Fuji F30 - The ultimate small camera?

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

Fuji just announced the F30 pocket camera that can do ISO 3200!

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0602/06021403fujif30.asp

This is going to be big if they pull it off. Camera is expected in May. Not sure when the reviews will hit, but this pocket camera is now front and center on my radar.

Rhuarc · February 14, 2006

Looks incredible! I really like the ability to go from f/2.8-8. But, one bad thing:

The camera also uses xD-Picture Cards

Yuck! Why not go with the much cheaper and more available SD cards? Oh well. This camera looks amazing! I wonder what the price will be. I'm guessing around the 500 dollar range. What do you guys think? Oh, and how noisy do you thinka s hot at 1600 or 3200 ISO will be with this? Bearable, os are these high ISO's just a gimmick to sell the camera?

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

Look at the reviews for the F10, I am expecting on par with that or better.

And as far as memory goes, eh, just get what it uses. I started with Fuji, then went Sony, and now Canon, and for the life of me, memory sticks/cards/crystals have never been a big deal in practice. I like the idea of one type of card, but in reality, I hate swapping cards in and out of different cameras.

I already have a 512mb xD card for my wee little Fuji A360. Shoot, I still have a 256mb memory stick pro in the off chance I get another Sony one day hehehe.

Rhuarc wrote:

Looks incredible! I really like the ability to go from f/2.8-8. But, one bad thing:

Yuck! Why not go with the much cheaper and more available SD cards? Oh well. This camera looks amazing! I wonder what the price will be. I'm guessing around the 500 dollar range. What do you guys think? Oh, and how noisy do you thinka s hot at 1600 or 3200 ISO will be with this? Bearable, os are these high ISO's just a gimmick to sell the camera?

mynakedsoda · February 14, 2006

It'll be interesting too see how this one ends up in the reviews. If it could even give an SLR like manageable 1600ISO without resorting to resolution reducing tricks or super heavy handed noise reduction then it will be impressive. Another link...
http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/compact/2006/02/14/3214.html
Of note, that site is usually the first with a full review and image samples.

JamesJWeg · February 14, 2006

On the memory angle, the big deal is not having to replicate cards/readers etc, not to mention that XD memory is awful. I have the means to get employee discounts from fuji, but thier constant use of crappy cards is why I didn't buy from them. The memory type is the first thing I look at, if it is not CF, I keep going.

James.

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

So what makes xd cards so horrible?

JamesJWeg wrote:

not to mention that XD memory is awful.

David_S85 · February 14, 2006

Crystals?

Shay Stephens wrote:

... and for the life of me, memory sticks/cards/crystals have never been a big deal in practice....

I've never heard of crystals being used as camera memory before, but if this thing can indeed go to 3200, then fast crystals are in order. Gonna cost a lot though.

Besides the cost, I can't wait to see how they miniaturize the chamber.

JamesJWeg · February 14, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

So what makes xd cards so horrible?

They fail so easily.

James.

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

JamesJWeg wrote:

They fail so easily.

Do they fail more easily than SD cards? I would think they were more rugged than SD cards (I like to call them floppies) and in all the time I have used SD cards, I have never had a problem.

The only thing I have had trouble with is microdrives. But I am sure that is just an anecdotal example. I haven't actually heard any factual "this kind of card sucks" statistics, so for me, any memory format is usable. What I look for is a read/write to match the camera or better it. Nothing worse than slow cards

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

It's coming
http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=6481

David_S85 wrote:

I've never heard of crystals being used as camera memory before

David_S85 · February 14, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

It's Coming
http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=6481

Star Trek always gets the future right. Looks like I'll need to save up for a new reader soon that can read those things.

mynakedsoda · February 14, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

Do they fail more easily than SD cards? I would think they were more rugged than SD cards (I like to call them floppies) and in all the time I have used SD cards, I have never had a problem.

The only thing I have had trouble with is microdrives. But I am sure that is just an anecdotal example. I haven't actually heard any factual "this kind of card sucks" statistics, so for me, any memory format is usable. What I look for is a read/write to match the camera or better it. Nothing worse than slow cards

I'll say I've never had any memory card fail with the exception of a microdrive. Anybody want a 2gb Hitachi real cheap?

I do take the point about memory and the different formats. I wish everyone would just settle on 2 formats already. SD and CF would make the most sense being the most common. Despite that, if the Fuji can do something unique then I'd still consider it.

erich6 · February 14, 2006

Looks like a sweet camera. Given the review on the F10 this camera is going to be very nice.

Erich

Shay Stephens · February 14, 2006

mynakedsoda wrote:

I wish everyone would just settle on 2 formats already.

That's like wanting just two kinds of soda pop flavors
Two kinds of breakfast cereal
Two kinds of toilet tissue

Hmm, on second thought, if they did that with those three items, grocery stores would only need to be half the size they are now hahahaha

mynakedsoda · February 15, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

That's like wanting just two kinds of soda pop flavors
Two kinds of breakfast cereal
Two kinds of toilet tissue

Hmm, on second thought, if they did that with those three items, grocery stores would only need to be half the size they are now hahahaha

I don't know Shay. If someone could say that CF tasted better then memory stick or XD was softer than SD. I wouldn't say it's exactly the same thing. :uhoh

I do get your point though. I do think for alot of folks that don't upgrade or change cameras constantly it just isn't a big deal. I mean alot of times the camera upgrade just makes new memory necessary and not changing formats. I mean I've still got 80mb 8x Lexars from back in my Coolpix days. I doubt they'd be of much use in my 6mp D100 shooting uncompressed RAW as I do. It's also not like memory is as exhorbitantly priced as before either.

I do want to see some big review on this new camera with high ISO image samples. I've gotten to the point where I just don't believe alot of the camera makers hype when I first hear it anymore. R1 DSLR slayer for example. It's a nice camera but it hardly lived up to the forum hype I was seeing. Someone else mentioned the F10. Frankly it was a dissapointment to me.

NHBubba · February 15, 2006

Aperture and shuter priority modes, finally! The F11 was supposed to fix this over the F10.. but I never saw the F11 available anywhere. Did that camera even ship?!?

I still wish they'd do a threaded lens filter adapter like Canon does.

Meh, I think the Canon A-series will still probably get my money for a pocket camera when I go shopping this spring.

Shay Stephens · February 15, 2006

NHBubba wrote:

Meh, I think the Canon A-series will still probably get my money for a pocket camera when I go shopping this spring.

But don't those cap out at ISO 400? Are there any pocket canon cameras that do low light?

Andy · February 15, 2006

How good do you expect this to be?

I have my doubts about a small sensor making images at ISO3200 that aren't noisesome. Still, it it's even "acceptable" at ISO3200, that'd be WAY cool

Shay Stephens · February 15, 2006

Have you seen the reviews/output of the F10? It's not bad. And besides, you know me, a little noise doesn't make me blush :-)

Andy wrote:

How good do you expect this to be? I have my doubts about a small sensor making images at ISO3200 that aren't noisesome. Still, it it's even "acceptable" at ISO3200, that'd be WAY cool

erich6 · February 15, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

Have you seen the reviews/output of the F10? It's not bad. And besides, you know me, a little noise doesn't make me blush :-)

I agree. If they were able to gain one more stop here this camera will be impressive. The noise just doesn't look that bad. It surprised me also given it is a small sensor.

Erich

ScottMcLeod · February 16, 2006

JamesJWeg wrote:

They fail so easily.

James.

The only way i've seen an xD card fail is when the copper contacts fall OFF of the card, never seen it before, I'll probably never see it again. Weirdest failure ever.

Since they switched to M (multilayer) technology, the xD cards are rock solid, and for the price you're paying, you're getting at 25-40x card (olympus won't say exactly how fast for their new ones IIRC)

NHBubba · February 16, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

But don't those cap out at ISO 400? Are there any pocket canon cameras that do low light?

Yep, ISO 400 is tops.. and even then it's pretty crappy. But in my mind that's the price worth paying for the rest of the package. I'm not hell-bent on low-light ability. I am hell-bent on manual shooting modes, even for my pocket camera.

The samples I've seen of the F10 at ISO800 and 1600 are meh.. but then they are at 800 & 1600! I'd say, from the samples I've seen, that the F10's ISO800 is a little better than most P&S's ISO400, and the ISO1600 is a little worse (especially in terms of detail lost to noise reduction). Call it a stop to a stop and a half advantage. Remarkable..

As for the xD vs the rest argument, I have to agree, I'd rather it used SD. SD and CF seem so much more mainstream. I'd much rather buy a card and be able to use it in any of my cameras, PDA's, cell-phones, etc. It isn't enough of an issue for me to discount a model by itself. But it doesn't help..

saurora · March 1, 2006

I hope someone will buy one of these and report back. Could always use another great pocket camera!!!! ....so many cameras, so little time...

mr peas · March 1, 2006

I wish it came with a viewfinder. LCD screens are such a drag with battery drainage. Especially for those days when you have hours to shoot but only packed one battery.

But Fuji makes great cameras, especially their smaller models. I still have one of their 2.1 mp cameras that uses the 'floppy' cards. It still takes awesome shots compared to my newer cameras. And the electric/mechanical cover swivel hasn't broke yet.

We'll have to see the review on this camera and hope the noise on 1600 and 3200 is not excessive, but it looks really promising.

Bodley · March 1, 2006

mr peas wrote:

I wish it came with a viewfinder. LCD screens are such a drag with battery drainage. Especially for those days when you have hours to shoot but only packed one battery.

Major Ditto!

Shay Stephens · March 1, 2006

Uh, it says it can do like 500 photos on one charge. That's better than most cameras save SLR's

mr peas wrote:

I wish it came with a viewfinder. LCD screens are such a drag with battery drainage. Especially for those days when you have hours to shoot but only packed one battery.

Bodley · March 1, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

Uh, it says it can do like 500 photos on one charge. That's better than most cameras save SLR's

I'd like a viewfinder.

mr peas · March 2, 2006

pfft. a viewfinder is still nice to have. imagine being able to shoot more than 500!

how about this, you go to a convention, such as SEMA here in Las Vegas. where 500 shots can get you through the morning and afternoon. then when you get to your hotel room and want to go out that same night, you bring the same camera and be able to squeeze more out of the battery rather than giving it a recharge, that is if you find time to recharge it.

i know, most of us will have a second battery handy, but having a viewfinder just helps conserve the extra power. i love having a huge lcd, but just an lcd? i'd rather have both. thats my preference. :food

davephoto · June 20, 2006

ultimate? pretty close i hope
i eagerly await the arrival of the f30. i had the opportunity to acquire and test one of the f30's predecessors, the f11, earlier this year. the low noise/high iso capability is truly amazing for the size and price of the camera body. the battery life far exceeded the capacity of my 512mb memory card. and as far as xd cards, while i prefer more commonly used and available formats such as sd cards (who doesn't), it performed no worse. unfortunately for myself, my father decided on keeping the camera as soon as he tried it, using it as a smaller substitute for his nikon d50. if you're interested in seeing some of test images (resized with a tad of usm), they should still be viewable at http://gallery.leica-users.org/f11evaluation.

ziggy53 · June 20, 2006

Did anyone get one of these? I notice B and H has them in stock:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=FUFPF30&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=423808

ziggy53

colourbox · June 20, 2006

Shay Stephens wrote:

I like the idea of one type of card, but in reality, I hate swapping cards in and out of different cameras.

I don't go through cameras that often, so one reason I picked my Canon XT SLR and S60 point-and-shoot is that they use the same CF format and battery. I love it. It simplifies things incredibly. One set of cards, one set of batteries, only one little charger to bring.

I don't look forward to when either needs to be replaced, because these companies don't stick to the same tech for very long. Already, the S80 no longer uses Compact Flash, the first in that long line to switch away.

As far as the F30 goes, it isn't "ultimate" until noise levels are usable at 3200 and it comes with image stabilization, manual shutter speed and aperture, and Raw support.

Fuji F30 - The ultimate small camera?

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