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Lili

New member
Small Change peeking at me

Shot with a Finepix S600fd I got Saturday. It was on clearance and has the same sensor as the notorious F30/31fd.
However you can control sharpening with this and shoot RAW.
Plus, unlike my S5200, it has a manual zoom ring.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms6000fd/
 
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Lisa

New member
Hee, hee. Great cat photo. (I have one myself. =^..^=)

I have an F30, and it has a damn fine sensor for its size. My only real complaints about the camera are a lack of histograms and RAW mode. You got me all excited mentioning your Fujifilm camera with RAW, until I saw the part on dpreview about its size and weight. I have the F30 because it's small enough to fit in my purse when I'm not carrying the whole DSLR, but the S600fd is unfortunately too large for that. Oh, well.

Cute cat.

Lisa
 

Lili

New member
Maggie, Small Change says- MEOW! back ^_^

Lisa-Thanks. I did not mean to advise getting this camera as an alternative to the F30/31 series.
I'd gotten such good results from my S5200 "Superzoom" that I wanted to try the whole bridgecamera thing out with a larger and later generation sensor.
Plus, since my Pentax is going in for warranty work (I hope) for a big green hot pixel near dead center in the field, I thought it might be nice to have this one for those time I need to reach out.
These cameras, despite being almost as big as a DSLR, tend to be quite a bit lighter and easier to carry. Especially when you consider it covers a 28-300 EFL (38-380 in the case of the S5200) then the portability/weight advantages do become greater.
In the case of the S6000, the manual zoom ring makes it a lot faster operating.
:)
 

helenhill

Senior Member
Lovely shot of Small Change looking Serious but SWEEEEET!!
Your new finepix is just like the F30 /shoots RAW ...Tres Cool
So if I remember there supposed to do GREAT in Low light .....How is it ?
:p Cheers! helen
 

Lili

New member
Lovely shot of Small Change looking Serious but SWEEEEET!!
Your new finepix is just like the F30 /shoots RAW ...Tres Cool
So if I remember there supposed to do GREAT in Low light .....How is it ?
:p Cheers! helen
Helen, thank you :)
It uses the same sensor as the F30, just in a larger Superzoom/EVF style body.
It does quite well up to ISO 800, at 1600 and 3200 the noise reduction in much stronger than the F30, getting smeary but not so bad as most of its peers.
My former F31 was quite a bit better at the highest end.
However, using RAW and S7RAW to convert it to JPEG I can get better results that even the F31fd.
Its RAW write times are comparable to those reported for the GX-100 depending on the speed of the XD card- type M giving 6-7 seconds and type H 4 seconds.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Sorry to hijack your thread, but I have a question for y'all since many of you seem pretty knowledgeable about "portable" cameras.

A little over a year ago when I decided to get back into photography, I purchased a Canon S70 since it was one of the few P+S cameras that offered RAW. I bought it with the idea that I would use it to familiarize myself with RAW and then pass it along to my wife to use as her carry around camera.

It wasn't a bad plan, except that my wife kind of hates the thing. The only other digital she'd used (and really liked) was the old Nikon 990 I have. I need to replace that S70 with something she'll like better.

She wants a viewfinder since she dislikes looking at the LCD. Beyond that, her needs are pretty simple. Basically, she's after effortless. I've been considering the Canon G9 but so many other cameras get mentioned here, I'm wondering if I should also look at any others. Many of the finer points offered by cameras like the GRD would be wasted.

I know the question of "which point and shoot" is almost as ubiquitous as "which camera bag", but I would really appreciate any suggestions based on your experience.

Thanks!
Tim

P.S. The Canon S70 will be up for sale soon. ;)
 

Lili

New member
TR,
Compact Digital Cameras with a decent optical view finder are VERY few and far between! So this is tough one to answer.
Does it have to be Compact?
How much, if any control are you wanting?
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I was afraid of that. I think she'd like to feel confident just pushing the button. She hasn't been bitten by the photography bug and is quite comfortable in the snapshooting mode. I tend to overlay my own desires for a camera (of any kind) and that's skewing things maybe.

In addition to competent shooting for most scenes, people, groups, she does like to do close-ups of her gardening successes. But she's not a fiddler and would be frustrated with lots of menu or manual settings. It sounds crazy, but I think she'd be happy with almost any camera as long as the viewfinder was there and fairly accurate.

Thanks for your patience with this!
Tim
 

Lisa

New member
I understand about wanting a viewfinder. I still sometimes, when getting out the F30 or being handed another digicam by someone, put it up to my eye and then wonder for a moment why I'm not seeing anything... Though I'm a little surprised she hasn't just gotten accustomed to using the LCD with a little practice.

Have you thought about a small rangefinder camera for her? I don't know much about them, but I believe there are some very good ones out there,and they have good viewfinders. They might not have enough auto-everything controls, however; you'd have to research them.

Lisa
 

Lili

New member
Would she accept an electronic viewfinder? Or a bridge camera?
That is exactly where I was going. If she could live with a slightly bigger camera there are several Canon and Fuji bridgcams that have EVF's and full auto settings and extremely decent macro

Bridge Camera defined
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_camera

EVF is an eye level lcd/tft display behind a magnifier

Fuji
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms8000fd/

Canon
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons5is/

The one I just bought

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilms6000fd/
 
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Will

New member
I have always understood a bridge camera to be one that bridges the gap between a DSLR and a consumer camera. Another term for prosumer cameras.
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
OK, now I get it. Thanks for the clarification. I'm thinking the bridge is going to be larger than what she wants to carry. I'm not sure about the electronic viewfinder and would want to see one before committing.

Sean Reid's review of the G9 wasn't all that favorable in terms of the accuracy of the viewfinder.

It's kind of amazing that with the bazillions of P&S cameras made, there doesn't seem to be a clear standout (or 2 or 3 or...). So many menu options and so many of those mostly forgotten a few days after the purchase by the average snap shooter.

Did I see some discussion somewhere here about a small camera that has a manual zoom?
 

Lili

New member
OK, now I get it. Thanks for the clarification. I'm thinking the bridge is going to be larger than what she wants to carry. I'm not sure about the electronic viewfinder and would want to see one before committing.

Sean Reid's review of the G9 wasn't all that favorable in terms of the accuracy of the viewfinder.

It's kind of amazing that with the bazillions of P&S cameras made, there doesn't seem to be a clear standout (or 2 or 3 or...). So many menu options and so many of those mostly forgotten a few days after the purchase by the average snap shooter.

Did I see some discussion somewhere here about a small camera that has a manual zoom?
I believe Sean mentioned the Canon Powershot G2 his daughter used had one.
They are olderr cameras, ca. 2001.
You can find them on the 'bay or even through Amazon.
Again, older/used cameras; caveat emptor ;)
 

Maggie O

Active member
I don't think anyone makes a camera with an accurate built-in viewfinder. Even the M8 seems to be a bit sketchy (though I've not had any problems).

I bet your wife would be very happy with any of the Canon cameras. All I had from 2000 to last year were Canon digital Elphs (first the original S100 and then an SD500) and they did the job.

My friend Jamie has a Canon PowerShot A650 IS and he likes it quite a bit. He wanted a D-Lux 3, but his wife hates LCD's, too.
 

Lili

New member
I don't think anyone makes a camera with an accurate built-in viewfinder. Even the M8 seems to be a bit sketchy (though I've not had any problems).

I bet your wife would be very happy with any of the Canon cameras. All I had from 2000 to last year were Canon digital Elphs (first the original S100 and then an SD500) and they did the job.

My friend Jamie has a Canon PowerShot A650 IS and he likes it quite a bit. He wanted a D-Lux 3, but his wife hates LCD's, too.
I agree complete with Maggie here.
 
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