Fujifilm Finepix F440
Review Date: April 6th 2005
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 4M Fine file quality setting, which gives an average image size of around 1.9Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Fuji Finepix F440 which you can select at any time. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 80 (100% crop) |
ISO 100 (100% crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% crop) |
ISO 400 (100% crop) |
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The noise levels look excellent at ISO 80 and 100, with some noise starting to appear at ISO 200. Noise is clearly apparent at ISO 400 but it is by no means unusable. A good performance by the Fujifilm Finepix F440's 4 megapixel CCD sensor.
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 at the default setting of Normal are on the soft side, with post-processing showing quite a lot of extra detail.
Original 100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
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File Quality
The Fuji Finepix F440 has 5 different JPEG file quality/size settings available with 5M F offering the largest image size/best quality. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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4M F (2304 x 1728px) (1,962Kb) |
4M N (2304 x 1728px) (1,057Kb) |
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2M (1600 x 1200px) (626Kb) |
1M (1280 x 960px) (478Kb) |
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0.3M (640 x 480px) (127Kb) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
I had to look hard to find any examples of chromatic aberrations in the review shots taken with the Fujifilm Finepix F440 . They were only apparent in very high-contrast situations, such as the roof structure and bright white sky in the examples below. When they did appear, chromatic aberrations were at the edges of the frame and not too obvious at all.
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Example 1 |
Example 2 |
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Macro
The Fuji Finepix F440 has a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 9cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash options on the Fujifilm Finepix F440 are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash and Suppressed Flash (with more options available in Manual mode). These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m. You might expect the flash to produce a brighter picture, not a darker one! I repeated the test a couple of times with similar results.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (38mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (38mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (130mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (130mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. The flash underexposed the scene by about 1/3 stop of exposure. Both the Flash On and Red-eye Reduction flash modes produced very little redeye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix F440's maximum shutter speed is only 2 seconds which isn't great if you're interested in night photography. The following example was taken using a shutter speed of 1.2 seconds with an aperture of f/2.8 at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix F440 produced a good set of test images. The 5 megapixel photos were soft out of the camera at the default setting of Normal and benefit from further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can select the Hard sharpening setting on the camera. Noise is well controlled at ISO 80-200, with the fastest setting of ISO 400 offering a usable option when light levels are low. The Fujifilm Finepix F440 dealt well with chromatic aberrations, which appeared in the form of limited purple fringing in high-contrast scenes. Macro performance was average, allowing you get as close as 9 cms away from your subject. The built-in flash had a tendency to underexpose slightly indoors but there was no evidence of redeye. Night-shots are limited due to the 2 second maximum shutter speed. Overall a pleasing performance in terms of image quality from the Fujifilm Finepix F440.
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PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Fujifilm FinePix F440 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.