Photography News 03

Camera review FujifilmX20 The body of the X20 is relatively big, and this leaves plenty of space for buttons so it feels more like a CSC in use than a compact. All the main shooting settings are available on the dials and buttons, with ISO by default on the top Fn button, although there are nine alternatives for this button if you prefer. There’s also direct access to drive mode, white-balance, AF mode and AF area selection, and for just about anything else there’s the quick menu. Also making the X20 feel less like a compact is the optical viewfinder. This is a hybrid arrangement that includes an LCD to display the focus area and shooting settings. It’s offset from the lens axis, so there are parallax issues when you move in close to your subject and the viewfinder focus area isn’t much use in this case – if you switch to macro mode, the viewfinder display is disabled. It’s easy enough to move to the LCD screen though, since an eye sensor automatically switches between the two. Fujifilm claims that the X20 can focus in as little as 0.06 seconds, and it’s certainly quick in good light. It uses phase detection combined with contrast detection, and this makes lens movement quick, with little hunting. Manual focusing is less user-friendly because, with no ring on the lens, you have

NikonCoolpixA

The Coolpix A is beautifully built. The body feels superb in the hand, while the lens collapses when not in use to make it very pocketable. For users of Nikon DSLRs, the controls andmenus will feel generally familiar, although the small body obviously means compromises. The main dial controls all the key settings in combination with ISO and exposure compensation buttons to the left of the LCD screen, and an ‘i’ button activates an on-screen interface for other settings. In terms of handling, it’s difficult to fault. Focusing isn’t the Coolpix A’s strong point, and a lot of hunting even in good light makes it slower than any of the other compacts in our group. Even if you refocus on the same point, it hunts a long way from the focal point to lock on the second time. The hunting is worse in macro AF mode, which effectively allows the lens to hunt through its full range. Macro mode is needed for anything closer than 50cm, so with a fixed focal length equivalent to 28mm, you’re more than likely to venture into this range even if you’re not a close-up specialist. Manual focusing isn’t any more helpful – there’s a focusing ring on the lens, which makes it comfortable, but no on-screen aids like magnification or focus peaking, so you’re trusting your eyesight and the LCD’s resolution.

to use the control wheel on the back, and precision isn’t easy with this. On-screen focus peaking helps though. Overall, exposures were excellent, and the dynamic range impressive, even in JPEGs – shadows and highlights were almost never clipped, even with contrasty scenes. There’s more room for recovery in Raw files too. It’s also worth shooting Raw for maximum resolution. The relatively large X-Trans sensor ensures there’s a good amount of detail in JPEGs, but the in-camera processing can cause blocking of fine details. Raw files are softer straight out of the camera, but detail is preserved better and the best results are from Raw files carefully sharpened in Lightroom. In low light, there’s no real worry in increasing the ISO sensitivity to 1600. The top native setting of ISO 3200 has plenty of noise but is still useable, but into the expanded settings of 6400 and 12,800 – only available with JPEGs – fine details are lost, so it’s best to avoid using these.

Where the Coolpix A comes into its own is image quality. With a DSLR-sized sensor that has no optical low-pass filter, combined with a high-quality prime lens, pictures are packed with detail, far more than from most cameras of this size. Without an optical low- pass filter, there’s the risk of moiré patterning, and I did see some in test shots – in JPEG files, the camera’s processing compensated, but it remained in Raw files. Nevertheless, it’s worth shooting Raw because the images are much sharper than JPEGs with just default Lightroom sharpening. The large sensor is good for low-light shooting, and you can happily push the ISO sensitivity up to 3200. There’s some noise at this level, but it has very little impact on the image. Upwards from here, grain increases and obscures fine detail, but there’s still a lot of definition in the images. Overall, the Coolpix A performs superbly when it comes to image quality, but the fixed focal length may not suit everyone, and the asking price is high.

SPECS

SHOOTING SPEEDS Single, continuous 4fps LCD SCREEN 3in with 921k dots STORAGE SD, SDHC, SDXC DIMENSIONS 111.0x64.3x40.3mm WEIGHT 299g including battery and memory card

AUTOFOCUSMODES Face-priority, normal area, wide area, subject-tracking EXPOSURE COMPENSATION +/-5EV in 1/3EV steps, AEB +/- 2EV, 3 frames in 1/3, 2/3 or 1EV steps SHUTTER 30secs-1/2000sec METERING PATTERNS Matrix, center-weighted, spot

PRICE £679 CONTACT www.nikon.co.uk SENSOR

LCD SCREEN 2.8in with 460k dots STORAGE SD, SDHC, SDXC, UHS-I compatible DIMENSIONS 117.0x69.6x56.8mm WEIGHT 353g including battery and memory card

AUTOFOCUSMODES Multi, area, tracking EXPOSURE COMPENSATION

PRICE £399 CONTACT www.fujifilm.co.uk SENSOR 2/3in 12-megapixel X-Trans CMOS II with EXR Processor II IMAGE DIMENSIONS 4000x3000 pixels ISORANGE

+/-2EV in 1/3EV steps, AEB 3 frames in 1/3, 2/3 or 1EV steps SHUTTER 30secs-1/4000sec METERING PATTERNS Multi, spot, average SHOOTING SPEEDS 3-12fps

16.2-megapixel DX format CMOS, EXPEED 2 processor IMAGE DIMENSIONS 4928x3264 pixels ISORANGE 100-6400 (100-25,600 extended)

100-3200 (100-12,800 extended, JPEG only)

PROS Excellent image quality for a compact, well built and easy to use CONS AF is slow, the big sensor and prime lens come at a high price

PROS A lot of direct access control, hybrid viewfinder, quick focusing CONS Relatively large for a compact camera

Image quality and ISO performance

ISO 100

ISO 800

ISO 100

ISO 800

JPEGDETAIL

RAWDETAIL

ISO 3200

ISO 12,800

ISO 3200

ISO 12,800

JPEGDETAIL

RAWDETAIL

Photography News | Issue 3