The F770EXR is all packed up and waiting for pickup by FedEx. It was supposed to go out today, and indeed I spent 5 minutes chatting with the driver, who gave me a blank waybill and asked what my account number was. Duh …
So off he went empty handed and I sent email off to MSL. Celine gave me the number (here it is for those of you who are too cheap to pay for shipping on your own: 4448111GFY.)
Anyway, it will go out tomorrow. But I was pleasantly surprised that a separate driver brought me the HS25 earlier in the day. It too is packaged for serious shipping now, in its own steel case with tons of foam surround. And it’s a cute little thing, nicely decked out in buttons and gadgets. I wonder how it will perform? Should be essentially identical to the F770EXR.
Except, of course, that the HS25 does not shoot RAW. That is the sole province of the HS30.
*sigh*
Anyway, I will soldier on and see what I can squeeze from it. Here it is sitting next to the D7000 with 18-200VR.
F550EXR 3200ISO f/3.5 1/4
And from behind.
F550EXR 3200iso f/3.5 1/17 -1ev
Note the heavy compensation, and still the brightly lit LCDs are over exposed. The image was quite dark and the noise was quite spectacular after pulling up in post. But Topaz Denoise 5 to the rescue.
Ok … these are really crappy images. Bad composition, bad lighting. Yet they get the point across, which is exactly what these little compacts are for in my opinion. That you can capture an image in a dark room at all is amazing. Five years ago, this needs a tripod.
Anyway, looking forward to playing with the HS30. My initial impression is good feel in the hands, great range, good controls. Articulating LCD is fun.
