Fujifilm Finepix F40fd Review
Review Date: October 18th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 8 megapixel Fine
JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around
4Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available
on the Fujifilm Finepix F40fd which you can select at
any time if the camera is in the normal shooting mode. There
is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings
of ISO 100 and 200, but noise and slight loss of detail
is apparent at ISO 400, particularly in the shadow areas.
At ISO 800 image quality has deteriorated quite a lot as
the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise, and ISO
1600 should really be avoided at all costs. Here are some
100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
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 fine at the default sharpening
setting, with further sharpening in a program
like Adobe Photoshop not really neccessary. 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.
File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd has
2 different image quality settings available, with Superfine
being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100%
crops which show the quality of the various options, with
the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd suffered fairly 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.
Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd offers
a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that
is 7cms 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.
Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix F40fd are Auto, Red-eye Reduction,
Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, and Slow Synchro. These
shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of
1.5m. There is noticeable
vignetting at
the wide-angle lens setting.
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Auto
Flash - Telephoto (108mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots.
The Auto setting caused
obvious red-eye, which the Red-eye reduction mode reduced
to some extent, but didn't completely remove.
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Auto
(100% Crop) |
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Red-eye
reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd's maximum
shutter speed is 3 seconds, which is not very good news if
you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot
below
was taken using a shutter speed of 1 second, aperture
of f/2.8 at ISO 200. I've included a 100% Crop of the image
to show what the quality is like.
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Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd produced images of average quality during the review
period. The 8 megapixel images are sharp enough straight
out of the camera and don't require any further sharpening
in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately there
are no in-camera sharpening options if you don't like the
in-camera default results. The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd struggled
with chromatic aberrations, with
obvious purple
fringing effects appearing in high contrast situations.
Macro performance is below average, allowing you to focus
as close as 7 cms away from the subject. The built-in flash
worked well indoors with good overall exposure, but the F40fd
did produce quite obvious red-eye, even when using the Red-eye
Reduction flash setting. The night photograph was not great,
with the maximum shutter speed
of 3 seconds
limiting
the
potential for creative
night photography. The Fujifilm Finepix F40fd's has an extensive
ISO range of 100-1600, but only ISO 100-400 is really usable,
with lots
of noise and blurring of detail at the higher ISO speeds
of 800 and 1600.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Fujifilm Finepix F40fd 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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