Hello, after a few years, I feel right by saying this: at the time I opened this blog, I only owned a canon 400d with the stock lens, and the fuji hs20. Now I’ve got much more into photography, I own many lenses, many film cameras and a canon 1ds mark II. If you have only the stock lens, and You don’t wanna spend too much, and avoid carrying around a heavy bag, I would still recommend a bridge camera over a reflex. But when you gen into photography , then well, a reflex is simply better, unless you’re totally into distant subject, like birds or stuff like that. In that case, to have the equivalent of the fuji hs20 zoom, You will need something over a 1000 mm (on a full frame) : a very heavy, long and expensive lens. You can see some of my new pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/claudiocastelli/
The location is Matera , in Southern Italy, and pictures are taken in the beautiful medieval area of “Sassi” (translated, it means “Stones”, since the building are digged into the hill!
Some hdr pictures taken in Orbetello, a lovely ancient Tuscan small city on a Lagoon.To me is very interesting the contrast between the swampy nature , with the sea,and middle age original settlement with the modern way of living …
For those wondering, HDR is a photographic technic wich consist of taking some pictures of the same subject at different expositions, and then merging together with any kind of photo editor software like GIMP – or Photoshop , or with dedicated tools, like : Fhotoroom HDR .
The more pictures you have, the better it is.
Personally, I’m usually lazy to carry around a tripod, so I mostly use AEB (automatic bracket) with my Fujifilm hs20 exr , at 1 step (unfortunately, that’s the maximum value).
On canon D400, maximum step is 2, and that produces more dramatic effects, without using the tripod-remote combination. I hope that fujifilm will release a new firmware version , to solve this small issue… Anyway, i’m thinking to use a gorillapod and to buy the remote for hs20, for my next HDR shots…
This might be a very boring post for someone, but well, I have also a canon D400 reflex camera (in usa is know as Rebel or something like that), so, i though, besides all the theoretical things (that reflex delivers nicer shots, always), it could have been nice a shot to shot comparison, of the same subjects , taken with fujifilm hs20 exr and canon D 400 , with full automated settings…
With the canon d 400 i used full automated settings, with FLASH off
With Fujifilm Hs20 exr I just used ” Auto EXR mode” , just pointing and shotting… For D400 , i have only 35-55 mm .. So, pictures i took at 35 mm with D400, i took with minimal zoom (25mm) in Hs20
Pictures are taken inside my home – lab
On the left D400, on the right Hs20.
I know, people could say ” well, is like comparing apple and oranges”.
But well, I eat both, and both they are fruits 🙂 I might add Exif data later..
Lizards are always a nice subject for photography:
They are green, seducing, and usually steady…
Here they are some more shots for you! (Made in Pro Focus mode)
For people wondering how to use the Pro Focus mode on HS20: just turn the main wheel to Adv.
Then press the MENU-OK button, and select Pro Focus ( You will have 2 functions: PRO LOW LIGHT, and PRO FOCUS).
Pro Focus simply takes 2 pictures, one very focused on the focused area, and one quite blurred, and then it combines them togheter to give a quite good SLR image feeling..
Here are some pictures taken with high dynamic range priority … i think the contrast beetween the sky and the colors of the monuments are really enjoyable!
metropolis
Fujifilm Hs20 SuperZoom Experience 