Fujifilm FinePix HS30EXR Digital Camera Review

Noise Reduction

For consistency's sake, most of our testing requires deactivation of extra shooting enhancement like sharpness correction or, in this case, noise reduction. When configured like this, the HS30 is very weak.

Fujifilm is at least honest about their noise reduction settings, at least we assume so, because the "Low" noise reduction setting appears to make little or no effort at all to remove noise. Artifacting rates start off at a too-high value of 0.85% at ISO 100, then immediately cross 1.00% at ISO 200. By ISO 800 noise is already weighing in at an unacceptable 2.51%, then the algorithm kicks things into high gear, reeling in noise for ISO 1600, but then spiking again at 3200 for a maximum full resolution noise rate of 2.89%.

So the result of this noise distribution is a graph with two "peaks," one at ISO 800, and one at ISO 3200. Remember that, it'll become important on the Dynamic Range page. More on how we test noise.

ISO Options

The native sensitivity spectrum ranges from ISO 100 to 3200. Why you should want to go higher than that—considering this camera's performance—is beyond us, but the option is there: ISO 6400 and 12800 are unlocked, but each cause a drop in resolution.