Fujifilm Finepix F50fd Review
Review Date: October 25th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
Leave a comment about this Review
|
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4.5Mb.
Noise
There are 7 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal shooting mode. There is no discernible noise at the slowest setting of ISO 100, but noise and slight loss of detail is already apparent at ISO 200, particularly in the shadow areas. At ISO 400 image quality has deteriorated quite a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise, and by ISO 800 the results have become a smudgy mess. ISO 1600 resembles an impressionist painting and should be avoided at all costs. The fastest settings of 3200 and 6400 might look good on the specfication list, but look terrible in reality, even at the reduced image resolutions (6 and 3 megapixels respectively). 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) (6M pixels) |
 |
 |
ISO 6400 (100% Crop) (3M pixels) |
|
 |
|
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.
Original
(100% Crop)
|
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine 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.
|
8M
Fine (4.76Mb) (100% Crop)
|
8M
Normal (2.90Mb) (100% Crop)
|
 |
 |
Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd handled chromatic aberrations well, with some purple and green fringing only evident in areas of high contrast, especially at the edges of the frame, as shown in the examples below.
|
Example
1 (100% Crop)
|
Example
2 (100% Crop)
|
 |
 |
Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd 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.
|
Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
 |
 |
Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro, Red-eye Reduction + 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.
|
Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm) |
 |
 |
|
Flash Off - Telephoto (105mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (105mm) |
 |
 |
And here are some portrait shots. The Auto setting caused obvious red-eye, which the Red-eye reduction mode almost completely removed.
|
Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
|
Red-eye reduction |
Red-eye reduction (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds in the Night scene mode, which is fairly good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds, aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
|
Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
 |
 |
Anti Shake
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd has an anti-shake mechanism (CCD-shift type), which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the ISO speed set to 100. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length |
Anti Shake Off (100% crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% crop) |
| 1/12th sec / 105mm |
 |
 |
| 1/4th sec / 105mm |  |
 |
Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd produced images of average quality during the review period. The 12 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 F50fd produced few signs of chromatic aberrations, with limited purple and fringing effects appearing only 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, and the Red-eye Reduction flash setting successfully removed most signs of red-eye. The night photograph was fine, with the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds sufficient for most night photography opportunities. The Fujifilm Finepix F50fd's offers an extensive ISO range of 100-6400, but only ISO 100-400 is really usable, with lots of noise and blurring of detail at the higher ISO speeds of 800 and above. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range.
|
PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.