Performance
Additional sample photos and product shots
are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own reviews,
photos and product reviews.
Sample Photos
Cow
DSCF1298 | 1/220 sec | f/5.6 | 106.8 mm | ISO 100
Cow
Zoom DSCF1300 | 1/120 sec | f/5.6 | 185.0 mm | ISO 160
Wide
| 1/600 sec | f/5.0 | 4.4 mm | ISO 100
Aston
Martin | 1/900 sec | f/7.1 | 17.3 mm | ISO 400
Wide,
Perth | 1/600 sec | f/5.0 | 4.4 mm | ISO 100
Portrait
with flash | 1/15 sec | f/4.0 | 12.9 mm | ISO 400
Colour is good with bright saturated
colours and you can enhance these using one of the Fujifilm film modes,
including Velvia to enhance the saturation and richness, or Astia for a softer
effect. The Flash performance is good with no signs of red-eye, although it's
worth keeping an eye on the (Auto) ISO setting as the camera often increases
the ISO setting when using flash.
Lens
Quality
Wide
| 1/800 sec | f/4.5 | 4.4 mm | ISO 100
12x
optical zoom | 1/800 sec | f/5.0 | 47.3 mm | ISO 100
42x
optical zoom | 1/280 sec | f/5.6 | 185.0 mm | ISO 100
Trees
| 1/800 sec | f/3.2 | 4.4 mm | ISO 400
Macro
| 1/900 sec | f/3.6 | 4.4 mm | ISO 100
The lens shows low vignetting, purple
fringing and chromatic aberration which is impressive considering the amount of
zoom on offer. Macro performance is impressive with the camera focusing on
subjects just 1cm away. There is very little barrel distortion at the wide end,
and little pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the lens, which is
good. Note that Lens flare is noticeable when shooting with the sun in the
frame, but the provided lens hood helps avoid this occurring regularly. The
camera is good at capturing details, especially in the wide-angle lens,
although detail noticeably drops when using the lens at the full telephoto end
of the lens.
ISO Noise Performance
ISO
Test Images
ISO settings range from ISO 100 to ISO 3200
at full resolution with RAW available. At ISO 6400 and ISO 12800, RAW is not
available, and the image is resized, respectively, 8 and 4 megapixels. Noise is
very low at ISO100, with a slight increase at ISO200. At ISO 400, noise
increases a little more, and detail drops a little. At ISO800 and ISO 1600,
noise increases again and detail suffers as a result, although image is still
useful. At ISO 3200, noise becomes strong and detail suffers noticeably. The
results of ISO 6400 are good and should provide images for use on web pages.
ISO12800 is best avoided.
White Balance Efficiency
White
Balance sample photo
Automatic white balance (AWB) works well
under Tungsten, Fluorescent light, with the Tungsten preset giving a slightly
more natural result under Tungsten lighting. AWB works well with color photos
when using fluorescent preset.
Panorama
mode
Panorama mode allows you to select
120/180/360 and 360 circular with the camera auto stitching the image as you
hold the shutter button and pan the camera around.
In normal shooting modes DR expansion can
be set at 100, 200 and 400%. Using EXR DR mode, which can also be set at 800
and 1600% with a significant improvement in dynamic range as well as can be
seen in the examples above.
Digital
Filters
Digital
Filters
The camera has a number of options when set
to advanced filter mode with multiple modes, professional lighting,
professional focus, and filters including: toy camera, miniature, pop color ,
high key, low key, tone, soft focus, and one color (red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, purple). There are two positions on the camera so you can choose two
favorite modes.
Video
1920x1080, 60fps, 1280x720, 60fps, 640x480,
30fps, 640x480 HS 120fps, 240fps 320x240, 320x112 240fps. You can take pictures
while recording video, and it takes a 16:9 aspect ratio photo (1920x1080
resolution). You can also adjust the microphone level. Using the optical zoom
while recording can be difficult due to the stiff zoom ring, although the
camera mounted on a tripod
Value for money
The Fujifilm FinePix HS50 EXR is available
for around $622, and is up against the Fujifilm X-S1 with 26x optical zoom lens
around $622, Fujifilm FinePix SL1000 with 50x optical zoom lens, $459, Nikon
Coolpix P520 with 42x optical zoom lens, $543, Canon Powershot SX50 with 50x
optical zoom lens, $543, and Olympus SP-820 with a 40x optical zoom lens $434.
You will also need to purchase a memory
card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - just based on
our complete guide to buying a camera bag.
Verdict
The Fujifilm FinePix HS50 EXR updates
HS30/35 and has a 42x optical zoom lens, which is manual control, and is quite
large compared with the previous model, with different camera with 50x optical
zoom lens, such as Fujifilm FinePix SL1000, and Canon Powershot SX50. DSLR-style
camera provides the look and feel like a DSLR, but offers a much larger optical
zoom than you would be able to get with a DSLR at a much smaller size, and
offers a fairly rare set of features including a microphone socket and focus
switch.
The HS50 has fast performance with high
speed shooting (11fps full resolution when shooting JPEG), tilting 3-inch
swivel screen and manual zoom controls are good for images, but not good for
video. It has full manual controls, RAW shooting, flash hot-shoe, and a 16
megapixel EXR sensor which can help improve low light photography as well as
the scope of activities, although the best results in 8 megapixel resolution is
much lower. If you do not want to carry a large portion DSLR with you, and want
to have a large optical zoom lens, as well as full manual control, the HS50 EXR
will be a good choice, especially if you find yourself shooting in difficult
lighting conditions, where wide dynamic range and low light performance of the
EXR sensor will benefit.
Pros
·
EXR Dynamic range mode
·
Good battery life
·
Good color reproduction
·
Tilting/Swivelling screen
·
Excellent macro performance
·
Full manual controls and RAW
·
Quick focus mode
·
Can rate images out of 5 stars
·
Wide neck strap included
Cons
·
Plastic tripod mount
·
Image quality at telephoto end is low
·
Difficult to zoom smoothly
·
Size difference / compared to previous model
Specifications
Lens
·
Max Aperture f/2.8 - f/5.6
·
35mm equivalent: 24mm – 1000mm
·
Optical Zoom: 42x
Image sensor
·
CCD pixels: 16Mp (Megapixels)
·
Pixels (W): 4608
·
Pixels (H): 3456
·
Sensor type: back-lit CMOS EXR (B.S.I)
·
Sensor size: 1/2.3 inch
·
Aspect ratio: 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 1:1
LCD screen
·
LCD screen: 3 inches
·
Screen resolution: 920k dots
·
Touch screen: No
Focusing
·
Focusing mode: Autofocus, manual, face
detection, AF tracking, Multi, Centre
·
Min Focus 1cm
Exposure Control
·
Shutter speeds shortest: 1/4000 sec
·
Shutter speeds longest: 30 sec
·
Exp modes: Program, Scene modes, manual,
Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, Program Variable
·
Metering: Centre-weighted – Average, Multi
Pattern, Spot
·
ISO sensitivity: 100-12800
·
White balance: Auto, Manual,
Outdoors/Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Shade
·
Exposure Comp: +/-2
Shooting options
·
11fps continuous shooting
Video
·
Movie mode: Yes
·
Resolution: 1920x1080, 1280x720 720p, 640x480
VGA
·
Video FPS: 1080p 60fps, 720p 60fps
·
Stereo sound: yes
·
Optical Zoom with Video: yes
Other features
·
Image Stabilization: yes
Interface
·
HDMI: Yes
·
USB: USB 2.0
·
Wifi: None
Storage
·
Card type: SD, SDHC, SDXC
·
File type: RAW, JPG, RAW+JPG
Power supply
·
Battery type: Lithium ion
·
CIPA rating: 500
Box Contents
·
Battery charger BC-W126
·
USB cable
·
Li-ion battery NP-W126
·
Shoulder strap
·
Lens hood
·
Lens cap and Lens cap cord
·
CD-ROM
·
Owner's manual
Dimensions
·
Weight: 758g
·
Width: 134.9mm
·
Height: 101.3mm
·
Depth: 145.9mm
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