Saturday, April 10, 2010

F80EXR auto focus fails more easily with low contrast than does the F70EXR

The AF should be able to lock in on some pretty minute contrast … and yet it fails sometimes where the F70EXR does not.

F80EXR_focus_failures[1]

The upper focus point and the crease just below it with the wider shadow both give the F80EXR fits. The F70EXR seems to have little problem with this area.

The bottom focus point defeats both cameras every time.

*sigh* … the issue is somewhat inconsistent, but more prevalent in my F80EXR. Now, it is always possible that I have a bad sample, but what can I do about that? I must report what my camera does.

I don’t consider this a fatal problem, but you will probably have more issues with AF in poor light than you would with the F70EXR.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

First of all, excuse my bad english. Second, i appriciate your thorrow test of this cam.
I sadly get the impression this camera is really bad from your test so i have to ask as a total amateur, will this camera dissapoint me when i take snapshots of my cats, my friends and some try to do maybe a few artistic photos? For about 50$ more i can get Pana TZ7, is it really worth the extra buck?
Best regards
Kalle

Kim Letkeman said...

Kalle: I actually like the F80EXR for daylight and indoors in good light. It starts up quicker and shoots pretty much like the F70EXR. It's bad light where it is frustrating, but if you don;t plan on using custom white balance, you might be fine there. I plan on performing a bad light test with WB set in camera and outside. And, of course, not set at all. That will give me the definitive answer.

Unknown said...

Thanks! :D I´m looking forward to your tests. Will you test video aswell? Or at least shoot some video in different conditions. I have been searching for a camera for weeks now and read lots of reviews, there is always some hickups i almost cant accept with most cameras in a certain pricerange. F80EXR seems to be the one closest to what i want. One more thing, how fast is it? That is one very important parameter for me when shooting my cats. (lol, i hope my bad english not sounds like i´m going to kill my cats!)

Kim Letkeman said...

Kalle: I published the white balance test last night. No change ... the F70EXR has better high ISO algorithms. The F80EXR has too much saturation and pushes the blue channel too hard. Fuji could fix that in firmware, should they choose to.

And yes, I will be testing video. One of these evenings. I am going to get my son to play and sing out on the patio in the relative dark and shoot it like a concert with all three cams at the same time. My preliminary tests show the F80EXR video is better than the F70EXR video and the audio is too (!!) ... but the ZS3 still has the lead.

Unknown said...

Looking forward to see video, its one of the key features for me. ZS3 busts my budget, even F80EXR will do that with memorycard and stuff.
Many thanks!