- Oct 22, 2000
- 24,514
- 44
- 91
Update
Camera arrived yesterday, had a chance to play with it a little bit today, not too much, weather is rather crappy and I actually have other work to do, but overall, I'm really liking it.
- Small. Really small. I've been mucking about with SLRs and film cameras so long that I'd forgotten a typical digicam was this tiny. Considering that I got it as an easily pocketable travel camera, I'm pleased.
- Flash placement: A lot of people mention bad flash placement (it's beneath the shutter button), but I don't find my fingers blocking it at all. It also seems reasonably effective.
- Menu system: Ridiculous. The menu system on my DSLRs is better. Hell, the menu system on my Maxxum 7 film SLR is better. This is not to say that it's not possible to pick up the menu system on the F100fd reasonably quickly, but it's not immediately intuitive the way some cameras are.
- Pushing the shutter button while in playback mode takes you to shooting mode. I don't know if this is common in compacts now or not, but I really like it.
- Metal body. Nice.
- "Pink Banding" issue remains even with the new firmware. However it was only noticeable on long-exposures at ISO 1600 and above. Realistically, if I'm after those kinds of shots I shouldn't be using this camera anyway. Keep the exposure above 1/50 second and the quality is acceptable.
- Noise: "Capt?n , I canna change the laws of physics!" Between more pixels and a lighter hand at noise reduction than the F30, the F100fd has more noise when viewed at 100%. Downsizing the images to 6MP does help. This is really only noticeable at ISO 1600+. The fact that we still get nicely usable photos at ISO 800 is fantastic IMO.
- Lens: 28mm wide anagle FOV equivalent. Love it.
- Images: I'll probably get panned for this, but the "F-Chrome" setting is a wonderful thing. I know it's not accurate. I know it's oversaturated. But you know what, so were my favorite color films. I love that I can use this to get pictures straight out of the camera that have the velvia-like appearance I love.
- Why is are exposures longer than 1/4 second locked out by default? Yes you can use "Manual" mode (which still lacks aperture or shutter speed control) and enable "long exposure" which allows exposures longer than 1/4 second, but why bury this in the menus?
Overall, I think I made a good decision. It will be very nice to have a snapshot camera once again.
---------------------------------
With luck it won't suffer the same fate as my previous P&S digicams.
- Fuji 2650, stolen when my car was broken into 2 years ago (I miss that camera, it was a fantastic little thing).
- Olympus C8080 stolen by dealership service department, I couldn't prove that it was in my car when I dropped it off.
It should be arriving next week on Wednesday or Thursday. Didn't have a chance to play with it in person, so wish me good luck in liking the camera.
ZV
Camera arrived yesterday, had a chance to play with it a little bit today, not too much, weather is rather crappy and I actually have other work to do, but overall, I'm really liking it.
- Small. Really small. I've been mucking about with SLRs and film cameras so long that I'd forgotten a typical digicam was this tiny. Considering that I got it as an easily pocketable travel camera, I'm pleased.
- Flash placement: A lot of people mention bad flash placement (it's beneath the shutter button), but I don't find my fingers blocking it at all. It also seems reasonably effective.
- Menu system: Ridiculous. The menu system on my DSLRs is better. Hell, the menu system on my Maxxum 7 film SLR is better. This is not to say that it's not possible to pick up the menu system on the F100fd reasonably quickly, but it's not immediately intuitive the way some cameras are.
- Pushing the shutter button while in playback mode takes you to shooting mode. I don't know if this is common in compacts now or not, but I really like it.
- Metal body. Nice.
- "Pink Banding" issue remains even with the new firmware. However it was only noticeable on long-exposures at ISO 1600 and above. Realistically, if I'm after those kinds of shots I shouldn't be using this camera anyway. Keep the exposure above 1/50 second and the quality is acceptable.
- Noise: "Capt?n , I canna change the laws of physics!" Between more pixels and a lighter hand at noise reduction than the F30, the F100fd has more noise when viewed at 100%. Downsizing the images to 6MP does help. This is really only noticeable at ISO 1600+. The fact that we still get nicely usable photos at ISO 800 is fantastic IMO.
- Lens: 28mm wide anagle FOV equivalent. Love it.
- Images: I'll probably get panned for this, but the "F-Chrome" setting is a wonderful thing. I know it's not accurate. I know it's oversaturated. But you know what, so were my favorite color films. I love that I can use this to get pictures straight out of the camera that have the velvia-like appearance I love.
- Why is are exposures longer than 1/4 second locked out by default? Yes you can use "Manual" mode (which still lacks aperture or shutter speed control) and enable "long exposure" which allows exposures longer than 1/4 second, but why bury this in the menus?
Overall, I think I made a good decision. It will be very nice to have a snapshot camera once again.
---------------------------------
With luck it won't suffer the same fate as my previous P&S digicams.
- Fuji 2650, stolen when my car was broken into 2 years ago (I miss that camera, it was a fantastic little thing).
- Olympus C8080 stolen by dealership service department, I couldn't prove that it was in my car when I dropped it off.
It should be arriving next week on Wednesday or Thursday. Didn't have a chance to play with it in person, so wish me good luck in liking the camera.
ZV
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