Fuji F30 Review | NeoCamera.com

Fuji Finepix F30

Comparative Crops

The Fuji Finepx F30 and the Canon EOS 20D are extremely different cameras. Yet we found one thing in common between them, an ISO range of 100-3200. Just for fun, and because we were curious, we unfairly compare them here. People who are looking at a DSLR for its image quality and not for its features or versatility may be seriously interested in this comparison which illustrates some striking differences between these 2 cameras.

Each image below is composed of half a 100% crop from an unmodified Fuji F30 image and half a 100% crop from an unmodified Canon 20D image using a Canon 28-105 F3.5-4.5 USM lens. The Fuji pictures were taken first and then the Canon 20D was set to the same exposure using full-manual mode, this was the easiest way to get consistent exposure. Other than that both cameras were on auto-focus and auto-white balance.

Look carefully at these images and then read our analysis below.

Fuji Finepix F30

Canon EOS 20D

ISO 100

ISO 400

ISO 1600

ISO 3200

Unsurprisingly, these two cameras produce very different looking images. Here is a table analyzing the major differences.

Noise	Noise levels are comparable but both cameras treat noise very differently. The 20D seems to have a noise-reduction system that softens details more and so its images appear less grainy at high-ISO. Nevertheless, there seems to be similar noise levels which is quite surprising between an ultra-compact and a DSLR.
Color	Colors are different due to different automatic white balances. As a result, colors from the 20D are much more accurate. Conversely, the Fuji Finepix F30 produces overly saturated colors.
Brightness	Even though the F-stop and shutter-speed of each image half are an exact match, crops from the Fuji appear brighter. This can be the result of two differences: ISO accuracy and dynamic-range. Canon and Fuji perhaps measure ISO differently, this would affect the overall brightness of images given the same exposure. The Canon 20D can also capture more dynamic range but since all JPEG images have the same 8-bit range, results from the 20D appear to have less contrast. Consequently, brightness will vary differently across the image.
Sharpness	Incredibly, images from the Fuji F30 appear much sharper. This is actually the most shocking observation since the 20D was equipped with a quality Canon lens. However, close inspection of images from the F30 show some sharpening artifacts, potentially explaining why the 20D images are visibly softer. This is actually our third batch of images since at first we thought the focus was incorrect.

The fact that the F30 and the 20D are aimed at different market shows in this comparison Consumer-oriented cameras, like the F30, generally produce images with greater consumer appeal than SLR cameras. This means more saturated colors and sharper images. Such images make excellent prints without any image processing up to common print sizes. At this, the Fuji Finepix F30 seems to excel.

The Canon 20D, even when equipped with a quality lens, still produces softer images with less saturated colors. These images have less immediate punch but are usually preferred by sophisticated photographers who like realistic colors and do their own image processing. Over-sharpened images are more difficult to process because sharpening artifacts can be emphasized during processing.

In the end, the Fuji Finepix F30 is an extremely capable camera which produces very appealing images where the effect of image noise is similar to that of DSLR cameras, although both cameras treat it differently. Notice that the 20D softens its images as ISO increases to hide the effects of noise. If we were to sharpen and increase color saturation of images from the 20D, we could get very similar results from the 20D without any processing.

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