Fujifilm FinePix F50fd
Cameras Buying Guide
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November 20, 2007 04:45
3.5/5
I'm not a camera expert but I do enjoy updating my equipment every couple of years. Basically I was fed up with the poor night performance of my Sony Cybershot I owned previously. When looking at reviews of camera, I realised most of the reviews were from Camera experts etc, talking about Photo noise!!! whatever that means. Basically I was looking for a compact, easy to use camera that I can switch on and take some photos. Simple as that. The F50FD fits that bill and was a lovely companion for my recent trip to Cuba. Easy to switch between modes and the picture quality seems to be excellent. The clear LCD screen is also excellent, and the cropping tool, where basically you can zoom in on a photo you've taken and save a new image of the original photo, is another welcome feature.
The negatives, the battery life is pretty poor, I had to charge the battery 3 times in 10 days whilst in Cuba. And I was not over impressed by how slow the camera was between shots, especially frustrating when I was on a bus tour around Havana and trying to capture that moment quickly. I missed a few good shots becasue it took approx 3 seconds for the camera to be ready between shots. Fuji states on website that the F50FD is perfect for night time photos, but this is correct for close shots, but colours and detail are lost when you zoom into distant shots. Very bleak results but still better than my Sony. Face detection works fine indoors but suffers in bright sun or dark light conditions.
Overall, I would say that if you were looking for a cheapish camera with some nice features then look no further. If you are after that perfect companion, then this camera may frustrate you. One of my friends just bought the Canon Ixus960 which also has face detection and 12mp, and although this is currently £100 more than the F50fd I would say the picture quality, face detection and overall performance of the Canon is better than the F50FD and perhaps worth that extra bit of cash. -
December 25, 2007 07:51
Spectacular
2.5/5
I bought a F50fd for my daughter because I really like my Fuji F10. The performance of the F50 is better than most compact camera's but it is worse than the F10 even though it's resolution is double. The sharpness of the photos is worse as is color reproduction. The optical image stabilization adds at most 1 stop. The video is good. Bottom line is that the camera is better than most compacts but not as good as a F10 or F30. -
November 12, 2007 05:52
Spectacular
2.5/5
So my Canon G6 Powershot is starting to die, so I needed a new camera. I knew that I wanted something smaller than the G6 to tote around, and the Fuji Finepix boasted 12 megapixels. I tested the camera at the store and was impressed by what I could see on the LCD display, so I bought it.
I immediately took it on a vacation, but was very disappointed when I downloaded the pictures to my laptop that evening. Almost 100% of them were noisy/grainy. None of them came out clear and crisp. Not even the autoshoot ones with plenty of daylight. I spent $300 on this camera, and it is a piece.
I took it out at night-time using their night mode, which says that you will get beautiful, clear, skyline shots. NOT!!! The images look okay on the lcd, but when I put them on my display at home, they are blurry. Honestly, I have gotten better images from throwaway, one-use cameras you get at a drugstore.
The best features of this camera are the low-weight and portability, and the video feature. The quality of the video is quite good for such a small camera (still somewhat grainy, but more acceptable than other cameras' video features). As you are filming, the camera also tells you how much time you have left to film in those conditions with your video card.
By the way, the thing does NOT come with a memory card. It comes with a TINY internal memory that can hardly hold 10 pictures. You will have to buy an external memory module. The other issue I had is that in order to charge the battery, you can't just plug the camera into an A/C charger or your USB. You have to physically remove the battery and plug it into Fuji's wall charger. This makes it IMPOSSIBLE to recharge this thing on the road or in an on-the-go situation.
Overall, I would not recommend this camera for the money. It's not worth it. For the cost, it should be better than it is. -
December 11, 2007 01:32
Good
1.5/5
I purchased this camera to replace a three year old 5MP Sony Cybershot. The 12MP, stabilization, red-eye removal, and face recognition were big pluses for the Fuji F50fd, and the multitude of various settings you could manually control was very appealing. It didn't measure up my three year old camera beats it!
When I got the camera, I tried it out at my in-laws on Thanksgiving. The light was moderate - not very bright, but certainly not dark. I tried many different settings - full auto, indoors, manual, etc. There were posed shots and impromptu. I also took some video. 80% of the photos were very disappointing.
First off, the "face detection" worked only in bright lighting - the moderate lighting of my in-laws living room (overhead and lamps) was not enough to enable its use. The red-eye removal was very spotty - sometimes it worked and sometimes not. Now let's move on to the real disappointments...
The picture quality was terrible. Most of the photos came out incredibly grainy, almost like tiny pebbles that were used in a mosaic of my loved ones. Not only that, they were dark and sometimes out of focus. And the image stabilization touted simply did not work very well. I had blurry shots, even in posed photos. This is from a line of cameras that are famous for being great low-light cameras!
Less important, the video was very grainy and pixilated. It was a little better than the Sony I have now, but not by much. I expected more from something much newer than what I had.
Look, I bought this camera having seen the other bad reviews out there, but I figured they were blowing it out of proportions, and not only that, but the camera got good reviews from a lot of people and a lot of reputable websites (CNet, for one). But I was wrong - this was a terrible camera. I'm now back with my Sony (the pictures look better than the Fuji's) until I can find a camera that beats it. -
December 31, 2007 01:01
4.0/5
I've done my research on compact cameras far and wide. From Canon sd950is to canon a650is. Despite all the chatter about this camera's "noise", the truth is- unless you plan on making posters, this camera will print superb pics worthy of cropped 8x10s. You need to know how to work it, which is pretty easy. It's iso 400-800 embarasses canon and any others. It has proven better resoulution than any other compact. And it has the best face detection system. On top of that, it's build is not only sturdy with nice feel to all controls, but it's interface and operation are easier and quicker to operate than canon's, especially with one hand. The LCD screen is also the best on the market with best resolution and none of the smudging you get on a canon. If you print pictures and are of the 1% that take the picture beyond a blown up version on a computer screen, this camera will show out. Truly a professional's pocket cam. It's color is by far the most accurate without the "warming" of other processors. It has hardly any purple fringing. It won't overblow highlights like all canon's in tricky sunlight/shadow situations. And it's almost half the price. You kidding me. One more note - this camera has the best black/white pics. Canons tend to lean towards a grayish blue tint. This one is straight black. Great for art. And for anyone thinking I'm anti-canon, over 90% of pics on computer are either from a95, a620, or sd900.
I always recommend a bigger lens vs. small, but this camera does justice for small pocket cams. Don't get ripped off or misled by those who don't ever print their pics but just scrutinize them beyond their intent. If you want to make a 3'x4' get a DSLR. Otherwise this is a serious steal. -
February 25, 2008 10:57
3.0/5
This is my experience with the Fujifilm FinePix F50fd as a first-time point and shooter with no real photo experience.
This camera is very, very good in many of it's features, such as automatic red-eye removal, face detection, and having 12 megapixels.
However, I have found that the only time I can get a good, clear, noiseless shot is if the lighting in the scene is set up perfectly. Otherwise, the edges are blurred and little black spots appear all through the picture. The camera's flash feature doesn't seem to help much in adding light to a picture unless you're right next to the object / scene.
Often times the whole scene will turn a shade of red if any powerful backlight is thrown in, such as a TV or window.
I even took the time to take exact picture comparisons between this camera and my friend's 7.1 megapixel camera. Although her image resolution was only about 60% what mine was, her images still came out with brighter color and sharper edges.
So in the end, if you plan on having good lighting most of the time, and are willing to retry the same picture a couple times to get it right, this camera would be worth your money. But for the most part, the huge increase in megapixels is counterbalanced by the overall poor quality of the picture. -
January 23, 2008 11:11
4.0/5
This camera is my first point and shoot digi and after reading reviews and looking at what others had to say I must say that the images could be better when referencing past models in the Fuji line BUT they are very good considering that this is not a pro camera and is a point and shoot.
I was considering a Canon and when calling the trusted camera store I get my equipment from I told them what I was looking at, what I was looking for, and my experience (Pro Shooter for 15 years). The Fuji F50 is what was recommended. There is a 15 day return policy at their expense so it is not as if they gain anything but an open box camera they have to sell for less.
The first 30 photos I took were in all the various settings that were pretty much auto in one way or another. I noticed grain etc in low light but then looking at the camera settings you see it is at 1600ISO often. When turning the limiter on to Auto400 (only works in certain modes!) the images were sharp and the color was great. 100ISO is better than 400 etc. Honestly though I am still fond of film, digital is not there yet.
After reading the people who reviewed this camera as poor or average and what they described I can be sure they did not read the manual cover to cover nor did they explore the different settings and how they affect the ISO. YES This camera is very noisy at 1600 ISO and 800 ISO⬦ so you have to adjust and use a flash which it does an excellent job with (not a large range though).
Bottom line I took all my photos at night and mostly used flash and made sure I was in the recommended distances etc etc⬦ It is slow between photos but when we used to have to wind the film between shots it is about the same.
If you bother reading the manual and how the ISO settings are affected by the mode you are in you will find you can get excellent photos from this point and shoot. I think they might have done better going to 10megapixels rather than jamming in 12 and worked on getting the quality they had in the F30/31⬦ but if you go to http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/fujifilm-finepix-f50fd/ and scroll down to the sample photos you will see this cameras images and then can look for other cameras you might be looking at and see the quality of the images they produce.
Bottom line so far I like this camera though it is not my workhorse Nikon SLR⬦ -
November 3, 2008 09:40
Excellent
2.0/5
The Fuji f31fd was the best camera they ever made. It had a large sensor and a reasonable modest pixel count at 6.1 mega pixels. Unfortunately Fuji has got into the pixel count game and into making everything smaller. The result is a camera that does not have as large a sensor and a higher pixel count to boot. What suffers is the high ISO performance and more grain in the pictures.
Fuji is not alone. Sony Canon, & Nikon all make compact cameras with small sensors and high pixel count. As a result above ISO 200 the cameras have alot of grain. -
October 23, 2008 12:35
4.5/5
I bought this camera right after it came out and have had no complaints. My mom and my daughters teacher liked mine so much they bought their own. I like the auto setting so I don't have to worry with which ISO setting to put it on or what activity or setting I'm about to take a picture of. I just point, shoot, and I get an excellent photo. It does have other setting choices if you would like to use them. I've even taken pictures outside in the dark and they come out beautifully. I've had this camera for a year and love it!! -
May 1, 2008 05:32
Terrible
0.5/5
Very unreliable and bad after-sales service so I have an empty wallet and no camera. It stopped focusing after 2 weeks of modest use and 2 months later Fujifilm still haven't decided to fix it or replace it. I suggest you go your any other brand.
