In fact, I think it's a step up from those cameras in many ways. And surprisingly, one of those ways is its high ISO. At 1600 and 3200 ISO, this cam can hold its own. In fact, shot properly, it does not throw up much chroma noise at all. The luminance noise is there, but hardly significant.
Images look smooth, and yet detailed. Binning works. Yes, at 100%, it can look a little disconcerting. There is a kind of circular grain that simply looks strange ... but that is actually quite fine-grained and very smooth. So it works out beautifully.
So ... examples .... the following are 800px renderings with embedded 100% crops. No processing at all on the images other than downsizing and cropping with yellow borders to isolate the embedded parts.
1600 ISO
The following 1600ISO image has a hint of camera shake. But note the smoothness of the grain and total lack of chroma noise.
So those look awfully clean and pretty detailed ... so how badly do things deteriorate at 3200 ISO?
That's not too bad at all if I'm honest. Reasonably low grain, still no chroma noise showing up, and details are preserved adequately.
Finally ... how about pro low light mode? At 1600 ISO that is ...
Well now ... that's kind of astounding. That's cleaner than some other brands with tiny sensors can do at 100 ISO ...
This cam is perfectly capable at these ISOs ... and I would bet that it is easier and far more fun to shoot than any previous Fuji compact. Those who doubt it should really try it out.
