Page 32: Pro Low-light Mode Photo Gallery by Jacky Lee at pbase.com

Page 32: Pro Low-light Mode

Fujifilm Finepix HS10 review - Page 32: Pro Low-Light Mode

Each time the shutter button is pressed, the camera takes four shots and combines them to form a single exposure. A single exposure may not be created with some scenes if the subject or camera moves during shooting. Frame coverage is reduced in this mode.

All photos were taken at handheld conditions.

P mode (0EV)	Pro Low-light Mode (better colour and contrast than P mode)	100% crop comparison (sharper image in Pro Low-light Mode)
P mode (0EV)	Pro Low-light Mode (less saturated than P Mode)	100% crop comparison (sharper image in Pro Low-light Mode)
P mode (0EV) (completely handshake!)	P mode (-1EV) (less handshake due to faster shutter speed)	Pro Low-light Mode (less saturated than P Mode)
100% crop comparison (sharper image but more noise in Pro Low-light Mode)	P mode (0EV)	P mode (-1EV)
Pro Low-light Mode	100% crop comparison (sharpest image in Pro Low-light Mode)	P mode (0EV) (handshake again!)
P mode (-1EV) (still a little bit blur although the shutter speed is faster)	Pro Low-light Mode (what a pity that no manual ISO could be adjusted!)	100% crop comparison (sharpest image in Pro-low Light Mode again)
P mode (0EV)	P mode (-1EV)	Pro Low-light Mode (what a pity that no exposure compensation could be adjusted!)
100% crop comparison (colour shift in Pro Low-Light Mode?)	P mode (0EV)	P mode (-1EV)
Pro Low-light Mode	100% crop comparison (sharpest image in Pro Low-light Mode, but a little bit over-exposed in the bright areas)	P mode (0EV)
P mode (-1EV)	Pro Low-light Mode	100% crop comparison (sharpest image in Pro- Low Light Mode again)
Pro Low-light Mode (a little bit handshake at 1/34s at 170mm focal length)	Pro Low-light Mode (noise level is well maintained)	Pro Low-light Mode (good contrast!)
Pro Low-light Mode (good contrast!)	Pro Low-light Mode (no noise in ISO800)	Pro Low-light Mode (easy to take clear photo in low light situation)
Pro Low-light Mode (less saturated)	Pro Low-light Mode (a very clean image)	Pro Low-light Mode (well balance between the bright and dark areas)

comment |

Ion-Christopher		06-May-2014 05:34
I must say the low light capabilities at this point in the evolution of digital has pretty much equaled what I remember 35mm film to be - if you were being very careful! This quality might be enough to make me fall back in love - with photography again. Other than necessary for business - gave it up as a fine-art in 1980!

Amoi		21-Jan-2013 16:36
Hi Jacky. It's been a year since I have found this very useful site of yours and I still haven't read all, partly because I hit the road more than read manuals and tips. But yours is always very helpful. Thanks! I guess the focus ring works well for me, except, well, yes maybe in low-light shooting. But I've captured awesome bird photos using the focus ring, when the birds are perched and relaxed. Take care!

Jacky Lee		02-Apr-2011 23:34
Dear Caio, The sensor size of HS10 is 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm) while that of HS20 is 1/2" (6.4 x 4.8 mm). In terms of area, HS20 is about 10% larger than HS10. Theoretically, dynamic range would be wider and noise in high ISO would be lesser in HS20. Jacky LEE

Caio -Brasil		01-Apr-2011 13:24
Dear Jacky, After you send the message I re-read again and realized that the hs-20 sensor is 1 / 2 therefore greater than the HS10 is not 2 / 3 but 1/2/3. So really Sensor HS20 will be slightly larger. I apologize for my mistake. Thanks Caio

Jacky Lee		05-Mar-2011 15:31
Hi Caio, Thank you for your appreciation. My little pieces of comment over this camera could be summarized as follows: (1) HS10 offers 24mm with 30x zoom (to 720mm). I am a user of SLR for nearly 20 years and has been seeking for a single lens/prosumer camera with wide angle and long zoom capability for daily use. I had Tamron 28-300 in the past but still it is too heavy to be a daily-carry camera. I have been waiting and waiting, from the 10x megazoom era, 20x megazoon era and now 30x megazoom era. It is really a good news for me since HS10 starts from 24mm, which is very useful for taking landscape / architecture photos. (2) In terms of sensor size, although there are many critisms about why Fujifilm did not choose a large sensor in HS10 (e.g., 1/1.7") as a flagship model, I don't think that the 1/2.3" BSI CMOS does a poor job. For sure is that if Fujifilm chose 1/1.7", the image quality may be better, but the drawback is that the overall size and weight of HS10 would also be increased to such a degree that it may not be suitable as a daily-carry camera. Small camera means that it is better for you to take street snapshots with long zoom end since your subjects would not easily realize what photos you are taking. (3) In terms of colour, HS10 always produces natural gradations, both in sunny and cloudy days, which is not the same taste as the Fuji SuperCCD (like slide). Personally I love this arragement because it leaves more flexibility in post-editing. If you don't like post-editing, you can still produce saturated images by setting HS10 in slide mode or adjust the "Colour and Tone" setting inside the HS10 menu. (4) High ISO performance is very good. I don't expect a 1/2.3" sensor could deliver such high quality in high ISO. The newly developed BSI technology and the in-built jpg processing engine in HS10 should be appreciated in this aspect. (5) CA control is excellent. I can hardly find any CA in photos with high contrasty edge. If you take raw, CA will not be corrected. (6) Distortion control is also good in jpg. You can hardly find any noticeable distortion in wide angle shot in daily use. For sure is that if you are serious architectual photographer, you would choose DSLR or even lens with manual perspective control. Distortion remains there in raw images. (7) Lens flare control is nice. In most of the time, the lens flare is acceptable while sometimes you would find lens flare in terms of some small circles at the opposite diagonal side of the light source, which could easily be removed in PS. (8) Light fall-off is not a big issue in wide angle shot in daily use. (9) HS10 is not a camera for serious protrait shots although it can zoom to 720mm because the min. focus distance is 2m. The DoF and bokeh effect could not be comparable to DSLR. In my experience, for head shot or half body shot, 300mm is desirable because the min. focus distance could be shorter, thus resulting in a blurrer background. Despite this, DoF and bokeh effect in macro or super macro shots are quite impressive because you can get closer to the subject to create an even blurrer background. (10) Image stabilization is rather effective. (11) Built-in flash is reliable in most of the times, but sometimes images would be over-exposued if you adjust auto ISO 1600 or higher. I usually set auto ISO 400 when using built-in flash. (12) Focus speed is acceptable in properly-lit situations, but rather slow in poorly-lit ones, and sometimes even fail to focus unless you activate the focus assist lamp. Focus assist lamp is not always desirable because it may disturb your subjects. Remember to switch off the focus assist lamp when you take street snapshots. (13) MF ring is only a gimmick, which is not useful in my opinion. (14) Sweep panorama in handheld situation is not good. You may have to try many many times to get a successful panorama shots. (15) Pro-low mode is very good in low-light scenes without tripod. (16) Multi Motion Capture and Motion Remover Mode are not as good as demonstrated in Fujifilm website. There are many restictions for such modes to deliver successful results. (17) Black and White mode is good. (18) Final words: HS10 is good for daily shots, street snapshots, landscape, architecture, close-up, flower and night shots, but not good for protrait, sport, fast-moving objects and baby. I have been using HS10 for about 1 year and am very satisfied with the image quality bearing in mind of its relatively small in size. HS10 was the only model that offered 30x at the beginning of the year of 2010, but now more competitors join the battle in the year of 2011, including Canon SX30 (35x: 24-840mm), Sony HX100V (30x: 27-810mm), Nikon P500 (36x: 22.5-810mm), Olympus SP800 (30x: 28-840mm) and of course its upgraded version the HS20 (still 24-720mm) and S4000 (30x: 24-720mm) from the same brand. The major advantages of HS20 over its competitors include the highest resolution (16M pixel) and largest sensor (1/2 inch). Theoretically, the performance in high ISO of HS20 may be better due to its large sensor, although HS10 has the lowest pixel density. Like most of you, I am also looking forward to seeing the performance of HS20 on whether it would perform better than HS10.

Caio		04-Mar-2011 12:25
Dear Friend, Thanks for such a thorough analysis of the HS10. I bought one after seeing your wonderful pictures. What was your final conclusion about this camera? It seems you are so good photograph with any camera that you get great pictures. Are you being good or is the camera that is good? Thank you! Caio - Brazil

WHMITTY		20-Jun-2010 16:45
Hi Jacky, I, like so many others have been trying to decide among the Fujifilm HS10, Panasonic FZ35/38, Canon SX20is and even the Sony HX1 bridge cameras. After much research and finally finding these results of you're most painstaking and outstanding efforts at testing I am very close to selecting the HS10. In any case your results show that if a person takes the time to learn how to use the HS10 that very good photos can be had under adverse circumstances. Thanks again for your tireless efforts!

Guest		24-Apr-2010 18:27
Thanks alot for your work on these Jacky and posting them so fast after my post. Pictures look nice although i expected the HS10 to do a little better in this mode than on P-mode. Thanks alot again for your trouble. Beautiful city you live in. Greetings !

Jacky Lee		22-Apr-2010 07:46
Sorry for keeping you waiting for the photos. Due to some unforseeable circumstances, I could not manage myself to take some night shots using this mode to illustrate how well/poor of this function. I will try my best to do so and share with you in a couple of days.

Guest		21-Apr-2010 19:41
Hey Jacky, is it possible to test this pro low light mode? I have been following your review for a couple of days and noticed you keep this part empty? I am kind of curious if it is better than making a normal picture with manual exposure settings? Thanks also for your extensive tests.

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