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FUJIFILM FINEPIX HS50 EXR LOOK AND FEEL
The Fuji HS 50 has a very smooth rubber coating to it that almost seems to repel the elements and does a great job of not showing fingerprints and other common oily residues. Its build is very solid and it has a barrel type traditional camera zoom, Fuji having avoided the auto-zoom trap that caught so many. To elaborate, I have used just about every point and shoot one can imagine and also have the Sony Cyber-shot HX-300 sitting right beside me as I type this report. The HX300 has auto-zoom. as many others do, on the shutter switch. The problem with such a zoom is that, when you want to zoom manually, it isn’t truly a manual zoom and can be very difficult to fine tune and work with.
Adding to this, Fuji has also incorporated an Advanced Electronic Viewfinder that can be switch off for straight LCD shooting and works like a charm. Too many times have we found electronic viewfinders to be ‘buggy’ with hand motion behind the camera. Similar to my much more expensive Canon EOS 6D, Fuji has included a ‘Q Menu’ button on the back of the HS50 that allows easy selection of all options regardless of the mode you may be in (EXR/P/S/A/M/C/PAN/SP1/SP2/Adv). Inclusion of such options in cameras are a great step as they promote the move from basic shooting to exploring options available, without the difficulty of finding and selecting each which is quite cumbersome with some cameras.
FUJIFILM FINEPIX HS50 EXR VIDEO
If you are a video nut, the simplicity of the HS50 is going to amaze you. Shooting video is as easy as pressing the red button on the rear of the camera at any time. Video starts immediately and, while filming, the ability to zoom in smoothly is fantastic, as well as taking pictures within the video. The HS50 is capable of full HD video at 1920 x 1080 pixels, 1280 x 720 pixels (60 fps), as well as 640 x 480 pixels (30 fps) with stereo sound.
A quick check of Amazon shows the Fujifilm Finepix HS50 EXR priced at around the $400 mark right now which is on the lower end of similar point and shoot cameras. Considering the HS50 is THE ONLY we are aware of with RAW capabilities, this is will be a huge plus if the picture quality is all that it is cut out to be. Let’s see how the HS50 fared in our tour of the Niagara Butterfly conservatory. It might be a bit hard to believe but each and every picture is taken in automatic EXR mode and the only changes were in the file size of each to make them viewable on the website. Click on each for a larger resolution:
Remarkable..! Excellent shots, thanks for sharing! Seriously looking to pick up this camera myself =)
Thank you very much…and I will pass it along to Karen. If you make the purchase with Amazon, feel free to consider using our links to get you there as every little bit helps.
hi, thanks for the review. this statement bugs me, though: “The beauty of the HS50 lies in low light and close up shots”
how much low light do you mean, and would it require using a tripod to get good sharp pictures?
i don’t see any shots demonstrating its low light ability. the only reason i’m wondering is because up till now i still haven’t found a bridge camera that is capable of taking good, HANDHELD, motion-freezing pictures of anything from a distance in, dim lighting or indoors for that matter. example: a basketball game in a stadium, dogs playing in the house, a rock band at twilight.
would it be appropriate to say that hs50 performs just as well as most bridge cameras in bright daylight and just as bad under dim lighting when it comes to capturing anything other than static subjects, like those butterflies?
I have had the hs50 about 6 months now great camera the 1000mm lens is ideal for moon pics and wildlife 10/10 from me
Hi,
Very useful review; just bought a HS50EXR and I love the camera.
One question: I have a Lexar 256GB card but it doesn’t want to work in the camera – message, ‘Card not initialised’ keeps coming up. How did you make this card work, please?The 128GB works fine.