On my last attempt to figure out what the F80EXR was doing in poor light, I got a comment from “val” that suggested that I test custom white balance against auto white balance to see if the camera is simply really bad at pushing the blue channel.
So I ran this test: shoot each cam at M4:3, 1600 ISO, P mode DR400 and EXR SN mode.
The results:
![f80_f70_wb_test_1600_iso[1]](http://letkeman.net/Photos/albums/F80EXRTests/f80_f70_wb_test_1600_iso.jpg "f80_f70_wb_test_1600_iso[1]")
Again, please click through the above image to the larger one.
What we see is that the AWB versions from the F80 have a lot of yellow blotching. The custom WB (CWB) versions have transformed that to blue and yellow blotching.
Also , the details between the letters of “BAN” are poorly defined in the F80 images, while they are quite accurate in the F70 images.
The F70 images are more subtle, with much less blue channel contribution in the CWB versions and and less saturation overall. This contributes to a much more pleasant noise signature.
I still think Fuji screwed up their CWB algorithms … both cams are attempting to neautralize the image according to my CWB setting (on the same spot.) So both should be fairly similar, yet they are not. Fuji did not need to screw with that setting at all, yet they have.
Again, the F70EXR will wipe the floor with the F80EXR in bad light. AWB or CWB … doesn’t much matter.
Fuji … how about a firmware patch to put back the F70EXR WB algorithms. They are excellent.
4 comments:
One more question, how is the battery? I realize you focus on a comparison between F70 and F80 in your test but perhaps you could say a quick few words on how the battery performs? My studies tell me the Panasonic TZ7 is the best choice for me but its also just above my budget. However, the TZ7 has relativly poor batteryperformance and that is one important parameter when i decides wich camera i buy.
Kalle: The TZ7 is called the ZS3 here. I have extensive testing of the ZS3 against the F70EXR because I own one. Search my blog for these comparisons to see which cam is suited for you. Whether the TZ7 is your best choice is really about what you need from a cam. Panasonic is much worse than the F80EXR in bad light, but has better video. Day time imagery is excellent on both. More tests to come though.
Kalle: I realize that I forgot to address the battery. I have not used the F80 for a day out yet, so I cannot know how the battery performs. The ZS3 (TZ7) performs fairly well though. I get over an hour of HD video from one charge.
Many thanks! :D
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