HS20 On Order

I sent off the order and payment for the HS20 on Tuesday this week. Delivery is supposed to be 3 to 5 working days so hopefully it will arrive by Tuesday next week.


Why the HS20 given all the bad reports about this camera? 

• 1 -  Fuji is obviously aware of some of the problems, and they have responded with a firmware update which seems to sort the incorrect heat warnings.
• 2 - After carefully looking at the other alternatives, Sony, Nikon etc it became evident that the feature set on the HS20 was much more comprehensive as well as having full manual control. Two big pluses for Fuji here is the fully manual zoom and the tiltable LCD which I use for all my shots. As I have neck and back injury's this was a key component for the Fuji choice.
• 3 - Video is known to be a weakness in this model, but to me its irrelevant as its a still camera that I want. If I want video I would buy a small video camera as well.
• 4 - The 30x zoom is a must. I do a lot of long range photography, especially for motor sport and other similar events. I can get (within reason) as good a shot as some of the pros that use huge DSLR lenses, and need a truck to carry them.
• 5 - Being a similar size to some of the smaller DSLR's makes it a good portable platform to use. Often a scene will be presented with very little time to adapt and a lens change to get the shot is just not going to be good enough.
• 6 - Probably the single biggest reason for me to change my mind about the HS20 is the quality of some of the images I have seen to date that show it to have very good to excellent IQ for this class of camera. Photos that have been taken by photographers that know there craft well and took the time to learn about the camera are starting to produce some truly excellent results. This is a trend we started to see happen with the HS10 once people learnt how to properly use that camera.
• 7 - AA batteries, were a must have. If my batteries go flat I can walk into any service station, dairy, or supermarket and buy good quality AA batteries off the shelf. This is really important if using a AA powered flash as mine is.
• There are several other things that made the Fuji the best choice in the end, but the above reasons were by far for me the most important.

Now if that damn UPS courier would just get a hurry on !!