Fujifilm Finepix J50 Review
Review Date: March 21st 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 2.5Mb.
Noise
There are 4 ISO settings available on the Fujifilm Finepix J50 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 a lot as the camera blurs detail to try and hide the noise, and by ISO 800 the results have become a smudgy mess. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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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 slightly soft 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) |
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File Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix J50 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 (2.71Mb) (100% Crop) |
8M
Normal (1.45Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix J50 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) |
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Macro
The Fujifilm Finepix J50 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 |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Fujifilm Finepix J50 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.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (37mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (37mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (185mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (185mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. Neither the Auto or Red-eye reduction modes caused any red-eye.
Auto |
Auto (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye reduction |
Red-eye reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix J50's maximum shutter speed is 4 seconds in the Night scene mode, which is not very good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 2 seconds, aperture of f/5.2 at ISO 200. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix J50 produced images of below average quality during the review period. The 8 megapixel images are slightly 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 if you don't like the in-camera default results. The Fujifilm Finepix J50 produced few signs of chromatic aberrations, with limited purple and fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. Macro performance is about average, allowing you to focus as close as 5 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 OK, but the maximum shutter speed of 4 seconds won't be sufficient for all night photography opportunities. The Fujifilm Finepix J50's offers a rather limited ISO range of 100-800, further compunded by only ISO 100-200 really being usable, with lots of noise and blurring of detail at the higher ISO speeds of 400 and 800. Together with the lack of an optical image stabilisation system, this makes the Fujifilm Finepix J50 poorly suited to low-light photography.
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