Camera Labs

I'm interested in the upcoming Fuji S8000fd 18x superzoom and am comparing its specs to the Panasonic DMC-FZ18.

I see the Fuji has a 1/2.35" CCD (as does the Olympus SP-560uz) and the Panasonic has a 1/2.5" sensor (as does the Sony DSC-H9).

All other things being equal (which they probably aren't), is having a larger CCD "better"?

Thanks.

Hello Argelius, and welcome to the Camera Labs forum!
All things beeing equal, a larger sensor is better than a smaller one, as it can capture more light and thus allows for a better s/n-ratio (don't know this term? Look here!).
But: A difference between a 1/2.35" CCD and a 1/2.5" sensor is negligible. The difference starts to be interesting between 1/1.8" sensors and 1/2.5" sensors as the former has almost double the area than the latter, thus captures double the photons!

But there are a lot of other variables that determine the IQ. So it's best to see some shots taken under equal conditions so as to compare noise plus details in praxi! Some manufacturers eliminate noise with algorithms that smear details in a way that may be inacceptable for you

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hi Argelius,

There is an interesting summary of the S8000fd at the Neocamera Blog. I have no way of knowing how accurate the is but here goes:

Another change for Fuji is the use of a much smaller sensor-size. At 1/2.35″, the Fuji Finepix S8000fd’s sensor is about 40% smaller than that of the S6000fd. Now, we recently saw that the Fuji Finepix F40fd with its 8 megapixels 1/1.6″ sensor performed quite well but given that the S8000fd has the same resolution using a much smaller sensor, be prepared for a drop in image quality, although we would be happy if Fuji proved us wrong. Sadly, the smaller sensor is required to produce an 18X optical zoom lens in such a small form-factor, so this may be the case for marketing winning over image quality again.

Might be worth keeping an eye on the reviews?

Bob.

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Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
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Thanks -- that's excellent!

Will have to bide my time for a bit and wait until the camera gets some hands-on reviews.

A terrible shame about the downgrade (from the s6000, at least) in sensor size. I was thrilled about the s8000, but now...

What I've been hearing here and there is that it was to be expected, since the s8000 is not a succesor to the s6000 (sounds like it is, doesn't it?, name and all?) and that getting a 18x zoom on a 1/1.7" sensor (such as the s6000's) would make a much bulkier camera (small sensor means larger equivalent focal lenght).

It is reasonable: large sensors are expensive, mechanical (ccd shift) image stabilization is expensive as well, big (decent) lenses are just as expensive. And Fuji simply has got a series of specifications to meet in order to compet with the rest of the new generation of super zooms. A sacrifice in image quality (as the small sensor will ceirtanly be) is the price to pay to get the impressive marketing qualities of the s8000.

Still, we'll have to see the reviews. It might turn out to be a great camera, but I would bet that it's just gonna get it's ass seriously kicked in the noise (and overall image quality) department by it's own old partners at Fuji (f10, f11, f20, f30, f31fd, f40fd, s6000fd...)

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