Color (8.06)
The Fujifilm FinePix F-series of digital cameras traditionally does below average at producing realistic colors. To see how the F470 held to this legacy, we took several pictures of an industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart and uploaded them into Imatest Imaging Software to analyze the camera’s rendered colors. Imatest modified the 24-tile color chart to show the difference between the ideal colors from the original chart and the colors produced by the Fujifilm FinePix F470. In the modified chart below, the outer square of each tile shows the F470’s color; the inner vertical rectangle shows what the color should look like. The inner square shows the ideal color, corrected for luminance.
For readers who have difficulty distinguishing between the outer square and the inner rectangle, the chart below shows the FinePix F470’s colors as circles and the ideal colors as squares. The most accurate colors are the ones that only look like circles. The more inaccurate colors have lines between the two shapes showing the degree of error; the longer the line, the more inaccurate the camera’s reproduction of that particular color.
This digital camera performed fairly well, earning an 8.09 overall color score. The chart above shows some discrepancies in the red and blue colors, but most of the colors stand pretty accurate. The F470 had a mean color error of 7.44 and over-saturated by 14.7 percent, which is average for an entry-level compact model. Overall, the Fujifilm F470 departed from its F-series legacy by producing colors a bit more realistic.
Still Life Scene
Below is an image of our retro still life scene, recorded with the Fujifilm FinePix F470.
Resolution (3.08)
Fujifilm included a 1/2.5-inch Super CCD in the FinePix F470. With 6 effective megapixels, the camera should theoretically be able to produce 8x10-inch enlargements with string detail and reasonable sharpness. With the F470, we snapped several shots of an Industry Standards Organization 12233 chart at various focal lengths and uploaded the files into Imatest Imaging Software, which reads the images and determines how sharp the picture is in units of line widths per picture height (lw/ph). This unit describes how many theoretical alternating black and white lines can fit across a frame both horizontally and vertically without blending into gray.
The sharpest shot we attained was taken at an aperture of f/4.6 at 14.6mm, set to ISO 64. Imatest Imaging Software concluded that the F470’s sharpest shot resolved 1520 lw/ph horizontally while over-sharpening by 3.81 percent. On the vertical plane, there were 1330 lw/ph and the image was over-sharpened by 3.68 percent.
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 earned a 3.08 overall resolution score, which is a better performance than the F440 but certainly nowhere near what the F10 accomplished. With these kinds of readings on a 6-megapixel count, the Fuji F470 won’t make poster-sized enlargements or handle excessive cropping, but should be able to make 4 x 6 and 5 x 7-inch prints just fine.
Noise – Auto ISO (4.24)
Because the Fujifilm FinePix F470’s target audience is point-and-shooters, the automatic ISO setting will probably get a lot of traffic. We tested it in optimal lighting to see how much noise it would produce. The F470 actually did fairly well, producing images with reasonably low noise. The resulting noise slightly surpassed the performance attained with the camera at its manual ISO 100 setting. For this achievement, this FinePix earned a 4.24 score.
Noise - Manual ISO (4.81)
While other FinePix models have wide ISO ranges, the F470 is still stuck with a standard 64-400 span. We tested the camera at each of its four manual ISO settings and plotted their noise on the chart below. The horizontal axis shows the ISO ratings and the vertical axis shows the resultant noise.
Like most compact digital cameras, the noise began low at the ISO 64 setting and slowly climbed to a noisier state at the 400 rating. While past Fujifilm digital cameras have performed much better at this setting (and offered higher sensitivities), the F470 still performed respectably when compared to entry-level compact models from other manufacturers.
Low Light (3.5)
Because not everyone shoots in optimal lighting all the time, we tested the Fujifilm FinePix F470 at four different levels of low light. We tried shooting the tests in the so-called “Manual” mode, but pictures turned out under-exposed because the shutter speed wouldn’t slow down more than a quarter-second. We ended up using the Night scene mode, which used longer shutter speeds and exposed images properly. However, the white balance preset could not be selected in the Night scene mode, so colors suffered a bit.
The first test was done under 60 lux, which is a common lighting situation that photographers will find themselves in at a night club. The second test was done at 30 lux, which is about all the light from a 40-watt bulb. The third test was at 15 lux, which is a soft glow from the night light. The last test was done at 5 lux; this is not a common shooting situation, but its results give us an idea of how the Super CCD and Real Photo Processor perform.
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60 Lux
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30 Lux
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15 Lux
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5 Lux
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Although the F470 kept its images illuminated when using its Night scene mode, the colors look horrific. All of the colors lean toward an orange hue as the mean color error goes from 18.4 at 60 lux to a whopping 34.4 at the darker 5 lux. The pictures are also incredibly noisy; below is a chart showing exactly how noisy each image is. The horizontal axis shows the exposure time and the vertical axis shows the noise.
At 60 lux, the camera used a 0.2-second shutter speed and over-saturated the image by 41.7 percent while producing noise uncharacteristic of most FinePix models. It only gets worse. The shutter speed slows to a half-second at 30 lux, then to 1 second at 15 lux. Colors remain terribly saturated and the images get steadily noisier. To complete the set, the F470’s 5 lux test used a 2-second exposure and produced a massive amount of noise along with its discoloration due to the 61.7 percent over-saturation.
Auto WB in low light (60 lux)
Incandescent WB in low light (60 lux)
This digital camera definitely isn’t made for shooting in low light. Consumers have to choose between getting a proper exposure using the Night scene mode or getting decent colors with the “Manual” mode. We focused on the lighting in this test, so the colors simply had to suffer. However, photographers who want to snap shots at their friend’s dim cathedral wedding – without disturbing the peace with an awful flash – may want to look into other FinePix models that are designed to handle low light scenes.
Dynamic Range (6.5)
Ideally, a photograph should show detail in both the brightest and darkest items in the scene – there ought to be some texture in the snow on a snowman's face, and in the coal that makes its eyes. Practically, though, there are plenty of scenes that have too much difference between lights and darks – too broad a dynamic range – for any camera to faithfully reproduce. There are also many scenes that overwhelm some cameras, but not others.
Our dynamic range test measures the widest range that a camera can record. Though it's not likely users will be able to achieve their cameras' maximum dynamic range in everyday shooting, the test offers a basis for comparing cameras. We photograph a Stouffer target, which is made up of a row of progressively darker rectangles. We shoot the target at a range of exposures at all the cameras' ISO settings, and run each image through the Imatest software dynamic range module. We compare Imatest's results for range at high and low quality. High quality shows no more than 1/10 of a stop of noise, and low quality shows no more than one full stop of noise.
Fujifilm cameras typically perform well on this test. The F470's best score was at ISO 100, not at its lowest ISO rating of 64. At both settings, the F470 compares well with other compacts – some others do a bit better than the F470, but it's among the best. At ISO 400, where many compact cameras' performance truly fades, the F470 also looks good. While the F470 is a distinctively good performer among cameras that have a maximum ISO of 400, it's easy to find cameras that out-perform the F470 at ISO 400. Most cameras that are designed for low light – ones that have settings for ISO 800, 1000 or 1600 – generally do better at 400 than the F470.
FinePix F470 Dynamic Range - ISO 64
FinePix F470 Dynamic Range - ISO 400
Speed / Timing
Start-to-shot (7.11)
The F470's start-up routine includes extending its lens and getting its software rolling. It takes a comparatively long 2.75 seconds to finish those chores. Users who hope to catch fleeting moments need to keep the F470 turned on. Otherwise, they'll miss their shots while waiting for the lens to pop out.
Shot-to-Shot (9.01)
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 shot 5 frames in 2.5 seconds, for a 2 frames per second burst rate. It took 10 seconds for the camera to record enough of the images to allow another shot. Two frames per second is an unusually slow burst rate, and probably not helpful for sports or action shots.
Shutter-to-Shot (7.62)
The F470 typically takes 0.51 seconds to focus and get off a shot after the shutter is pressed. That's a long delay, and we suggest that users press the shutter halfway to get the camera to focus, and then wait for the moment they want the shot before pressing the shutter the rest of the way. That yields a delay of about 0.1 seconds, which is much more manageable when people are moving.
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