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Re: [OM] clever use of available sensor real estate

Subject: Re: [OM] clever use of available sensor real estate
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 05 May 2009 02:45:13 -0700
C.H.Ling wrote:
> It is a little strange, for ISO800 test the F31fd was using 1/340s F5.6 but 
> the F200EXR was using 1/75s F12! It will sure hurt the details.
>   

Hard to fault the testers. The F200 is in the line of fully automatic 
Fuji F series cameras. so far, only the F11, 30 and 31 have any 
aperture/speed preferred and manual controls settings. So if they want 
to take a test shot with their standard setup and lighting, they get 
what the camera gives them.

On the other hand, can we be sure f12 is a bad choice?

I think it is also possible that the Fuji engineers aren't actually 
stupid. Oh my, looking further into the review, we learn:

"Like many compact cameras, the F200 only allows only two aperture 
settings at each position of the lens (fully open and fully open minus 
three stops, by way of a combined physical stop and ND filter)."

So, f12 is just the smaller "stop" at the particular focal length 
chosen, and not a "true" f12 focal ratio of aperture and focal length. 
It's a shame the true , useful meaning of f-stop will now disappear, at 
least in digicams. On the other hand, it's a smart solution to the 
exposure vs. diffraction blurring problem. I think some high end Canon 
digis have, or have had, built in ND filters as part of their AE system 
for years. I wouldn't be surprised if it's fairly common, but 
unannounced, practice.

Looks like all the theoretical calculations may be at least partly 
useless for these tiny sensor cameras, as well as DOF calculations.

 A lot of people bash the dpreview reviews, but read throughly, they 
contain pretty much all the important stuff. I often won't agree with 
their conclusions/ratings because my priorities difffer, but I can 
usually find out what I need to know for my own evaluation.

Moose
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