7. An Original Sensor

The 50i is a very small device generating images of 2400 x 1800 pixels, i.e. 4.3 Mpixels, based on a 2.4 Mpixel sensor. The Super CCD sensor that it uses was developed by Fuji and consists of pixels arranged in honeycomb fashion instead of the usual horizontal/ vertical arrangement. When the manufacturer speaks of available resolutions for the sensor being greater than 2 Mpixels, it is actually content to interpolate the missing pixels. This sometimes results in disappointing images, due to insufficient detail. Consequently, when displayed on a screen at 100% resolution, whether at 2 or, even worse, at 4 megapixels, images from the 50i suffer from considerable noise that is particularly visible in the dark areas. On the screen, this translates to photos which are excessively grainy.

To continue the critique:

It is better to balance the whites manually. In fact, the automatic mode is the standard default in indoor shots and this tends to produce a pinkish tint in the photos. The macro mode is claimed to be capable of working within 6 centimeters (2 inches) of objects. In practice, you would have great difficulty in getting correct focus at a distance of less than 20 centimeters (8 inches). The optical viewfinder is unusable, covering barely 65% of the actual image captured.

On the other hand, it is easy to work in automatic mode outdoors. There is little distortion and the colors are not quite true but bright. The 50i is more efficient at capturing detail in darker areas than its rivals. Indoors, the 50i has proved itself to produce more accurate exposures.

When the prints are resized to 10 x 13.3 cm and then printed on a Canon S9000, they are attractive and bright. The noise, which is very irritating on the screen, disappears in the printed images. The granularity is much less than in the Kodak LS420, being comparable to that of the Dimâge X although it is still better than that of the Canon S200. The colors are bright but are less true than those of the Canon S200 and the Dimâge X.

A final detail: filmed video sequences are accurate. The stream and quality of the images supplied make it possible to film short, storable sequences.

Finally, the 50i performs no better than the S200 / Ixus V² when it comes to speed. It is ready for use in 3.3 seconds and captures photos at 1.2 to 1.9 second intervals, depending on the size of the prints.