Out and About with the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd

Out and About with the Fujifilm Finepix F50fd

We started our digital journey a long time ago with the Fujifilm S602 Pro being the first "serious" digital camera. That was a hybrid of course, the DSLR at that time being way outside our price bracket. We did eventually move to DSLRs, settling quickly back into Pentax mode with the *istDS and continuing with Pentax ever since. However, with compact cameras in particular we have covered a lot of varied ground. Fuji make nice cameras, always have and I don't see that changing in the forseeable future. The F50fd is a truly pocketable camera, slipping into a small jacket pocket with no problem. It's heavy for its size, which is reassuring as it suggests a fair bit of metal is used and the camera does seem to be robust. It was introduced in 2008, has an 8-24mm f/2.8-5.1 lens, 1/1.6" sensor with 12MP, takes SD cards and uses a lithium ion battery pack. So far so good, all very up to date and usable, and the camera even operates fairly swiftly. Many older cameras seem fine on the surface but end up being annoying as they are so slow in operation, but not so this Fuji.

In use, this is very compact, not really intended for DSLR type control, but it is perfect as a pocket notebook or a party camera (watch for killer red eye!) and the quality is good enough to make perfectly serviceable general shots, with good colour and sharpness, for web and probably reasonably sized prints as well. 12MP need not leave us feeling too inadequate against the latest 50MP and even 100MP blockbusters, but we won't be expecting to make wall sized prints for Grand Central Station. Let's have a look at some images, mostly shot in Wales from when Wales was open!