Fuji Finepix F550 EXR Review

NOTE Portions of this review are taken from the Fuji Finepix F300 EXR
Fuji Finepix F300 EXR review since externally the cameras are nearly identical. Jump to the performance page for something completely new.

The Fuji Finepix F550 EXR is one of the most versatile digital camera which falls into the Travel-Zoom category. These are compact models best suited for travel-photography due to their powerful optical zoom lenses. In the case of this digital camera, the lens is equivalent to a 24-360mm lens in 35mm terms. This is a 15X optical zoom which starts at an ultra-wide angle and reaches well into the telephoto category. This wide range of focal-lengths is suitable for nearly all types of subject, including architecture, landscape, portraits, street photography and some wild-life.

The triple-mode EXR sensor of the F550 gives it even more usability than most fixed-lens cameras:

• EXR-HR - High-Resolution mode produces images suitable for large prints up to 20" x 15"
• EXR-DR - Dynamic-Range mode for bright outdoor scenes when contrast often very high
• EXR-SN - Low-Noise mode to produce smoother images in low-light and typical indoor scenes

The full ISO range on this digital camera goes from 100 all the way to 12800. Only ISO 100 to 3200 are available at 16 megapixels. ISO 6400 is available at 8 megapixels and 12800 is available at the sufficient-for-small prints resolution of 4 megapixels. Note that very few cameras other than SLRs can produce usable images above ISO 800, we report on that on page 3. A complex interaction between features means that not all combinations of ISO, dynamic-range and modes are available, this is discussed in details further in this review.

The Fuji F550 EXR is still one of the few fixed-lens digital cameras to feature expanded dynamic range. This is achieved via a special sensor design which allows half of the photosites to be read partway during exposure. This is similar to the taking of multiple exposures for merging images into an HDR image. The difference being that the full exposure exposes for the darkest details. When the sensor is read in this way the dynamic range goes up to 1600%, which equals 4 extra stops, but image resolution drops to 8 megapixels because one half of the photosites are used to complement the other half. Outside of this mode, this digital camera can control dynamic range between 100% and 400% by using clever processing while producing a full 16 megapixels image. Specifically, the F550 can retain 2 more stops of highlight details than what is usually possible. The trade-off is that the extra dynamic range is obtained by boosting sensitivity, therefore, this approach tends to increase noise in darker parts of images.

With a shutter-speed range going from 1/2000s to 8s, the extremes of fast action and low-light are not well covered, but most situations are. Social photography is the strong point of this Fuji with high-ISO and an ultra-wide-angle lens which is ideal for indoor parties. Very low-light captures are still possible given a maximum ISO of 12800 and shutter-speed of 8s. The availability of full manual controls is extremely useful here, as most cameras usually have trouble metering when light levels drop too much. The catch is that the camera must still be able to focus as there is no manual-focus mode.

The Fuji F550 EXR is capable of dealing with a wide variety of lighting situations in terms of both color and contrast. With its automatic, preset and manual WB options, colors can be accurately captured in any situation. Flexible metering options, including spot-metering, allow the photographer to control how the F550 deals with unevenly-lit scenes. The F550 is also equipped with several scene modes, divided into normal and advanced modes.. Among normal ones, the natural light and flash mode which takes two pictures of a scene, one with and one without flash, deserves a quick mention. This saves time when not being certain which outcome would be better.

There are three advanced scene-modes: Motion Parorama-360, Pro Low-Light and Pro-Focus. The Motion Panorama-360 produces a low-resolution panorama directly in the camera while the camera is being swept across up to 360° field-of-view. Pro Low-Light use 4 images to simulate higher ISO settings while keeping noise low. Pro-Focus combined a focused foreground image with an out-of-focus background one to simulate shallow-depth of field. To accomplish this while allowing for camera movements, the field-of-view is reduced, so ultra-wide-angle shooting is not possible.

This travel-zoom also captures 1080p HD video using a dedicated button. Up to 29 min of HD video with sound can be recorded per file. For SD movies, up to 115 minutes are possible. High-speed movies are limited to 30s in length. The optical zoom is also available during video-recording, which most such cameras do not allow. Video autofocus is either fixed at the center of the first frame or adjusted continuously.

This digital camera is also equipped with the latest in face-detection. Face-detection is now quite common, particularly among small cameras. The basic principle is that the camera tries to recognize faces and sets the focus and exposure accordingly. Both camera-facing and sideway-facing faces are recognized by Fuji's latest Face Detection. Fuji uses the face-detection during playback as well, so that the user can verify that it worked. In face-detect mode, the F550 EXR uses a special metering mode to keep faces well-exposed. The same face-detection system can also be used to remove red-eye during playback. The novelty introduced by the F300 EXR is Face-Recognition which lets the Fuji tag images with people's name and ages. It work with camera-facing faces quite well. All this, plus high-ISO capabilities, really emphasize the Fuji F550 suitability as a social photography camera.

As a Travel Zoom the Fuji Finepix F550 EXR adds a well-implemented GPS that automatically geotags photos taken. As the GPS draws power, it can be turned off or only powered when the camera is on. This latter option saves energy but the camera may take a while to lock its position after being turned on. In all cases, the camera displays an indicator when it is searching for its position. On playback images that are tagged are also labeled with the location, rather than just coordinates, which is truly helpful to confirm the position.