Fujifilm Finepix F30 Review

Review Date: August 7th 2006

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Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 6M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.

Noise

There are 6 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix F30 which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 100 (100% crop)	ISO 200 (100% crop)
ISO 400 (100% crop)	ISO 800 (100% crop)
ISO 1600 (100% crop)	ISO 3200 (100% crop)

There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 100 and 200, and ISO 400 also looks very clean. Noise is starting to appear at ISO 800, bit it is still well controlled at ISO 1600. As you might expect, quite a lot of detail is lost at the fastest speed of ISO 3200, with the images having a "painted" feel, but they are still perfectly useable for small print sizes. A truly amazing performance by the Fujifilm Finepix F30. Take a look at the Sample Images page for some more high ISO examples.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately you cannot change the in-camera sharpening levels, so you will always have to do some post-processing if you don't like the default results.

Original 100% Crop	Sharpened 100% Crop

File Quality

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 has 2 different file quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

6M Fine (3.00Mb)	6M Normal (1.50Mb)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 suffered quite badly from chromatic aberrations in areas of high contrast, as shown in the examples below, although it only occurred in over-exposed parts of the image.

Example 1	Example 2

Macro

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject in Macro mode (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot	100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix F30 are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro. and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro. These shots of a magnolia coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (36mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (36mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (108mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (108mm)

And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction	Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/5 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot	100% Crop

Overall Image Quality

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The 6 megapixel images are a little soft straight out of the camera and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately there are no in-camera sharpening options. The Fujifilm Finepix F30 struggledl with chromatic aberrations, which purple fringing effects appearing in very high contrast situations. Macro performance is above average, allowing you to focus as close as 5 cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good too, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The Fujifilm Finepix F30's most impressive feature in terms of image quality is the extensive and very usable ISO range of 100-3200. I have never reviewed a compact digital camera before that has been able to match the F30's ISO performance (only its predecessor, the F11, comes close with a fastest ISO speed of 1600). ISO 100-800 is virtually noise-free, whilst ISO 1600 and even 3200 produce acceptable results. This makes the F30 a great camera for low-light photography without having to resort to using the flash, which in turn can produce more natural results.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Fujifilm Finepix F30 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.

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