240s f/5.6 at 166.6mm (900mm EFL Handheld) iso100
​