NickTrop
Veteran
A while ago I posted a thread, and folks thought I was being tongue-in-cheek. And I was - sorta. I did buy a Fuji Finepix F20 digital. I won't sink a lot of money into any digital camera but for $80 used? Sure - indulge. The Fuji Finepix F20 (10, 11, 30, 31) is part of a line of discontinued Fuji ultracompact digitals that bucked the trend of cramming more megapixels into the tiny sensors and - instead, using their "super CCD" technology made a 6.3 mp sensor that produced usable images at high ISO speeds.
Know what? It's a helluva camera for $80 used but mint cond. Hate to admit it, but reality is reality. Here's what I like:
1. With Neat Image (see sample) a very usable ISO 1600. And it's a true ISO 1600.
2. Macro Mode
3. A compact VG 35-100, 2.8-5 zoom.
4. Very nice color rendition
5. Manual and Auto White Balance
6. Great and surprisingly powerful intelligent flash system that powers up and down perfectly - even when shooting macros.
7. Tiny - truly pocketable size, weighs 6oz.
8. Much improved battery life over my last digital where that always was a concern and an extra battery was a must...
9. A "rule of thirds" grid - nice thoughtful touch
10. A very pleasing-looking and "unto itself" black and white mode (reminds me of their Acros films, which I like.)
11. Takes decent movies, with 1600 ISO capabilities(!)
12. Turn off the fake shutter sound, and the camera is totally silent.
C'mon - you have a maco lens, high iso, three "35, 50, 90" tiny "built in" fixed lenses, a decent (and intelligent) flash, most importantly low light capabilities... It's great for color low-light because you set the white balance w/o filters that decrease your 1600 speed film to 400 speed...
... all for around $100 bucks, used. The F30 w/ ap and ss priority modes gets too many bidders. Know what? What do you really need ap for. These lenses don't really give you that F8 sharpness bump and you can't play around with DOF, so I really don't miss it. Rather save a few bucks and not have to outbid 12 people and get the overlooked F20. (Same lens, same processor, same sensor...)
Does it replace film? Course not, silly. (Well - I think I'll be shooting less color, truthfully. This gives really good color.) But it lets me shoot more without incurring processing costs. It doesn't have "bokeh" and the pictures still don't have the depth (for lack of a better word), or character of film... I'll always shoot film but this camera - most definitely doesn't suck. It does give me a smaller package than all of my film RF's - including my little gem - Konica Auto S3. And it's quiter than all of them - its electronic shutter is completely silent. I'm finding that (shriek) with this camera, I'm able to truly get more candid shots - they have no idea I even (ever) took them. Because there's no viewfinder, and because the camera makes ZERO noise, I can "shoot from the hip" without raising the camera to my eye.
Here is an example of what a competent low light shooter this is... Night time, only light source is the light coming from the TV (pretty sure). Definitely the camera to get if an RD1 or M8 ain't in the budget.
(EDIT - I'll post sample later. Down-sampled it to post but site thinks it's too large. No time to bring up PS now - out the door. Will provide samples of low-light BW later if anyone is interested...)
Know what? It's a helluva camera for $80 used but mint cond. Hate to admit it, but reality is reality. Here's what I like:
1. With Neat Image (see sample) a very usable ISO 1600. And it's a true ISO 1600.
2. Macro Mode
3. A compact VG 35-100, 2.8-5 zoom.
4. Very nice color rendition
5. Manual and Auto White Balance
6. Great and surprisingly powerful intelligent flash system that powers up and down perfectly - even when shooting macros.
7. Tiny - truly pocketable size, weighs 6oz.
8. Much improved battery life over my last digital where that always was a concern and an extra battery was a must...
9. A "rule of thirds" grid - nice thoughtful touch
10. A very pleasing-looking and "unto itself" black and white mode (reminds me of their Acros films, which I like.)
11. Takes decent movies, with 1600 ISO capabilities(!)
12. Turn off the fake shutter sound, and the camera is totally silent.
C'mon - you have a maco lens, high iso, three "35, 50, 90" tiny "built in" fixed lenses, a decent (and intelligent) flash, most importantly low light capabilities... It's great for color low-light because you set the white balance w/o filters that decrease your 1600 speed film to 400 speed...
... all for around $100 bucks, used. The F30 w/ ap and ss priority modes gets too many bidders. Know what? What do you really need ap for. These lenses don't really give you that F8 sharpness bump and you can't play around with DOF, so I really don't miss it. Rather save a few bucks and not have to outbid 12 people and get the overlooked F20. (Same lens, same processor, same sensor...)
Does it replace film? Course not, silly. (Well - I think I'll be shooting less color, truthfully. This gives really good color.) But it lets me shoot more without incurring processing costs. It doesn't have "bokeh" and the pictures still don't have the depth (for lack of a better word), or character of film... I'll always shoot film but this camera - most definitely doesn't suck. It does give me a smaller package than all of my film RF's - including my little gem - Konica Auto S3. And it's quiter than all of them - its electronic shutter is completely silent. I'm finding that (shriek) with this camera, I'm able to truly get more candid shots - they have no idea I even (ever) took them. Because there's no viewfinder, and because the camera makes ZERO noise, I can "shoot from the hip" without raising the camera to my eye.
Here is an example of what a competent low light shooter this is... Night time, only light source is the light coming from the TV (pretty sure). Definitely the camera to get if an RD1 or M8 ain't in the budget.
(EDIT - I'll post sample later. Down-sampled it to post but site thinks it's too large. No time to bring up PS now - out the door. Will provide samples of low-light BW later if anyone is interested...)
sojournerphoto
Veteran
Interesting _ I shoot with a Ricoh GX100 fairly regularly for much the same reasons, except high iso, I like it and it's capable of making some very nice pictures in colour or black and white.
Indeed my sig shot was from the Ricoh.
Mike
Indeed my sig shot was from the Ricoh.
Mike
bcostin
Well-known
Cool. These Fuji FinePix models are among the very few P&S digitals that are worth as much or more than when they were new. My wife has an F30 and gets wonderful results from it. She prefers it to her Canon DSLR for low-light work. (And for being sneaky, like at concerts.)
Being late to the party I couldn't find an F30/F31 at a reasonable price for myself, and I really do use the shutter/aperture controls so the F20 didn't quite fit. I eventually got a lightly used Japanese F11 from KEH for $90 and found it to be a great little camera. It's basically an F10 but with manually adjustable shutter and aperture settings, and pretty much the same image quality and low-light performance as the F20 and F30. (The lens isn't quite as sharp, though.) I usually carry my new LX3 now, but I'm holding on to my F11.
Being late to the party I couldn't find an F30/F31 at a reasonable price for myself, and I really do use the shutter/aperture controls so the F20 didn't quite fit. I eventually got a lightly used Japanese F11 from KEH for $90 and found it to be a great little camera. It's basically an F10 but with manually adjustable shutter and aperture settings, and pretty much the same image quality and low-light performance as the F20 and F30. (The lens isn't quite as sharp, though.) I usually carry my new LX3 now, but I'm holding on to my F11.