HS10 Review Part 14 - Textures

Well, textures might be a bit strong for these images. What I am looking for here is how the HS10 renders texture against the F70EXR. In the following two images, I shot the HS10 at 100ISO as I did all day.

But I shot the F70EXR on auto, as I always do and it chose 1600ISO. This puts it at a 4 stop disadvantage. You would think it would get absolutely crushed. And yet, I don’t think it does. You be the judge.

HS10

F70EXR

What is most noticeable as a difference here is the fact that the fence in behind the tree at the bottom left corner is visible in the HS10 shot and is not in the F70EXR shot. This is exactly the opposite of the expected result between these two cameras, and almost certainly comes down to the 4 stop ISO difference.

So let that be a reinforced lesson … keep ISO low to preserve as much dynamic range as you can. Fuji’s software dynamic range implementation is simply silly, since it pushes ISO upwards. Better to do that job yourself in your post processing editor. But their EXR binning technology is another story entirely. At reasonably low ISOs, it preserves amazing tonal detail.

Anyway, back to our comparison. I turned to face west and shot this little apple tree in my neighbor’s yard. I love the texture of the wood with the sub glancing off of it … and I love the texture and detail of freshly minted leaves. I use crops to show how each camera handles this.

HS10

F70EXR

As we have seen so far, there is very little to choose between these cameras. The two render the texture of the wood with perfect 3-dimensionality and the leaves look lush and detailed.

I still get the feeling that there is a bit of an advantage in dynamic range to the F70EXR, but there should be. And given that there is hardware at play, the HS10 does not get beat as handily as one would expect. But do bear in mind that these cameras are shot here at –0.67EV compensation to control highlights. This makes a difference.