Comments on: Mini Review: Fujifilm Finepix F31fd

By: Gallas

Gallas — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:18:40 +0000

I bought a F31fd two and half years ago and I am quite happy with it. The unique trouble I do not get to manage is the infinity focusing in some special ocasions. For instance, if you would like to snap a sun rise from the sea, it says me “AF!” a lot of times. It seems that the camera is not able to focus at infinity (due to a lack of any clear reference?). Do anybody find the same trouble? Is there any trick to sort it out? Thank you.
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By: Eric Jeschke

Eric Jeschke — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:53:44 +0000

Hi Jerry,

Not sure about that; I haven’t tried to update the fw in a long time. Did you check Fuji’s web site?

By: jerry

jerry — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:12:57 +0000

Hi,

is there any firmware update for the f31fd??

Thanks

By: ejeschke

ejeschke — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:10:38 +0000

Hi Scott!

I’m pinning my hopes on Panasonic or Ricoh (or maybe Sigma) to finally get a great-sensor compact out there for advanced users. If only Panasonic would put a decent sensor in the LX-2…

I’m anxiously awaiting the replacement for the Ricoh GX-100, also.

-Eric

By: Scott J

Scott J — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:51:31 +0000

Hi Eric.

I have been shooting most of my stuff with a D70 and a recently acquired D80. These cameras have been amazing, but my wife has never really taken to them… so I went on the compact hunt. Trying to find a camera that does what I want and one that is small, sexy and easy for my wife to use was very difficult. I have to admit that I looked for a long time at the F31d. In the end I chose the Panasonic TZ-3, knowing it has poor noise characteristics and is a little bigger due to the 10 time zoom. I have been satisfied with the camera, but only because my expectations weren’t that high for image quality, and I have my Nikon D-SLR to fall back on. I agree with your comment on Panasonic putting different sensors in their cameras. The Panasonic works so good, menus are intelligent and control seems to make sense. The LX-2 and this sensor would be a great combo. Now, how do we petition/educate the camera manufacturers to make bigger sensors with less pixels? I’ve seen some reviews where the step up in megapixels has caused the need for so much noise reduction that the detail left in the image is less than what was present in the model it replaced. All you have is a larger, dirtier file… I digress.

By: ejeschke

ejeschke — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:34:06 +0000

Hi Marion,
It’s frustrating isn’t it? I mean, the sensor/lens combo in this package size had so much potential.

I’ve been resorting to using it only for snapshots, which I’m sure was the original intent of the manufacturer. I’ve gone back to my Casio EX-P600 for more serious small-camera photography. Unfortunately the only modern camera on the market now (2007-12-12) that has the controls, features and image quality is the Canon G9–and it’s a little too large for my liking.

Right now, it seems like Canon, Panasonic and Ricoh are the only players left in the “enthusiast” digicam market. I’m looking pretty closely at the Ricoh GR-II. The successor to the GX-100 might actually be more to my liking if they can get a little better handle on the noise and provide a decent stabilized lens.

I hear the f31′s are going for $400 on e-bay, if you are looking to trade up.

Hope this helps,
–Eric

By: Marion

Marion — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:17:39 +0000

Hi Eric. Thank you for posting your mini review on the Fujifilm Finepix F31fd camera. It was very helpful for me to finally find a review that was describing the same problems that I am currently having with this camera. I bought it for the same reasons like you. No doubt, the 1/1.7″ sensor works very well for low light images. But just like you I am extremly frustrated with tricky lighting situations especially because I usually take pictures of people. Every time it takes so long to find the right exposure I am losing the momentum with the person I would like to photograph. At this point I would like to find a new camera that offers a technology that mainly works for tricky lighting situations but is as small as possible in size. I was wondering if you as a professional could give me some advise which camera to buy that is currently on the market? Thanks, Marion