Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Hs20EXR Review -- Pt7. "P" Mode.

This is the second mode that I have currently settled on as a good place to start using the new camera. If the EXR mode seems a little confusing, I can understand as like me a lot of us are now having to learn to use a whole different skill set for the HS20. It would have been this way with the previous EXR sensored cameras as well I should imagine.
For those of us familiar with the HS10 then P mode on the HS20 will seem very familiar, and may in fact be a good starting point for those new to the camera.
I set my camera's P mode as follows:
From the Shooting Menu

  • ISO 100 as a starting point.
  • Image size = Medium @ 4:3
  • Image Quality = F (fine)
  • Dynamic Range = DR400%
  • Film Simulation = Standard (change yours to suit)
  • WB Shift = Default
  • Colour = Mid ( but I am currently trying it a high)
  • Tone = Std
  • Sharpness = Hard
  • Noise Reduction = low



From the Setup Menu:

  • MF Focus Check = Off
  • Face recognition = Off
  • Face Detection = Off.
External Control Buttons.

  • WB = Auto (change as required for differing light sources)Note WB (Incandescent)  for standard light bulbs works very accurately, more so than leaving camera set to Auto.
  • Af = Center
  • AF Focusing = Continuous (Faster focus, try tracking focus as well)
  • AE = Average or spot (Spot for telephoto & average for shorter focal lengths
That's the current setup. I will update these settings as required if it seems that there are better alternatives.
This setup may not suit everyone so experiment with the settings until you settle on those that your happy with.
There are some images here to view, shot using the above settings. As you can see from the dark nature of some of them the camera has a tendency to underexpose in P mode. It seems to do the opposite when using EXR. No matter which mode you are using you need to be very aware of what the camera is doing. In the images in the album, I left white balance at normal, this was a mistake as using the shade setting would have been more appropriate for the conditions. Monitoring Ev is also very important as the camera is very sensitive to light changes ( or at least the one I have is).

8 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Isn't it a pitty having a 16mp camera and using only 'half' of it?

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  2. Not really,
    It has some very nice features when used in EXR Dynamic Range mode, in that it has much increased DR which can sometimes mean the difference between a good and average shot. Its still 16mp, it just combines two slightly different ISO rates to get a well averaged dynamic range.Using half the pixels for the two different levels. (One form of pixel binning.)
    Check out Fuji's description of how it works. Low light is where this is most helpful.
    I currently shoot the HS20 EXR almost exclusively in manual mode (its an outstanding manual shooter) with EXR Resolution Priority as the backup (this is used in 16mp mode)when things need a little more speed, such as fast moving objects.

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  3. Do you have the same experience that the camera - with bright light in 'p' mode tends to overexpose?
    I often have it set to ev -1 to get a well balanced shot.

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  4. Yes,
    P Mode seems to overexpose all the time. There have been occasions when I have used -2.ooEv and that still wasnt really enough.
    The answer generally is to change to manual mode and set the camera to better suit the conditions. I rarely use P mode like I did on the HS10.
    I have it set now for high ISO, lowlight shooting only, as I find the camera gives much better results when set to EXR modes.

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  5. i haven't experimented much yet with the exr mode.
    But the HR does a better job then P?
    I know, manual is always better, but sometimes, there's just no time...

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  6. I understand what you mean :)
    I have found that P mode with the HS20 doesn't seem to yield as good a result as the EXR mode does. Resolution seems a little off and noise seems less well balanced than when using EXR Res Priority.
    Because of this I have stayed away from the P mode as an instant got option other than for low-light work. You do however get a larger ISO range in P mode and if this is an important element then you need to decide which mode is going to be used and for what.Dont forget that you can setup aperture or shutter priority as well if need be.
    The following page from Fuji shows how the EXR system works and why thats the key mode for this camera.
    http://www.fujifilm.co.nz/products/digital_feature.asp?id=2&sid=1&pid=1021&fid=1225

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  7. hi Ralph
    I am a little confused about how to set the optimum DR setting. The camera seems to default to 100%. I note that you mention 400%. is there any downside to having a high DR setting permanently such as 400%? When would you set it to 100% and when would you set it to a higher value? IE I do not know how to choose the optimum DR setting
    Regards
    Stefan

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  8. Hi Stefan
    Theres no down side to having 400%DR.

    The camera defaults to 100% but if you select 400% rather than Auto DR you will find the camera stays on whatever you set. You can have DR400% right up to ISO3200 after that it will only allow DR100% until you drop the ISO.

    The thing to remember with increased DR is that you get preserved highlights and more shadow detail in brightly full sun type of days. I more overcast or variable weather there wont be as much gain in the shadow/highlight detail. Essentially its best used in the very bright light scenes, but there no real downside to having it set at 400%, I leave mine there and a lot of fellow HS series owners do the same.

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