HS30EXR cheaper than HS25EXR at Kim camera store

For comparison I bought my HS25EXR camera for 14,500.00 pesos, not at Kimstore but at SM. The HS30EXR, a more advanced model, is selling lower for 13,200 pesos at Kimstoreb .Here is the link: Kim store

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The HS50EXR felt good in our hands but is expensive.

Last Sunday I visited SM lower groound floor with my older brother and we were happy to find fresh camera models from Fujifilm. The HS50EXR was there, even the X-Pro 1 and other rangefinder looking professional cameras. The HS30EXR was not available however.

The salesclerk allowed us to handle the display camera which is the most important advantage of a physical camera store. We were impressed by the superfast focusing, the capability of storing in RAW format, the side tilt swing screen, the electronic level gauge (not essential), and the overall build and ergonomics of the camera. It felt lighter than my HS25EXR as the new superzoom uses lithium batteries.

The price of the HS50EXR was P27,000.00 in installments. However when I mentioned that Kimstore is selling the camera at around P20,000.00 the salesclerk said he can offer the camera at a discount of P24,500 if bought in cash.
Note that the price of the Canon SX50 HS superzoom which has a 50x zoom lens is currently P25,000.00 at Canon dealers. Contrast this with the foreign prices of the superzooms from Canon and Fujifilm.

I have decided to wait for Xmas for the prices to go down. Until a real camera store will sell the HS50EXR camera below P20,000 something, it will remain a dream camera for me.

Further reading:

1. A non-biased review: digitalvesus.com
2. a review pitting the hs50exr vs canon sx50hs camera declares the canon model the winner! but read the article first and better yet try out the cameras!
   
   snapsort.com comparison: hs50exr vs SX50HS camera
   
   techradar.com
   
   
3. Thread discussions: Forum on hs50exr vs sx50hs
   
   
4. Official Fujifilm.com.ph product page: fujifilm.com.ph product page
   
   
   

I bought my HS50EXR camera for less than 18,000 pesos last December(?) (2013) at Camerahaus at the basement of SM North(near the food court. BAD NEWS: It is not available anymore at that branch when I last checked December 6, 2014.

Kimstore is selling the HS50EXR camera for about P20,000!

Kim store surprises us by offering the HS50EXR for a reasonable P19,800. I have not yet bought from this online store, but I have heard of its good service from satisfied customers.

If only I can touch it and try it before deciding to buy. I prefer a real store over a virtual one.

Adjusting date and time on HS25EXR camera

1. Turn on your camera, and set it to shooting mode, not the stored photos viewing mode
2. Press the big Menu Ok button
You will be presented with the shooting mode menu.

3. Press the left(macro or flower symbol) then the down navigation (timer symbol) to access the SET-UP MENU.
   
   The DATE/TIME option is the FIRST option displayed!
4. Press the right navigation(flash symbol) then the MENU OK. You will be presented with the date/time settings menu/date format.
   
   Select from YY.MM.DD, DD.MM.YY, and MM/DD/YY choices.
5. Press the right or left navigation button to set the individual fields of the date. Here is a photo for the
   
6. After setting the date/time fields, pres the OK to set it, otherwise press the DISP/BACK to cancel it.
7. Go back to the SET-UP menu by pressing the left navigation key repeatedly until you see the SET-UP menu. Press the DISP/BACK button to EXIT setup.

Conbratulations! You have set the date and time! and the camera can function as a clock. but you have to press the view-shoot mode button, the one with the right direction arrow enclosed in a box.

For heaven's sake, buy and put a screen protector for your camera view sccreen.

I accidentally bumped without dropping my camera and I saw the protector glass broke but not apart. The camera already suffered fine short cracks in its view screen before I put the protector. When I replaced the protector after this latest incident, I saw a longer previous crack before I put on the protector, but still the camera is usable and no pixels were destroyed.

How to activate the ADVANCED ANTI BLUR feature?

It is so strange. I have the camera long enough with me and I cannot activate the ADVANCED ANTI BLUR feature to ON under the MENU/SHOOTING MENU. The answer is the slim printed manual,page 24, it is available only in EXR AUTO shooting mode :)

CARD NOT INITIALIZED! problem

u If you turned on your camera and get this message, do not panic. If you know you have important photos in the card, turn off the camera and get out the SD card. Have a Windows machine copy your card contents.

Your card may require a reformat. Once you are sure that the contents have been saved or can sbe erased forever, place it back in the camera, turn on the camera and format it.

Press Menu Ok/SET-UP/FORMAT then select OK. Your SD card is now good as new(empty and ready to store photos).

If however you cannot format the SD card using your camera, then turn off again the camera, take out the SD card then format in a Windows machine.

What? You have a Linux computer instead? For this later case, use the powerful command gparted. This tool should be installed but use extreme care when using this tool. For it is possible to format your hard disk or the storage device with your operating system.You must select the proper device, knowing the memory capacity can help! Next, you may have to create a partition, then afterwards, you can format it with Windows FAT 32 for large capacity SD cards.

After successfully doing this, reinsert card in your camera and attempt to format it again. You should be able to do this, otherwise it is time to say goodbye to the card! Replace it with a new one for this unfortunate case.

Photos of exhibition jet planes at a balloon festival.

Every year at the former giant Clark Air Base, there is a balloon festival held in the later weeks of February. For sure you have to be close to the staging arena which unfortunately is in a different place. Before you can see the balloons near the highway, now they are more located further away. Nevertheless at the UP Clark campus, we were able to watch the Breitling jet plane exhibition team doing their areal stunts. Here are a few of them: They were taken by Dr. Ernesto P. Adorio with the Fujifilm HS25EXR camera.

Greater chances of correctly exposed scenes with the camera.

The HS25EXR digital camera allows you to take three shots with different exposure settings. By pressing the multiple shooting button and selecting AE BKT among [OFF, CONTINUOUS, BESET FRAME CAPTURE,AE BKT,FILM SIMULATION BKT]. Here is a sample: Personally I prefer the first scene, but others may prefer the one of the others. It is nice that the relatively inexpensive HS25EXR camera can do automatic exposure bracketing!

How to copy contents of internal memory to SD card and vice-versa

The internal memory can hold only a few images or photos. I think of it mostly as emergency storage for a few photos in case you forgot there is NO SD card in the camera.

To copy the files in the internal memory to the SD card, Toggle the display > button to non-shooting mode. Press MENU/OK|PLAYBACK menu|COPY . Then select INTERNAL MEMORY TO SD CARD|ALL FRAMES. Then press again MENU-OK button. It will ask COPY OK? press OK button again, and the camera will now copy the contents of the internal memory to the SD card.

You need to format the internal memory so it can store new photos but first you need to take out the external SD card! The format command is accessed via MENU/OK|SET-UP|FORMAT command.

Lazada sill lists the HS25EXR finepix camera at 65,000 pesos!

I thought it was an error in Lazada's part but it is still uncorrected today! The price of the Fujifilm HS25EXR 30x bridge camera, the HS25EXR camera is still listed at 64,950 Phil. Pesos! I bought mine at SM Departmet Store. So grab one if it is available. I still do not know what made Lazada jack up the price of this bridge camera, but it persists in listing the camera at a higher price, much more expensive than the original suggested manufacturers price of P14,500.

The buttons on the left side of the HS25EXR camera.

There are five buttons on the left side of the HS25EXR camera. They may provide the fastest and direct way to adjust camera settings

1. ISO, sensor speed (sensitivity) setting, the higher the value, the more sensitive to light(faster response) but the more grainier(noisy)
2. AE, Photometry (metering) [MULTI, SPOT, AVERAGE]
3. AF, Focusing modes, [CENTER, MULTI, TRACKING]
4. AF C-S-M, AF-Continuous, AF-single, AF-MF (manual focusing)
5. WB, White balance [AUTO, CUSTOM, FINE(bright sun), SHADE, FLURORESCENT LIGHTS (1,2,3), iNCANDESCENT]

Shooting Modes in HS25exr camera

Shooting modes available to the HS25EXR camera user

C	custom mode	user setting
M	manual mode	user sets shutter and aperture independently
A	aperture priority	user set aperture, camera selects shutter speed automatically.
S	shutter priority	user set speed, camera selects the aperture automatically.
P	program mode	camera selects "best" programmed combination of shutter aperture
EXR D	range priority	HR: Resolution priority (capture details); SN: high ISO and low noise; D-range:camera tries to capture details in bright scenes, avoids washouts
Auto		camera selects best scene mode and shutter-aperture settings
Adv		professional portraits, low light, multiple exposure and 3D shooting
SP1 and SP2		special preselected scene settings.
Panorama		panoramic shots offering 120, 180, 360 angular view degrees horizontal/vertical direction

Scene available for SP1 and SP2 settings are

1. natural light with flash, two separate shots, one without and the other with flash
2. natural light, without flash
3. portrait
4. smoothed skin
5. dogs
6. cats
7. landscape or scenic shots
8. sport, moving objects
9. night, using high ISO setting to reduce camera shake
10. night with tripod, allows slow shutter speed at night
11. fireworks, vivid shots of fireworks
12. sunset, adds vivid colors to sunsets
13. snow, snowy scenes
14. beach, beach photos
15. party, indoor shots
16. flower, vivid shots of flowers
17. text, shots of letterings.

The SHOOTING-MODE Menu

We have displayed the stucture of the SET-UP Menu. Here is the Shooting-Mode menu. Not all settings can be set in some shooting modes.

SHOOTING MENU

1. ISO [100,200, 400,800, 1600, 32006,6400, 12800, AUTO(400),..., AUTO(3200)]
2. IMAGE SIZE User can select various combinations of aspect ratio and photo sizes.

   L	4:3	4850
   L	3:2	5456
   L	16:9	6445
   M	4:3	7682
   M	3:2	8574
   M	6:9	10109
   S	4:3	15006
   S	3:2	16848
   S	16:9	27439

3. IMAGE QUALITY [FINE, NORMAL]
4. DYNAMIC RANGE [AUTO, DR100 100%, DE200 200%, DR400 200%]
5. FILM SIMULATION [PROVIA STD. VELVIA/VIVID,ASTIA/SOFT,B&W, SEPIA]
6. WB SHIFT Allows user to adjust the white balance, controlling the RED-CYAN AND BLUE-YELLOW response.
7. COLOR [HI, MID, LOW]
8. TONE [HARD, STANDARD, SOFT]
9. SHARPNESS [HARD, STANDARD, SOFT]
10. NOISE REDUCTION [STANDARD,LOW, HIGH]
11. INTELLIGENT SHARPNESS [OFF, ON]
12. INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ZOOM [2.0x, 1.4x, OFF]
13. ADVANCED ANITBLUR [OFF,ON]
14. FACE DETECTION [OFF,ON]
15. FACE RECOGNITION If set to ON, allows uset to register, view and edit, erase and toggle the auto registration.
16. MOVIE MODE

    Full HD	1920	30fps
    HD	1270	30fps
    640		30fps
    HS640	640x480	80fps
    HS	320x240	160fps
    HS	320x112	320fps

17. STILL SHOOTING IN MOVIE [MOVIE PRIORITY, STILL IMAGE PRIORITY]
18. AE BKT EV STEPS [1, 2/3, 1/3]
19. FLASH
20. EXTERNAL FLASH [OFF, ON]
21. CUSTOM SET [OK, CANCEL]

The SET-UP Menu

The Menu structure of the HS25EXR There are two main menus: Shooting and SET-UP. IN this article, we show the SET-UP menu structure.

SET-UP MENU

1. DATE/TIME
2. TIME DIFFERENCE [HOME, LOCAL]
3. LANG [ENGLISH,FRANCAIS, DETUSCH, ESPANOL, PROTUGUES, ITALIANO,NEDERLANDS, ETC ...]
4. SILENT MODE [ON,OFF]
5. RESET
6. FORMAT
7. IMAGE DISP [3 SEC, 1.5SEC, ZOOM(CONTINUOUS)]
8. FRAME NO. [CONT, RENEW]
9. OPERATION VOL.
10. SHUTTER VOLUME
11. SHUTTER SOUND [SOUND1, SOUND2]
12. PLAYBACK VOLUME
13. LCD BRIGHTNESS [OFF,ON]
14. MONITOR SUNLIGHT MODE [OFF,ON]
15. EVF/LCD MODE [30fps, 50fps]
16. AUTO POWER OFF [5 MIN, 2 MIN, OFF]
17. QUICK START MODE [OFF, 24 MIN, 10 MIN]
18. Fn BUTTON [INTELLIGENT DIGITAL ZOOM, MOVIE MODE]
19. IS MODE
20. RED EYE REMOVAL
21. AE/AF ILLUMINATOR
22. AE/AF-LOCK MODE [AE LOCK ONLY,AF LOCK ONLY AE/AF LOCK
23. AE/AF-LOCK BUTTON
24. FOCUS CHECK [ON, OFF]
25. SAVE ORG IMAGE
26. AUTOROTATE PB [OM, OFF]
27. BACKGROUND COLOR
28. GUIDANCE DISPLAY [ON, OFF]
29. VIDEO SYSTEM [PAL, NTSC]
30. CUSTOM RESET
31. BATTTERY TYPE [LITHIUM, ALKALINE, NI-MH]
32. DISCHARGE
33. DATE STAMP [ON, OFF]

360 degree panoramic shots

The HS25EXR camera has a built-in panoramic mode which does not require any external computer based software. It stiches the images automatically to make one panoramic photo. It offers 120, 180 and 360 degrees coverage of a scene. and you can sweep or pan either horizontally(left or right) of vertically (upward or downwards. The camera guides the user in aligning the sweep. Just do it smoothly. An early practice without taking a shot will help tremendously in making successful panoramic shots. Here is a photo taken inside the Quezon Memorial Circle, just a walking distance for us.

Looking for the best rechargeable NiMh AA size batteries?

Best AA batteries for the HS25EXR camera I now have three types of Sanyo' AA (HR6) 1.2Volts NiMh (Nickel Metahydride) rechargeable battery in use. They differ in capacities and of course in price. These batteries are manufactured by Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd of Japan.

Label	Model	Capacity	Price
Eneloop Lite	HRUQ	typ 1000mAh, Min 950 mAh
Eneloop	HR-3UTG	typ 2000mAh, Min 1900 mAh
XX High Capacity Eneloop for professional use	HR 3UWXB	Min 2450mAh	P760

I have a Sanyo Super Quick charger NC-MQCH01 and it takes less than four hours to charge the batteries. So far the batteries have given me good service, but the XX batteries give longest shooting times for the camera but are predictably the heaviest.

Are you using the latest firmware for the H25EXR camera?

• What is the firmware version of your camera? You can check the firmware version of your HS25EXR camera by turning it off first, if it is ON. Then simultaneously press the DISP/BACK button while turning on the camera. This resulted in the following screen image:
  
  I can read that the firmware is at version 1.04 and is considered the latest (Feb. 11, 2013). In case your version is older (1.0, 1.01, 1.02, 1.03), visit the fujifilm firmware site. According to the instructions, you must have a clean formatted SD card.
• Download the newest firmware file, (you have to click first to agree to the EULA). Fujifilm hs25exr firmware update file. The 1.04 firmware file is 25.9 Mbytes!
• Copy the file to the formatted SD card.
• Turn off camera and insert the SD card with the update file.
• Turn on camera while pressing the DISP/BACK button. You will be presented with the screen shown above. Select Ok to start updating.
• After a few seconds( 90 secs), The camera will ask if the firmware upgrade is OK. Select Ok and press MENU/Ok central button!

Congratulations, you have successfully updated your camera firmware!

Hs25exr camera at Kimstore.

The price listed at Kimstore HS25EXR camera is P12,900! I bought my own camera for P14,500 at SM store and it will require me two more months to fully pay for it. I have heard of satisfied buyers at Kimstore, but first I will try to save money.

There is no guarantee of availability but the store offers a three day return.

unusual price of hs25exr camera in lazada

I was browsing for camera prices and availability at the online lazada store, and I was pleasantly shocked at the suggested price of our HS25EXR camera which we bought for P14,500.00 at SM last month. Here is a screen grab stored in my FB page.

Here is the Lazada page:lazada.com, hs25exr offering

Moon photos with the Fujifilm HS25EXR camera.

I have taken photos of the moon with my Samsung camera and I have remembered the settings: EV in -1.7 to -2, ISO low, 100. Here is one sample photo of a nearly full moon taken with the Fujifilm superzoom camera:

Shutter 1/320s, f/7.1. You do not need binoculars anymore to view great images of the moon.

Links to reviews, tips and techniques.

Reviews of the HS25EXR camera:

1. Amazon.com
2. Snapsort.com
3. Kim Letkeman extremely useful hints

To be continued.

Official camera specs from Fujfilm

Visit HS25EXR Specificationa Here is a copy of the specs.

Fujinon 30x optical zoom lens	range aperture (1.28:11 at 4.2 mm wide -5.6:11 at 126mm telephoto), (24-720mm) on a 35mm camera Elements 11 groups 15 lenses Intelligent zoom Intelligent digital zoom approx. 2.0x (up to approx. 60x, with 30x optical zoom)
EV step	1/3
Continuous shooting	Super High : approx. 11fps (Size M,S) High : approx. 8fps (Size L,M,S) Middle : approx. 5fps (Size L,M,S) Low : approx. 3fps (Size L,M,S)
Image stabilisation	CMOS sensor shift type
Electronic viewfinder	0.2-inch., approx. 200,000 dots, color LCD viewfinder approx. 100% coverage
LCD monitor	3.0-inch, approx. 460,000 dots, TFT color LCD monitor, approx. 100% coverage
Movie recording	1920 x 1080 pixels / 1280 x 720 pixels / 640 x 480 pixels (30 frames/sec.) with stereo sound, Optical zoom function (manual) can be used.
Photography functions	EXR mode, High Speed Movie (80 / 160 / 320 frames/sec), Face Detection, Auto red-eye removal, Face recognition, Advanced mode (Pro focus, Pro low light, Multiple exposure, Individual shutter 3D), Motion Panorama360, Film simulation, Histogram display, Framing guideline, Frame No. memory, Best frame capture, Advanced Anti Blur, Date stamp
Playback functions	Face Detection, Auto red-eye removal, Multi-frame playback (with micro thumbnail), Protect, Crop, Resize, Slide show, Image rotate, voice memo, histogram display, exposure warning, Photobook assist, image search, Favorites, Mark for upload, Panorama, Erase selected frames
Other functions	PictBridge, Exif Print, 35 Languages, Time difference, Silent mode
Terminal ports	Video output: NTSC / PAL selectable with monauralsound, Digital interface, USB 2.0 High-Speed HDMI output: HDMI Mini connector
Power supply	4x AA batteries (included)
Dimensions	130.6(W) x 96.6(H) x 126.0(D) mm / 5.1(W) x 3.8(H) x 4.9(D) in.
Weight	Approx. 687g / 24.2oz. (including battery and memory card), Approx. 637g / 22.4oz. (excluding battery and memory card)
Accessories with camera	4x AA batteries, Shoulder strap USB cable, A/V cable, Lens cap and Lens cap cor, CD-ROM Owner's manual

There is no mention of an electronic horizon level indicator! nor of an ability to capture raw data!

Downloadable pdf manual

Here is a link to an English downloadable manual from fujifilm itself: HS25EXR manual

Display grid lines in viewing screen.

I have familiarized myself with my Samsung camera and that was quick. But the hs25exr finepix camera is so much more complicated! Right now, my finepix cam is showing grid lines but I am asking myself again and again, How do you turn on and off the display of grid lines in the viewing screen when composing a photo? Will post the answer later!
Answer. 2013/01/13

1. Turn on the camera
2. Press the DISP/BACK button
3. Select best framing from [ON, OFF, Best framing, HD FRAMING, HISTOGRAM]

After this steps, the HS25EXR will show a 3 by 3 gridline. As a comparison, the Samsung WB150F camera offers more than two ways of showing grid lines!

Where is the electronic horizon level indicator?

Funny but I cannot find the electronic horizon level indicator in my hs25exr camera, yet this feature is over-hyped in camera publications! Ah ok, I think it is in the rectangular ruler strip with movable white band and yellow square block indicator.But a check in the manual tells me that this is the exposure level! Where is the camera's electronic level indicator? Based on Fujifilm.EU page page on the HS25EXR camera, here is what the electronic level guide is supposed to be doing!

But so far I could not make the camera do the horizon leveling feature to appear! Where is the electronic hozizon level guide? How do you make it appear? NOTE: The EU page has now been modified not to show that the HS25EXR has the electronic level gauge!

Welcome to my finepix hs25EXR camera blog

I just bought a new Fujifilm camera although I already have a Nikon D5100 and Samsung WB150F cameras. The compelling reasons are

1. 30x zoom for travel and nature photography (birds, landscapes)
2. Much cheaper, less than 15,000 pesos than a 50X zoom camera by Canon at <= 26,000 pesos!
3. Much smaller than the Nikon dslr
4. Manual controls with S,A, M settings
5. convenient 360 degree panoramic mode
6. tiltable lcd viewing screen
7. electronic view finder
8. flash shoe!

The package came with a tripod and an 8 Gig generic SD card. I bought it at SM North, and immediately purchased a UV filter, and extra four NiMh AA batteries for spare power, and a lens cap. I will post some pointers to its use and will post photos taken by this camera in future articles. Stay tuned!