Now you're 'having a laugh', aren't you? The camera in the previous review go 9/10 for image quality. Sure, it was good for the price - but I thought that was what the 'value for money' category was for. Surely you don't load every category witha sort of 'value for money' weighting? Yes, I understand that the words in the review or important but the 'scores on the doors' are what's in the header, aren't they? and how many people will bother to read past them if a cheap pocket camera has a higher image quality rating than this, or if the rating for this is the same as some poorly performing Pentax?
I understand where you are coming from, but frankly I think it is time you reviewed this rating policy.
interesting review, cliff. i've been looking into fujifilm's super-zoom cameras recently, and don't really want to spend too much. i've been looking into the s1600, but there's only really one review on it. any chance it'll be reviewed on here soon?
after the review. I would in an ideal world like a great still camera and camcorder that does low light ok so I can travel with only one device.
Not sure whether to stick with the camcorder or should I have bought this camera with it's HD mode ?
I don't really need hi resolution for video as 1900 rez is ok for me, but I'm not photograph enthusiast neither. Perhaps I've been spoilt by my old FujiF31FD for low light still shots
Maybe I just need some reassurance that I purchased the right item of the two ..comments ?
Ye gods, that must be one heckuva stabilisation system if it lets you shoot handheld at 1/40 on 720mm equivalent (720mm... the mind boggles). This is some piece of kit.
@Splogbust: It's not just value for money, surely? Image quality has got to be related to the class of cameras a particular model is in. Otherwise nothing but a Hasselblad will get anywhere near 10, and most cheap point-and-shoots will be slugging it out in the 1s and 2s. I think most readers of a site like this will realise that, won't they?
Splogbust - Image quality is a combination of several factors, including overall detail, exposure accuracy, dynamic range, noise control, lens quality, colour reproduction and the presence or absence of compression artefacts. There's no simple way to numerically quantify it, and the score awarded is therefore necessarily subjective and also relative, with each camera being compared to other cameras of a similar type or in the same price bracket, so inevitably there is an element of 'value for money' involved. A camera costing £400 is expected to perform better than a camera costing £200, so if it doesn't then it will be marked down accordingly. It's also worth noting that a score of 7/10 is still a 'good' score, with 6/10 being 'average'.
The subjective nature of review scores means that inevitably some people will disagree with them, and in the 13 years that I have worked as a technology journalist it has been the single most common subject of reader letters. This is why we have this comments section, so that you can have your say, and we can explain and hopefully justify our opinions. If you have a suggestion as to how the image quality score could be made more accurate I'd certainly be very happy to hear it.
AJ10 - I'm hoping to get the S1600 in for review very soon; watch this space!
Cliff - Thanks for the review. Too bad the HS10 wasn't as capable when it came to image quality as it was with most of it's other features.
But I wanted to correct you on one point. You say that the HS10 has "the longest zoom range of any current camera", that "Its focal length range equivalent to 24-720mm is bigger than anything else on the market". But you seem to be forgetting about the Olympus SP-800UZ that also has a 30x optical zoom lens, with a focal lenght range equivalent to 28-840mm. Just thought I'd remind you..
I understand the points raised by Lensman and Cliff. However, the images produced by a camera are just images and as far as 'image quality' is concerned do not become magically better because the camera that produced them was cheaper or of a different type. There is an interesting site, DXOMark, which carries comparisons of cameras based on their raw output and the differences are indeed staggering but that is probably a closer reflection of reality - shame they can't do something similar with the processed JPEG image.
I will probably have to replace my camera soon and frankly it's no use to me that these scores are weighted by price / type of camera. I could easily be fooled into buying a cheaper / different type of camera because it has a 'higher image quality' rating whereas in reality I could have much better image quality perhaps by paying more and the price may well be still affordable or buying a different type of camera.
I would certainly prefer something that would slip nicely into my shirt pocket but if I knew the true image quality difference, as opposed to this weighted version, were so great I would forgo the convenience for the sake of getting better pictures. I'd hate to be stuck with an 'inferior' camera just because it was good for it's price and type.....
No, unfortunately I don't have an immediate answer of how it should be done, but will think about it. However, I doubt if marks out of 10 is the way to go as if these things 'continue to improve' then the meaning of the scale may need to be revised regularly.
what is not clear to me here on TR (I may have missed it) is what category / type / price range individual cameras are being measured in / against. Perhaps further clarity in this would be a way of silencing the usual questions about what it all means....
maybe good way to help is add some caption above the scoring, for this one, something like: the score is subject to prosumer bridge camera(well, I do not know what catogory it belong to)
so for the previous samsung st70. maybe the score is subject to consumer compact camera. so everytime people view it, they have an idea how the score compare to others
splogbust: If you feel so strongly about it, then may I suggest you ignore the image scores, and instead look at photos taken with that camera that are helpfully included in the review - usually the same scene each time - and draw your own conclusions. That is probablty the easiest solution ;-)
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