Fujifilm FinePix F-series

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The Fuji FinePix F10
The Fuji FinePix F10

The Fujifilm FinePix F-series of digital cameras models which have been called "revolutionary"[1] in terms of low-light performance in the compact class. Due to low image noise and good color even at very high ISO settings from Fujifilm's Super CCD sensor, the F-series cameras were the first compact cameras able to consistently take pictures in low light that could be considered "printable". Previously, the consumer digital camera market had not particularly targeted high speed or low light shooting without flash except through image stabilization technology, which at the time had only been implemented in bulkier prosumer models with powerful zoom capability.

Contents

[edit] Flagship line

[edit] F10

The first breakthrough model of the F-series, the 6.3-megapixel FinePix F10, was announced in February 2005 and became available on April 30 of that year. The F10 was met with widespread critical acclaim and became a hit seller for Fujifilm.[2] It was the first time that such low noise levels had been seen at ISO 800 and 1600 in a digital compact camera.

In addition to its ISO capability, the F10's success was also fueled by its excellent battery life, speedy shooting, and overall picture quality. One of the camera's weaknesses, however, was manual shooting. Lacking aperture and shutter speed priority modes, the F10 was mostly a point and shoot camera. Other criticisms included the proprietary dongle needed to make any connections to the camera and a relatively high level of purple fringing.

[edit] F11

The F10's sibling, the FinePix F11, which was not released in the United States except the state of Hawaii, added aperture and shutter priority modes but still did not provide full manual control. It also had a slightly improved LCD screen and a few other minor improvements to the F10.

[edit] F30

Fujifilm FinePix F30 camera
Fujifilm FinePix F30 camera

In May 2006, the F11 was succeeded by the FinePix F30, which added 3200 ISO in full resolution using a 1/1.7" 6th generation Super CCD chip and 2nd generation "RealPhoto technology" including an "intelligent flash". Based on sample images, noise reduction was improved slightly over the F10/F11. Although there is definite noise in pictures taken at 3200 ISO, they are often usable, and the F30 was seen as another leap forward in low-light abilities for a compact camera. As one reviewer stated,

“ The F30's claim to fame is its high ISO performance, which is unmatched in the compact camera arena. [...] It offers low light performance that approaches (but doesn't match) digital SLRs, and it's pretty good at the other stuff too.”

Jeff Keller, DCResource.com[3]

The F30 also added a new, much higher-resolution LCD screen, improved battery life, an improved menu system, and several new modes including "Natural Light & Flash" in which the camera shoots two pictures in quick succession, one with flash and one without, so the better picture can be chosen later.

[edit] F20

In July 2006, Fujifilm announced the FinePix F20, a lower-priced, slightly scaled-down version of the F30 that maintained most of the same features but was geared more towards non-enthusiast users. Compared to the F30, the F20 had a lower-resolution LCD screen, lower capacity battery, a maximum ISO of 2000, and a few other changes to the body and menu system. It also lacked Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority modes. However, considering that the F20 kept all the features that made the F30 great, including the same SuperCCD sensor, high-ISO capability, Fujinon lens, and low-noise Real Photo image processor, the F20 was a superb bargain at a street price as low as $155 USD.

[edit] F31fd

In September 2006, the F30 was succeeded by the FinePix F31fd[4] - Fuji’s first pocketable digital camera to feature hardware-based Face Detection technology, which debuted with the introduction of the FinePix S6500fd. Face Detection ensures that the camera automatically focuses on and exposes for faces, rather than details that can confuse other cameras. It is capable of coping with up to ten faces in a frame. Fujifilm’s Face Detection unique technology is built-in to the camera’s processor, enabling it to identify faces, optimise settings and take the photo within just 0.05 seconds.[5]

The F31fd also has a new IrSimple data transfer capability for wireless printing and photos viewing on IrSimple enabled TV sets.

FinePix F31fd has 15 scene positions including beach, snow and fireworks for optimum photography, no matter what the event. Its underwater scene mode acts in the same way as a red filter and, when teamed with the WP-FXF30 underwater housing, ensures that images from diving and snorkelling are close to what the human eye sees.[4]

[edit] F40fd

In March 2007, Fujifilm released the F40fd, priced at $299. The F40fd is considered to be the successor to the F20, with many new features, most notably a bump to 8.3 megapixel resolution and face detection. However, it shares the reduced battery capacity and reduced ISO of the F20 (2000 maximum, compared to 3200 on the F30/F31fd). The new camera, however can utilize either xD-Picture Card or SD memory card.[6]

[edit] F50fd

On July 26, 2007, FujiFilm announced the latest incarnation in the Finepix 'F' series, the F50fd. Succeeding its 2006 predecessor, the F31fd, this latest model is greatly improved over the F40fd. Boasting a 7th generation 12-megapixel Super CCD, a 2.7 inch amorphous silicon TFT LCD screen and a sleek new design, the F50fd is the first model in the Finepix 'F' series to feature optical-based image stabilization, referred to as Dual Stabilization Mode. Face recognition has been updated to 2.0, now featuring an automatic red-eye removal. No longer does the camera need a direct-frontal shot in order to identify a face, it can capture faces at different angles without the subject having to look straight to the camera. ISO sensitivity has also been extended up to 6400, from 3200 on the F31fd; however, comparisons show that the sensor used in the F30/F31fd/F20 has significantly greater sensitivity. The F50fd is slated for a September 2007 release at an MSRP of $300.

[edit] F100fd

On 24 January 2008, FujiFilm announced the ultimate F series camera, the F100fd. It features a 12-megapixel chip, a wide angle zoom (28-140mm equiv.), and reputed ISO capabilities up to ISO 3200 (full resolution) or even ISO 12800 and ISO 6400 at 3M recorded pixels. The F100fd does not contain aperture priority or shutter priority modes, hence it cannot be considered a successor of the F10, F11, F30, F31, F50 models. The camera suffers from "pink banding"[7][8] with in high ISO exposure photographs starting at ISO 400. The pink band can be seen on the left side of the photograph. FujiFilm has yet to address the situation. It should be noted not all F100's exhibit this problem, and in real world shooting, not artificial 'black space', it is not noticeable in the vast majority of cases. Most people cannot distinguish F100 shots from D-SLR output.

The Fuji Finepix F100fd incorporates new technology to capture expanded dynamic range up to 400% more than the typical ultra-compact camera. The captured dynamic range can be automatically determined or set to 100%, 200% and 400%. Each of these settings indicates how many extra stop of highlight details are captured (0, 1 or 2, respectively). It is also features Face-Detection 3.0 and a number of features aimed at novice users, such as numerous scene modes.

[edit] Influence on the industry

The success of the F10 demonstrated the importance of low-light and high speed shooting, leading to inclusion of high ISO and IS technology in the 2006 compact camera lineups of other major digital camera manufacturers, such as Sony's DSC-W50 (high ISO), Panasonic's FX-01 and TZ1 (high ISO, IS), Canon's Ixus 800 IS/SD700 IS, and Olympus' mju/Stylus 810 (high ISO). Thus far, few (if any) of the high-ISO models are able to match the low noise levels of the Fuji at ISO 800, much less 1600 or 3200.

[edit] Criticisms of the F-series

Reviews of the F-series in almost every professional publication and website have hailed it as a breakthrough for the only realistically usable high-ISO setting of any compact camera that, more than two years after the introduction of the F10 in 2005, still remains unmatched by any other competitor. Yet at the same time, while Fujifilm has introduced numerous successors to the F10, these have made only incremental improvements to the F10's performance, and none have addressed the F-series' major deficiencies that have been identified in critical reviews. These include:

  1. Often severe chromatic aberration (purple fringing), especially for wide open apertures (F/2.8 and F/3.2) -- hence to control CA/PF one must switch to aperture priority mode (available in F30 and F31fd), as automatic exposure often chooses F/2.8 (note that setting F/3.6 rather than F/2.8 has the additional benefit of producing the sharpest corners)
  2. A tendency to blow-out highlights in daylight (less serious in F31 and later models), i.e. overexposure that leads to irretrievable loss of highlight detail. This problem can be partially ameliorated using exposure compensation, or in some cases, changing the light metering to AVERAGE rather than MATRIX. However, many camera users might find it cumbersome to frequently dig into the menus to do settings.
  3. Lack of saturation setting, and typically undersaturated and underwhelming shots out of the box. Can partly be compensated by using the F-CHROME setting, otherwise correctable in Photoshop.
  4. A fiddly white balance that tends to be too cold, especially in bright daylight. Again correctable in Photoshop.
  5. No histogram, and a general lack of manual controls compared to many high-end compacts. On the F30/31fd and F50fd manual aperture OR shutter, but full iso, wb and exposure control.
  6. Slow and unwieldy menu system, much better from F30fd onwards.
  7. Bland "silver box" styling that resembles every other compact camera, though the F40fd comes in colours.
  8. Except for the most recent models, proprietary and expensive xD memory cards were required, needing type H to avoid lag. (xD cards are generally poor in data writing/reading)
  9. No image stabilization until the F50fd - the high-ISO performance helps offset this.
  10. Following the trend of megapixels instead of quality means that the F50fd with twice the amount of pixels has the same or more noise than the F31fd at the same iso (still classleading though)

From DPReview's F30 review:

“ You'll get some amazing results if you know your way around Photoshop (or similar), but I often (though by no means always) found the 'out of camera' results slightly disappointing. Add to this the tendency to over expose and you've got a camera that really needs to be used by someone who knows what they're doing to get the most out of it.

So, whilst it would be unfair to label the F30 a 'one trick pony' (no matter how good that trick is), it is fair to say that it really shines in low light, whereas in daylight - especially bright daylight - it is merely competent."[9]”

DPreview F31fd review:

“ And so, to sum up; the F31fd is everything the F30 was, with a couple of tweaks here and there that - on balance - can be considered to offer a slight improvement over what was already a uniquely capable camera. I suspect (though I hope I'm wrong) that this is the last time we'll see this sensor in a compact camera, as Fuji feels the pressure to keep up with the megapixel race ever more strongly. This would be a real tragedy; the F31fd hits the image quality 'sweet spot' by using a large sensor, relatively low pixel count and some very clever processing, and I can't see them repeating this with a more densely-packed sensor. It is the perfect illustration of the oft made point that more pixels do not mean better quality; we've compared the F31fd to a whole range of much more expensive compacts going right up to 10MP, and - aside from a little extra resolution at base ISO - it puts most of them to shame. Once you get to ISO 400 there simply isn't a compact on the market that can hold a flame to it.

Unlike so many manufacturers that produce amazing cameras with average sensors, Fuji has an amazing sensor and - to be brutally honest - an average camera. As with the F30 this is a camera that wins a Highly Recommended only if you regularly shoot in low light - if you only ever take pictures in blazing sunshine there are competitors with far more impressive feature lists or lower prices. But you just can't take away from Fuji the fact that - at this moment in time - this unassuming little 6MP camera still sets the benchmark for image quality in the entire compact sector. It's also a surprisingly reliable 'point and shoot' model with excellent color and accurate focus/metering in most circumstances. ."[10]”

In summary, although the F-series cameras have been acclaimed as the undisputed king of low-light and night shooting among compacts, for daylight shooting plenty of capable alternatives exist. Despite the groundbreaking low-light performance of Fujifilm's SuperCCD sensor, the presence of multiple issues prevent them from being the perfect compact cameras.

[edit] Other models

Prior to the current generation, Fujifilm released a number of cameras with the "F" designation. These included the compact, uniquely shaped F401, F402, F410, F440, and F450, the larger but well-regarded F700 and F810, and the F601 Zoom and F610. Some of these cameras had earlier versions of the Super CCD sensor, but Fuji had not yet refined the use of the sensor specifically to reduce noise, and had not yet combined other low-light performance features to make them stand out. The F700 and F601 Zoom, for instance, were capable of ISO 1600 but only in 1-megapixel mode. Most of these earlier cameras did not have autofocus assist beams, and none of them had remarkable battery life.

As of July 2006, the current F-series lineup also includes two other mid-level compact cameras (the F470 and the F650); although they are positioned above Fuji's entry-level A-Series cameras, they do not have the Super CCD, manual controls, or many other features of the F20/F30.

As of August 2007, Fujifilm has released a Z series of cameras, including the FinePix Z5fd

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ From DPReview.com review of F10, page 10
  2. ^ Fujifilm 3rd Quarter investor's report
  3. ^ From DCResource.com review of F30
  4. ^ a b Fujifilm launches the FinePix F31fd with the world’s fastest Face Detection technology
  5. ^ Fujifilm FinePix F31fd official site
  6. ^ Fujifilm Finepix F40fd official site
  7. ^ F100FD - Pinkish Band at ISO400
  8. ^ F100FD Pink Banding Example
  9. ^ From DPReview.com review of F30
  10. ^ From DPReview.com review of F30

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