simonh.uk - photography

Fujifilm Finepix S4800 Review Part 2

2025-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Another day, another dog walk, armed with my Fujifilm Finepix S4800 this time. I have to be honest, if I had to choose between the S4800 and the S8000fd, I’d chose the S8000fd. Not quite sure why yet. I’m pretty sure I just get better shots from the older camera.

All shot using Natural setting with Chrome colour option. All images linked to full resolution Flickr album.

Part 2 Conclusion

It’s a strange thing about cameras. Most people assume that as technology improves, everything gets better. I’m not sure that’s true. Well, not always anyway. I deliberately try and use the same (or similar) settings when comparing cameras. Along with taking photos of the same things if possible. As I wrote at the top of this page, I like the photos from the S8000fd more. Have a look for yourself if you’d like. Which photos do you prefer?

I’m not saying this is a bad camera. I suppose what I’m saying is that I don’t consider it any better than the S8000fd.

Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Review Part 2

2025-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

The observant reader may notice that I have a rubber band on the lens barrel. Yes, I do. Without it the lens cap simply falls off. I was going to see if I could buy a replacement cap, but a rubber band works great!

Anyway, the sun is now out so I thought I’d test my S8000fd in the best light to see how she performs. Most of the photos below were shot using the Natural option along with Chrome picture effect. For a couple I used SR Auto.

All photos linked to full resolution Flickr album.

My composition and framing need improving!

18x zoom on church

Part 2 Conclusion

I like this camera. I paid £30 for it which I think is a fair price. It takes nice photos which with that classic CCD look. This is an ideal bridge camera for either a youngster or someone wondering if they’d like to take better photos than they can on their phone. I’ve found that the natural mode along with chrome effect works well for most situations.

Canon PowerShot A530 Review Part 1

2025-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Regular visitors will know I have recently bought a number of old digital cameras. I’m happy with every one of them. However, there was a particular kind of camera I particularly wanted. A pocketable, point-and-shoot that took AA batteries and used SD for storage. Why? Well, as all of my cameras are at least 11 years old (19 years old with the A530), the bespoke batteries tend to not hold charge as well after some years. I know that most can be bought from somewhere like Amazon by a third party, but they can be expensive and unreliable. If you can use AA batteries, you can get replacements at pretty much any shop in the world. Another plus was an optical view finder. Maybe I’ll hardly ever use it, but if it’s there, at least I’ve got the choice. SD card is better than Smartmedia or XD cards as it’s the only format that’s not obsolete!

Lucky for me, this A530 came up for £20 and ticked all the above boxes. So I knew I had to have this camera! It looked pretty much brand new from the sellers photos and was still in the original box.

All photos linked to full resolution Flickr album

Shot of my Olympus C4040Z (no flash)

Shot of my Olympus C4040Z (with flash)

Shot using my Ulefone Armor X12 (see below)

Using 4x zoom

Message to Seller

When I went to collect this camera I had a chat with the lady selling it (as you do). She told me it had been for sale for three years! She asked me why I wanted it as everyone just uses their phone nowadays. That is a valid question. I too have been using a phone as my primary camera since about 2005. So why change now???

For me there are a number of reasons:

A cameras only purpose is to take photos (and sometimes videos but we’ll ignore that here). That’s it. The reason why I like cameras from 2001-2013 (ish) is that there was lots of competition and innovation to make the best digital photos possible.

Using even a cheap, old camera gives advantages that phones cannot compete with. For example, always better zoom, more control over exposure, white balance, focus etc.

Price. You can pick up old cameras for next to nothing. I’ve paid a maximum of £70 for the Fujifilm S4800.

Versatility. You can have different cameras for different purposes. The A530 is great for snaps while out and about. My Fujifilm S4800 with its 30x optical zoom is great for long distance nature shots.

Design. Related to my first point, a camera has been designed to take photos. Its shape, the position of buttons, the screen (and everything else) was designed to take photos. Phones are not designed to take photos. They also take photos. Have you ever played a Gameboy emulator on a smartphone? You need physical buttons to have an enjoyable experience.

Redundancy. I have six cameras. If one breaks¹, I’m not without a camera. If my phone breaks…

And the most important point for me:

Quality. The first three photos at the top of this page are of my Olympus C4040Z. I was focusing on the lens. Look at how clear and detailed the photos from the A530 are compared to my phone (you’ll have to click on the full resolution versions on a decent monitor for best effect). The A530 has a resolution of 5 megapixels. My Ulefone X12 Armor has a resolution of 13 megapixels. But, the old 20 year old camera is far better quality. Perhaps if I had a £1000 phone, the quality difference would be less. The problem is that a modern £1000 camera would (I believe) beat any modern phone.

Part 1 Conclusion

This is an amazing camera. I’m going to spend some time attempting to master it and of course a part 2 will be published when ready. For lots of great information about getting the most out of it, see the Ken Rockwell link below.

Footnotes

¹ Sadly, my C4040Z looks like it might be on the way out :( It won’t read the 64mb Smartmedia card. Ugh.

Fujifilm Finepix F10 Review Part 2

2025-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

This is the second installment of my Fujifilm Finepix F10 review. Some photos were taken indoors (first three below), the others on a walk with the dog this morning. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast leading to fairly dull looking photos. I’ll probably post a part 3 when the sun is out again.

All images linked to full resolution Flickr album. No editing has been done on any of the photos except resizing to 600px width to keep bandwidth manageable.

Daughters ridiculous key ring (with one key). This photo is without flash, next one used the flash to show difference.

All following photos were shot using chrome option

Using the 3x optical zoom on railway bridge

Part 2 Conclusion

The Fujifilm Finepix F10 is still a good camera, twenty years after it first released. As you can see from the photos on this page, the F10 is still a solid choice for a pocketable point-and-shoot camera in 2025. I quite like the f-chrome option which makes the colours much more vibrant. Some people might find it a bit much, but the “standard” setting comes off as a bit dull to my eyes.

Fujifilm Finepix F10 Review Part 1

2025-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Yes, I have a problem! Another day, another camera. Seriously though, I’m going to try and stop buying ~~new~~ old cameras for a while and get to know the ones I’ve now got. Lots of part 2 posts should be coming over the next few weeks.

Picked this one up after discovering that it’s got the “Super CCD” Fujifilm sensor, which lots of people highly rate. I was also very happy to be told it came with a 1GB XD card. I’ve got a 128MB one (for some reason), but with memory, bigger is always better. 1GB will store about 340 top resolution images on the F10, more than enough for me. As always, this review is in the form of photos I’ve taken, if you want details about the camera, links are provided in the see also section at the bottom.

All photos linked to Flickr album.

Initial Conclusion

I’ve only had this little beauty for a day, but I’m loving it right off the bat. Compared to the Olympus C4040Z, probably my favourite camera, this one is a lot smaller, and seems to focus a lot better and quicker. Even if the green light flashes, warning that I’m not in focus, I’ve had some shots that are fine to my eyes. I bought this one as a “shove in pocket in case I might need it” item and I’m planning on putting it through its outdoor paces very soon.

To answer my ongoing existential question: “is this one better than the C4040Z?”, my answer after one day is…

maybe it is.

Notes

Following notes are from Best settings for Fuji F10 DP Review thread:

For better or worse, with the F10 you will probably need to intervene with some manual adjustments. Luckily, you can combine manual ISO settings with automatic functions of the camera. The F10 does a rather poor job of automatic ISO selection! Luckily, it does a very good job of white balance selection.

First off, many people, including me, think the F10 overexposes slightly by default. Set the exposure balance to -1/3 for all conditions. You may need to set it to -2/3 for high contrast situations like partial sunlight.

Secondly, I seem to have a steady hand. I consider 1/30s to easily be handheld, and with something to lean on I can get useable 1/8s sometimes. So, you may want to bump ISO settings higher to get the high shutter speeds.

Finally, I don’t use the flash. I believe the F10 can take perfectly good photos in indoor conditions without it. Only if you needed to capture movement in dark conditions would it be required. So, keep flash supression off, to prevent the camera automatically enabling it.

1. Sunny day outdoors
Set ISO to 80, everything else auto. Might need exposure compensation to -2/3.

2. Cloudy day outdoors
As above with ISO at 100, maybe 200.

3. Daytime indoors
As above, ISO 200 if sunny, bright room, 400 otherwise.

4. Night time with bulb light indoors
Use ‘natural light’ mode. For some incandescent bulbs, may need whitebalance on incadescent. ISO 200 for directly lit surfaces, otherwise 400, may need 800 for darker areas. Use of any zoom will force ISO higher, or else get into tripod land.

5. Macromode outdoors
As normal daylight, but watch for the highlights if sunny and the auto-metering. Best to use spot metering I find, and hunt for the right exposure level.

6. Macromode indoors
As for outdoors, without the highlights problem. ISO probably 400.

7. Portrait indoors
Portrait mode, ISO 400.

8. Portrait outdoors
Portrait mode.

9. Landscape
Landscape mode, will need to boost ISO for full zoom on cloudy day to 200.

10. Night time outdoors with and without tripod
Annoying! Night mode has minimum 3s shutter. Natural light mode has maximum 1/4s shutter. There’s nothing in between! So, you can try ISO 1600 in natural light mode, and see if you can live with the noise. Or, you can try lower ISO in Night mode, but you’ll need something to lean on, or a tripod.

11. Fireworks
Did that just on last weekend. Tripod! Night mode (preferably with manual exposure control), low ISO and set it to 3s or maybe more. Then focus on something on the horizon (some lights) hold the button half pressed and turn the camera to the fireworks again and shoot (with self timer!). You can also try to focus on the fireworks.

12. Night time portraits with background ( Like Vegas )
Should work with night mode + slow sync or other flash mode (just try). The available flash modi depend on the setting of manual or automatic exposure time control. The portraited persons just shouldn’t move around. Their contours will affect the image during the whole exposure time, while their faces etc. only during flash.

13. Baby pictures indoors
I’d suggest portrait or natural light modi (depending on available light), not too high ISO but try to get faster shutter speeds, else use flash.

Updates

2025-03-03: Add Notes section with F10 tips

Fujifilm Finepix S4800 Review Part 1

2025-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

As with my last post, I’ve been wanting to take this out to test properly on a sunny day. The weather has had other ideas though and I can’t remember what the sun looks like! The first two photos below were taken a few weeks ago, by the way.

Anyway, I picked this up for £70 from Facebook Marketplace. I probably could have got one for £50 or less had I been prepared to wait (I wasn’t). So, this isn’t really a deal of the century, but as the old fella who sold it had taken great care of it, I thought the price was fair. The main draw for me was the 30x optical zoom. Five of the photos below take advantage of it.

All photos linked to full resolution album on Flickr.

Part 1 Conclusion

Out of the three cameras I’ve recently bought, this is the most expensive at £70. It’s also the most modern (2013) and has the most features. Everything seems to work perfectly well and the image quality is great. I’ll post a part 2 when the sun comes out and see how it compares to the F80EXR and the S8000fd. If you want more details, the links below have in depth reviews.

Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Review Part 1

2025-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

Since I bought a Fujifilm F80EXR I’ve been on the lookout for another Fujifilm camera with the very useful f button that gives access to the “photo mode” menu (taken from Photography Blog review):

There is also a small silver button with an F on it, which opens what Fujifilm call the Photo Mode menu. This allows you to control the file quality setting, ISO speed and colour settings (B&W, Chrome or Standard). I’m not really sure why these 3 settings alone should fall under the heading of Photo Mode, and things like white balance and sharpening are just part of the standard menu. And I’m undecided about whether it is a good idea or not.

Personally, I think it’s a great feature. Sadly, the Fujifilm S4800 camera from 2013, that I also have, did away with this menu. But, I digress…

I picked this one up from Facebook Marketplace (again) for £30. A fair price for an 8MP, 2007 camera, I think. I was planning on taking it out on a sunny day to test it as I did with the F80EXR and will also do with my S4800.

However, here in England, we haven’t seen the sun in over a week so that idea was dead in the water! Instead, I’ve selected a few random photos which I think give a bit of an idea about the sort of quality you can expect if you too decide to pick one up:

All photos linked to full resolution album on Flickr.

Part 1 Conclusion

You should know two things about me (when it comes to cameras). One, I love a bargain. Two, I love “older” cameras. I’m generally happy with 4MP plus cameras. My Olympus C4040Z, which I’ve owned for about twenty three years now, is the baseline that I judge any camera against. Weird, maybe, but that camera makes photos that I adore (if I manage to achieve focus that is).

So, I always ask myself, “is this one better than the C4040Z?”

In the case of the S8000fd, I have to say no, it’s not. It does have things that I like more though. An 18x optical zoom. A storage format that’s not defunct (SD vs Smartmedia). It has more “modern” features, and modes. By 2007, I think cameras were starting to lose their way a bit. Instead of competing against film cameras, the market for digital was already established and so manufacturers were moving toward making everything “easy”. Adding face detection, that’s what the fd in S8000fd stands for, by the way. It was new and exciting back then! What about the quality of the photos, you may ask….

Generally, the quality is perfectly acceptable to my eyes. I quite like the “graininess” this camera displays when the ISO is a bit on the high side. Push it too much and that like quickly turns to dislike though.

Should you get one? Yep, if it’s in good condition (mine is immaculate) and the price is £30 or less. If it’s any more than that, maybe not. Anyway, when (or if) the sun comes out I’ll post part 2 in better light.

Updates

2025-03-02: Link to review part 2

Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR Review Part 1

2025-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Introduction

I’ve been after an affordable, good quality point and shoot camera since my obsession with photography started a few weeks ago. This F80EXR came up on Facebook Marketplace and after a bit of research I decided it was worth the fifty quid the seller wanted. This morning, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone; walk the dog and test the camera.

Sample Photos

Photos not processed, only resized to 600px max width. Each image can be clicked to view full size on Flickr.

Conclusion

I like this camera. Today is only my first full day as its new owner, so I’ll post a part 2 when I’ve used it more. I messed about with it last night, but wasn’t happy with the quality. Apparently, you need to change some settings to get good low light performance (see notes below).

Link to Flickr F80EXR album is here

Notes

I’ve included a quote from the following thread as it seems very helpful for shooting in low light conditions. I’ll be writing another post once I’ve got my settings dialled in.

DPReview discussion:

In P mode, you cannot set the shutter speed; you have two menu choices, Programmed AE or Aperture priority. Choose Programmed AE.

ISO400 and Auto 400 are different. ISO400 forces the ISO to be at 400, which has more (intrusive) noise reduction than ISO100 or ISO200. Auto400 allows the camera to set ISO100 or ISO200 or ISO400. as appropriate to the shutter speed and aperture the light conditions permit. (Auto800 does the same, but allows the camera to go as high as ISO800 — and some of us regard that camera to be over-eager to push the ISO up and so we stop short of Auto800.)

The biggest point Kim has made, however, is to shoot in M size, repeat M size , not L size. In M size, the DR settings will be handled in hardware, and that is the F70/80’s best trick: it gives much better dynamic range than other compact cameras (other than the F200, which does the same trick). P mode in M size is effectively EXR mode with more user control; in L size, DR is handled in firmware, and the EXR sensor’s special capabilities are not used.

Once you are in P mode, M size , select a dynamic range setting with a smaller numeric value than the highest ISO the camera will set. I usually set ISO at Auto400 and DR at DR200; AutoDR is another good setting.

Experiment with film simulation modes. Provia is supposed to be the most neutral, and Fujifilm labels it STD on the menu. Velvia simulates the punch of slide (reversal) film, but some find it too Ektachrome-y. Velvia is lower contrast, softer, almost-pastel colors, and some photographers like that best. It is all a matter of taste.

And…

2) You want P mode, auto ISO 1600, DR400 , and M size (as Prime mentioned) for most of your shooting.

My Growing Camera Collection

2025-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

I think I may have a bit of a camera collecting problem. In about two weeks I’ve gone from having no cameras¹ to having five of the things!

From left to right:

Fujifilm S4800

Got this one on 18th January for £70 from Facebook Marketplace. Not spent a lot of time with it yet, but I’ll post a review once I have. I had it from an old fella who bought it brand new for his daughters wedding. It’s basically like new.

Olympus C4040Z

I’ve written two posts about this camera here and here. This camera will always have a special place in my heart. Taken loads of photos with it (mainly early 2000’s). If I could only keep one of these cameras, it might be this one. Who needs more than four megapixels anyway!?

Fujifilm F80EXR

Picked this up today for £50, also from Facebook Marketplace. Looks to be in great condition and came with a spare battery and case. Review should be coming within a few weeks.

Fujifilm JV90

Probably had this for about ten years. It was lost in the daughters bedroom, but resurfaced after we redecorated. Sadly, there’s some sort of scratch on the lens or sensor (most likely) and photos have a faint vertical line on the left hand side. In due time, I’ll post a review of it anyway. Only really noticeable in dark shots.

Sanyo VPC-W800

Had this longer than the JV90. Fifteen years at least. I’ve written a post about it here. It’s certainly not going to win any awards, but it has some charm that I like.

What’s Going On?

A few weeks back I suddenly became interested in photography. I think this was mainly due to blogging again, and wanting to have some images to complement the words in my posts. I would spend up to (about) fifteen minutes searching for the perfect image. As I was doing this, I must have realised that I could also supply images for some posts, hence the sudden interest in photography. I’m firmly in the canp that believes that photography does not have to be objectively good / perfect. Imperfections are entirely acceptable to me. Preferable, actually. Reality often has rough edges, so should photos. e

The photo beneath this section is (from left to right again) of me, a Scottish fella whose name escapes me at the moment and a Polish fella called Bogdan. I must have asked some other drunkard to take this pic on my Sony Ericsson K750i. The picture is low quality as was always the case in low light back then (and also now often). But, I would argue this is a great photo. One of my favourites of work buddies, out of thousands of them.

My ultimate plan is to have two (maybe three) good² cameras for different use cases. A pocketable, point-and-shoot one, and a bigger one with a better zoom.

Footnotes

¹ Three of the cameras I had in my house, but they all took some finding.

² Good is subjective of course.

Using the Sanyo Xacti VPC-W800 in 2025

2025-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

2008 Digicam

For the last week or so, I’ve been feeling a desire to take some photos. I’ve just bought a second-hand Fujifilm Finepix S4800 (review coming), but knew I had a couple of old cameras (digicams) knocking about the house. My daughter found the one this post is about at the weekend. This little fella hasn’t seen daylight for about five years, I suspect. No charger could be found but it turned out an old PSP charger works fine.

As there is very little information on the internet about this, I thought I’d upload a few photos (and a link to my Flickr album at the bottom of the page) and some comments. Specs are listed in the Digital Camera Database link at the bottom.

Sample Indoor Photos

Full resolution photo linked on each image.

Saturation set to normal:

Saturation set to high:

Macro mode:

Comments

The first thing I must praise this little camera for is that the battery still works! I charged it for about two hours and have taken quite a few photos, and it’s still going (1 bar left of 3).

This camera is a point-and-shoot type affair. There are different presets for white balance, sharpness, saturation (see above), a macro mode. You can also adjust the WB using the D-pad which is nice.

I’ll probably update this post in a week or so, after I’ve taken some daylight shots. Or, add a part 2 post if this little Sanyo deserves it…

Conclusion

Not made up my mind yet. It’s very compact which is a plus, pretty fast to turn on, but, it quite often struggles to focus. That might be me though!

Updates

2025-02-02: Link to Flickr album on each photo.

Using the Olympus Camedia C4040Z in 2025 Part 2

2025-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

All images are linked to full resolution photos on Flickr

A tree. Not really a lot more say. Other than, I love how this camera captures a pure blue sky. Reminds me of shooting with a 35mm.

This was supposed to be a close up of a spider. I wasn’t quick enough and he disappeared into the gap between the bricks. Couldn’t be bothered to wait for him so it’s just some bricks instead.

Personally, I think this one is really impressive. Just look at that lighting. Boxes everywhere as we’re redecorating the daughters bedroom.

Shot this while the daughter was eating her supper. Took about five photos with different light compensations and this was the best one.

This is Jack, the subject of this post. Again, quite a nice photo for a quick spur-of-the-moment shot.

This camera can still deliver some amazing photos. I’ve done no post processing on any of the above, only resized to 600px width as in my last post. In more capable hands, I’m sure it’d perform at an exceptional level.

Problems

Sadly, there are some problems:

Battery life is terrible!
- Taken about a hundred photos and now it keeps turning off. Maybe that was normal for 2001

Dead pixels
- On dark shots, I’m getting about 20 dead pixels. It’s an old camera so not surprising really. In daylight shots, I’ve not been able to notice them.

Obsolete storage format
- SmartMedia cards are no longer manufactured. If my 64MB card gives up the ghost, the whole camera is unusable.

Should You Buy One?

Of course you should! If you see one for a few quid (up to 20), take a chance. There’s a reason why lots of people still love this camera…

See here for part 1 if you missed it.

Updates

2025-02-02: Add links to Flickr C4040Z album

Using the Olympus Camedia C4040Z in 2025 Part 1

2025-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Wanting a New Camera

For some reason, I got it into my head a couple of days ago that I wanted a new camera. A proper one. For many years, I’ve been a phone camera guy. Not a photography camera guy. If someone / something did something stupid or funny, whip the phone out, take a pic, done. Of course, before the advent of smartphones, most people had a dedicated camera, myself included. The “best” one I ever had was the Olympus Camedia C4040Z, bought for about twenty quid off a workmate, circa 2003. I took a lot of photos on that thing. So in 2025, I decided I wanted a camera like that. Not a pro one. That would be wasted on me. Just a half decent one with decent optics and preferably a decent zoom.

Hey, You’ve Got a Camera!

All images are linked to full resolution photos on Flickr

Being a cheapskate, I went on the other half’s Facebook and searched marketplace to get a lie of the land in terms of availability and price. Found quite a few between £50 and £100, which was what I was happy to pay. But then I remembered the old 4040Z which had done the rounds with my son and daughter. But, where was it now?

I won’t keep you in suspense, dear reader. Found it under the bed in a box!

Where the Hell is my Smartmedia Card Reader?

Gave the camera a bit of clean, checked battery status and it turned out they take four AA batteries, which someone had left in so they had corroded slightly. Not too much luckily as the poor, neglected thing has lived inside at room temperature. Replaced the batteries with new ones and fired her up. Still working, that’s good. Found the amazing site mentioned in See Also section at the bottom and tried to get some decent shots in low light. As I wrote earlier, I am not, never have been, and probably never will be a good photographer. But, I would like to take better photos. One thing that has always eluded me is being able to take a photo in low light that doesn’t look terrible. That’s if you can see anything at all! It turned out you can easily adjust the light level on the camera D-pad. Wish I’d had known that back in 2003. Oh well…

Got some photos that look good on the tiny 1.8” screen, but I’ll be damned if I can find my smartmedia card reader. I’ve found five memory card readers that will read everything but smartmedia. Sod’s law in action. Anyway, Mrs simonh.uk has lovingly bought me one from Amazon which should arrive tommorrow. Shortly thereafter, I’ll post part 2 with some new photos on this now twenty four year old vintage camera.

The four photos in this post were taken on the 4040Z between 2003-2008. I’ve resized to 600px width to keep the page load speed acceptable. Usually I convert to webp but decided against that for this post.

Updates

2025-02-02: Add links to Flickr C4040Z album