Fujifilm Finepix E550
Review Date: February 24th 2005
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 6M file quality setting, which gives an average image size of around 1.6Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available on the Fuji Finepix E550 which you can select at any time. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 80 (100% crop) |
ISO 100 (100% crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% crop) |
ISO 400 (100% crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% crop) |
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The noise levels look excellent at ISO 80 and 100, with some noise starting to appear at ISO 200. Noise is clearly apparent at ISO 400 and 800 but it is by no means unusable. A good performance by the Fujifilm Finepix E550's 6 megapixel CCD sensor.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting of Normal are definitely on the soft side, with post-processing bringing quite a lot of extra detail.
Original 100% Crop |
Sharpened 100% Crop |
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File Quality
The Fuji Finepix E550 has 6 different JPEG file quality/size settings available with 12M F offering the largest image size (note that the 12M options are interpolated from the E550's 6M sensor). Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
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12M F (4048 x 3040px) (4,411Kb) |
12M N (4048 x 3040px) (2,435Kb) |
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6M (2848x2136px) (1,599Kb) |
3M (2048x1536px) (705Kb) |
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2M (1600x1200px) (624Kb) |
0.3M (640x480px) (114Kb) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Fujifilm Finepix E550 did not deal particularly well with chromatic aberrations. They were clearly apparent in all high-contrast situations, such as the roof structure and bright white sky in the examples below. When they did appear, chromatic aberrations were quite obvious. This was a worse perfomance than the 4 megapixel Fujifilm Finepix E500 and 5 megapixel Fujifilm Finepix E510, despite the E550's sensor being physically larger in size.
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Example 1 |
Example 2 |
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Macro
The Fuji Finepix E550 offers 2 different macro settings, Macro and Super Macro, that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 3cms away from the camera. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash options on the Fujifilm Finepix E550 are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash and Suppressed Flash (with more options available in Manual mode). These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (32.5mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (32.5mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (130mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (130mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. The flash underexposed the scene by about 1/3 stop of exposure. The Flash On caused quite a lot of redeye, which almost disappeared when the camera was set to the Red-eye Reduction flash mode.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Fujifilm Finepix E550 maximum shutter speed is only 3 seconds which isn't that great if you're interested in night photography. The following example was taken using a shutter speed of 2.8 seconds with an aperture of f/4.0 at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot (click to view full-sized image) |
100% Crop |
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Overall Image Quality
The Fujifilm Finepix E550 produced an average set of test images. The 6 megapixel photos were soft out of the camera at the default setting of Normal and benefit from further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can select the Hard sharpening setting on the camera. Noise is well controlled at ISO 80-200, with the fastest settings of ISO 400 and 800 offering usable options when light levels are low. The Fujifilm Finepix E550 did not deal particularly well with chromatic aberrations, which appeared in the form of clearly visible purple fringing in high-contrast scenes. Macro performance was very good, allowing you get as close as 3 cms away from your subject in Super Macro mode. The built-in flash had a tendency to underexpose slightly indoors and the Flash On setting produced strong red-eye. Thankfully the Red-eye Reduction lived up to its name and removed almost all trace of redeye. Night-shots are limited due to the 3 second maximum shutter speed. Overall a competent performance in terms of image quality from the Fujifilm Finepix E550.
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PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Fuji Finepix E550 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.