New Fuji F200 EXR - I just bought one....

[RedRobin]

....

To replace my Fuji F11 which is a great camera but the latest F200 has evolved the whole art of compact digital snap taking a whole lot further!

I especially like how fast it focusses and how quickly and easily it zooms from wide angle to telephoto. Everything is just much faster to use and register and the few results so far are extremely impressive in their natural lighting and balance even with flash. EXR promises to be stunning for a pocket digital camera of this type.

One of the first things I'll be testing is how well it captures Tornado Red with a blue sky - A recipe for pinkness on my F11 until I set it to default with +1 exposure compensation as a workaround.

My daughter inherits my F11 as a very good upgrade from what she has.

The last pic I took on my F11 of my daughter when buying her a MacBook Pro yesterday. She'll be well set up for her Art & Design foundation course in Cardiff in September. She's got the tools, the rest is up to her : -

[stealthwolf]

I think fairly shortly after I posted about Fuji cameras I had a look and saw it was out.

It's had fantastic reviews over at dpreview.com clicky

I've even considering chucking my current Fuji F50 camera and buying this one instead. The thing that held me back is that the manual functions aren't that great (shutter priority and aperture priority) which is something I was hoping would be closer to the F31 standard rather than more automated.

Look forward to more pics RR!

[Greeners]

Sky's best tool for doing well in her chosen subject is surely you Mr Red! 

[RedRobin]

Sky's best tool for doing well in her chosen subject is surely you Mr Red! 

....Are you calling me a tool ?!!!!!

No, that's a beautiful thing to say, Nathan

[RedRobin]

I think fairly shortly after I posted about Fuji cameras I had a look and saw it was out.

It's had fantastic reviews over at dpreview.com clicky

I've even considering chucking my current Fuji F50 camera and buying this one instead. The thing that held me back is that the manual functions aren't that great (shutter priority and aperture priority) which is something I was hoping would be closer to the F31 standard rather than more automated.

Look forward to more pics RR!

....I bought it on impulse! Having been to the Apple Store with Sky I left her and her friend to browse the girlie shops and I went off on my own browsing. I was looking for a magnetic-catch bag for my F11 (zips are never fast enough and velcro deteriorates) and went into a camera shop not a big chain store and so was curious if they had the Fuji you had been recommending. They didn't but had the F200EXR and I had a feel and a play. I read more about it overnight and decided that Sky could do with a much better camera than she had for her work (she was often wanting to borrow my F11) and that provided the perfect excuse for me to give in to my desires.

The Intelligent Face Detection feature is fantastic (I wonder if it also detects unintelligent faces) and so is continuous autofocussing. I'll be shooting on Fine 12 zillion px as what's the point of having such res if you don't use it.

The wide-angle - telephoto (optical) zoom is extremely practical too. I notice that in EXR-Auto that it usually (on my pics type so far) only sets f3.3 or thereabouts. In other words, an aperture which in old conventional SLR terms delivers only a shallow focus field - Is such a wide aperture setting different on a digital compact camera?

My preference would be to usually shoot with a fixed speed of about 1/125th and let the aperture find its best (highest value, smallest opening).

Doubtless it'll get plenty of use at the SC forum dyno day [Nathan better watch out!]

Stealth - I'll let you have a go with it at SC 

[Hedge]

Robin - regarding your comments about depth of field and aperture openings.

On a digital compact camera the sensor is much smaller than that of a DSLR therefore the potential reduced DOF is negated. This is both a plus and a minus. Your choice of shutter priority would be useful if you are trying to freeze motion (higher value) or indicate motion (lower value). If I were you and had those kind of options on a compact I would go for aperture priority or even program mode (if available) and let the camera sort it out.

Can you control the ISO as well?

Hope I'm not preaching to the converted and some of what I said is of use.

[RedRobin]

^^^^
Thanks, Hedge

It is helpful for me to learn that digi compacts have smaller sensors and consequently their influence on DOF.

This particular F200 has EXR sensors which are apparently slightly larger than most other digi compacts. Here's some info on the technology : -

Linky : - Super CCD EXR Technology Explained....

As the lens is zoomed to wider angles the DOF becomes less critical. Once upon a time I used to carry around 2 SLR Nikon bodies plus 4 lenses and loads of roll film. The ultimate camera is probably the digital Leica which cmdrfire has but it's megabucks and not as compact. It's Horses For Courses.

And yes, you can control the ISO and furthermore it will select the optimum ISO for you in the Auto modes.

Perhaps when I'm more familiar with it I should write and post a review.

[stealthwolf]

Fuji's SuperCCD technology has always been superior to other compact cameras. When the F10/11 came out, they were using similar technology and achieving far superior results despite only being 6MP (at a time when 6MP was the norm and 8MP cameras were coming out). Consequently, the camera had fantastic night-time images with very low noise compared to its peers.

Look forward to the review.

Unfortunately doubt I'd be able to make it to SC as got a mate's wedding on at the same time. If I do turn up, I'll probably be suited and booted 

[RedRobin]

....

Yes my Sky's F11 is about 6MP and this latest F200 is 12MP!! And as such, it actually makes using a compact at its max much more useful.

As that excellent review you posted a link to explains, low noise and dynamic range are extremely well resolved for a digi compact.

If you do turn up at SC fully suited 'n booted I will definitely be capturing it on my new F200!!

If I do write a review eventually it won't be very in-depth but more from my usual perspective (comparing it with my modded GTI ).

[stealthwolf]

^^^I can just imagine you modding the camera with strips of CF! 

[RedRobin]

^^^I can just imagine you modding the camera with strips of CF! 

....Now there's an idea!

How about using carbon vinyl?

[RedRobin]

....

So here are some results of my first tests. They have all been exported as High (not Max) quality and Large (not Full) size. My comments are below each pic. Your comments are invited.



^ First ever pic and on EXR point-and-shoot, auto-everything mode.
Excellent balance and natural lighting with good depth of field. Pass.



^ General grab shot on EXR Auto [please ignore subject!]
Natural lighting and well averaged exposure for the subject variations. Pass.



^ Excellent - Very pleased! Rich colour and great DOF and even good exposure of scene in distance out of far rear window. Pass+



^ Oh dear! Notice the pink although the red is okay on the bonnet.
Greens and foliage okay though. Fail.



^ Shooting the sunny side of the car results in pink! Not good! Fail!



^ I used to under expose on the F11 to kill the pinkiness.
This is a whole -1 stop and so I'll try -2thirds next and on the car. Pass.

[Top Cat]

Robin whats with the orange and grey vinyl on your car,    i preferred yours when you had it red. 

And also why is there a chap doing a Mexican wave out of the sun roof on the car behind yours. 

[Greeners]

That is the definition of Carbage! 

P.S. Lovin the return of the Tornado Pink GTI! 

[RedRobin]

^^^^ Brilliant TC! A left and a right hook!

I knew I shouldn't have written "Your comments are invited"! Either that or I should have further qualified it by adding "except Top Cat and Greenouse" (and probably a few others!).

The guy in the 'Daddy' Tshirt is the owner and his missus turned up shortly afterwards with kid and fag in mouth. She was an extra large person too but I mustn't be a cruel fattist. He looked absolutely miserable, poor guy. I don't think he was even capable of imagining that his missus was Gwyneth Paltrow in the movie 'Shallow Hal' - You won't know what I'm talking about unless you've seen it.

The Mexican waving further back is a friend of mine - Ex Thames Valley Officer who used to drive the Jags back in the good old days before there was a 70 limit.