Specs = Awesome?

Here’s an interesting case of marketing verses innovation.

When it comes to digital cameras Fuji has a history of blazing their own trail instead of following the pack. While each successive generation of digital cameras always seem to have very similar characteristics the Fuji ones have always stood out because Fuji likes to do things their own way. The difference is as fundamental as how they capture their images. Virtually every digital camera on the market uses a CCD (charge-couple device) sensor to capture images. Basically CCDs work by light falling on square “pixels” on the CCD and getting converted into color values. Fuji developed their own CCD technology that they called Super CCD in which they used octagons instead of rectangular pixels. The strange shaped pixels necessitate some crazy interpolations that normal CCD don’t have to do. The result is a digital camera that behaves a bit different than the rest of the pack.

How different? Well the FinePix F30 and FinePix F31 have been said to capture some of the best pictures in the compact camera market. Their specialty? The cameras excel at capturing images in low light situations. You know, like pubs or indoors or generally in places that you hang out with your friends without the benefit of studio lighting. Besides their superior low light performance there is something else that set the FinePix cameras apart. When they came out they had fewer megapixels than competing cameras.

It seemed that some joker at Fuji decided to place a higher value on image quality than on the maximum number of megapixels they could fit into a camera. The “megapixel race” is generally what defines newer generations of camera. Sure the features subtly change, but the big difference between successive generations is the image resolutions. Fuji held back on the number of megapixels but instead built a camera that could actually capture a decent image in low light. The critics loved the FinePix cameras. Too bad the public didn’t. I guess when people go to Best Buy to decide what camera to buy they base their decision on what the spec sheets in front of the camera say. Better image quality is a tough thing to sell on a spec sheet… megapixels is a hard number to compare cameras with. The result is Fuji cameras appear to be underpowered or older technology in the store. What’s the point of making a better camera if no one buys it?

In the latest line of FinePix cameras Fuji decided that they needed to have the same number of megapixels as their competitors. The new FinePix F50fd is a 12 megapixel monster that competes favorably on the spec sheets. However the reviews, while positive, can’t help but notice that image quality has suffered for the addition of superfluous resolution. While the Super CCD images are still better than normal CCD images they are just a hair better instead of head and shoulders better. The camera is more marketable but less remarkable.

When I read the reviews about the new camera I thought “this is great.” I’ll be able to go out and buy a superior camera at last generation prices. Because that’s what normally happens when a new line of cameras comes out, the older discontinued line get’s a hefty price cut. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that instead of a discount FinePix F31fd cameras are now going for $400-$500. They were originally only about $250 when they first came out last year. So now I wonder what Fuji will do with their next offering. Will they notice the trend that their older cameras are selling for twice their original price (to admittedly smaller numbers) or will they continue to pump out cutting edge specs with ho-hum images?