Fujifilm FinePix F40fd
To me, the most exciting new advancements are now taking place in the so called point and shoot section of the camera market. The DSLR cameras, which have become stunningly good in the last couple of years, may take a pause and reflect a bit, but the lower end seems to be leaping forward in interesting ways. Because of the size of the pixels, compared to the DSLR's, they will not compete - totally, but when you reach this level of sophistication in a handy shirt pocket camera it makes you want to scratch your chin. These little guys are rushing up from behind.
There have been a whole slew of these types released in the last few months. The Canon, Casio, Panasonic all have their entries. Nikon has been noticeably absent, which makes me think that they will soon throw in something noteworthy.
This just announced 8.3 mp offering from FujiFilm (there are others with 10 mp, but there is a growing belief that for this P&S sized sensor the extra 2 mp might just get in the way) seems to be one more step forward by the group. The following is from their press release, which is not exactly objective, but this model is further building on a series which has been fully vetted already, so their is some degree of believability. I watched a camera salesman get all excited about FujiFilms new octagonal shaped pixel (if you notice the little symbol on the bottom right of the camera, this indicates that this camera has this new sensor), which I think is now being put in their new DSLR's. The last sentence in this first paragraph is a pretty bold statement:
Quote:
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The FinePix F40fd achieves ISO 2000 (1600 selectable) at full resolution, which means there is no trade off between ISO setting and image sharpness, or the size of the print that can be made.
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As my daughter used to say - I'm skeptable. And how about this camera taking two pic's simultaneously, one with flash and one without, then displaying them side by side for comparison.
The press release:
Fujifilm