dpreview reviews Fujifilm Finepix F50fd 12MP digital camera
As the replacement for the Fujifilm F30/F31fd, a camera that has reached an almost legendary status since its launch back in 2006, the Fujifilm F50fd has some big shoes to fill. If anything deserves to be called a 'classic' camera in the shortlived world of digital compact cameras it would have to be the Fujifilm F30/F31fd. It wasn't very pretty, it wasn't very feature packed and it wasn't even very cheap. But the F30/F31fd produced some of the best results we've ever seen in a compact camera, and was leaps and bounds ahead of all its competitors when it came to low light / high ISO performance, proving that just because a camera has a small sensor it doesn't have to be completely useless at anything over ISO 400.
The F30/F31fd's outstanding performance in low light was the result of some clever technology (Super CCD sensor and Real Photo Processor) on the one hand and Fujifilm's admirable refusal to succumb to the pressure to compete in the 'megapixel race'. In an almost unique attempt to optimize image quality (rather than marketing potential) they limited the F30/F31fd's resolution to 6 megapixels, on a sensor that is slightly bigger than the competition's...
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