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The image above was taken with the Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR with its lens slightly zoomed in to 5mm (28mm equivalent). In Program auto mode the camera metered 1/800th at f5.6, however, because the aperture settings of the three cameras on test varied I used Aperture priority exposure mode so as to be able to compare results shot at the same aperture. In Aperture priority mode I chose f4 for which the FinePix HS20 EXR metered a shutter speed of 1/1600th. The original image file was 5.92MB. The crops are taken from the areas marked with red rectangles and presented here at 100%.

Generally speaking the Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR did a good job with our test scene getting the exposure just right and producing a pleasing result with a good range of tones and good colour balance. Looking at the first crop, the detail looks a little fuzzy and blocky. The chapel is nearly half a Kilometre from the camera, so you wouldn't expect to see every detail, but the people standing outside aren't individually distinct and the stone wall as well as the rocks and grass in the foreground lack definition. In the second crop you can make out the lighthouse but, again, it's a bit fuzzy. It's also difficult to make out any defiinite edges in the foreground, the widow frames, which should have clearly defined vertical and horizontal lines, are particularly weak.

There's just a hint of chromatic aberration in the third crop from the frame edge which is adding to the edge definition problem, I'd expect to see a harder edge to the drainpipe and window frame here as well as between the bricks. On the crop from the centre of the frame it finally all comes together, though, and we can see excellent fine detail and cleaner edges.

The variation in quality from the centre to the edge of the frame is perhaps to be expected from a zoom lens with a 30x optical range, but the Finepix HS20 EXR seems to suffer more than most. Compared with the Sony Cyber-shot HX100V there are quality differences of varying degrees from crop to crop, but in all of the crops the Sony resolves more detail with better edge definition. The most telling differences are in the lighthouse crop, compare the windows and roofs in the foreground of this crop, in particular the second window from the left in the bottom left corner. The vertical bars of the window frame as well as the horizontal bar of the centre shash window are all distinctly visible in the Cyber-shot HX100V crop, but merge into a fuzzy blob on the FinePix HS20 EXR.

Compared with the 14.1 Megapixel Canon PowerShot SX30 IS the Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR crops are again lacking the same definition. As with the Cybershot HX100V crops there's an overall sharpness and definition in the first PowerShot SX30IS crop that's lacking in the Finepix HS20 EXR one, but it's in the foreground detail of the lighthouse crop that the quality difference is most evident. To end on a high note, the FinePix HS20 EXR doesn't suffer from colour fringing to anything like the same degree as the PowerShot SX30 IS and in the final crop from the centre of the frame there's very little between all three results.

The Fujifilm FinePix HS20 EXR also lets you shoot in RAW, so to see how the quality compares to in-camera JPEGs, scroll down to the bottom of this page. Alternatively if you've aleady seen enough, head on over to our High ISO Noise results.