OK, I pushed it today. I really did. And it didn’t really work. I should have known better, but I like to risk it sometimes. What am I risking? A blurry photo in conditions that should attract higher ISO/wider apertures.

The S7000 came with us for a hike today. The weather wasn’t great for old cameras with visible noise at what would be considered only moderate ISO ranges these days. The S7000 operates at a base ISO of 200, which is already a touch noisy. Add in a few rain drizzles and heavily overcast skies, and the problems become apparent.

I managed a few decent macro shots at lower than ideal shutter speeds, one of which is pictured above. What I noticed was that even on the F-chrome picture setting, the JPG output was decidedly dull. It lacked any punch or saturation, even in the greens. I’ll put that down to the overcast day and the even lighting conditions. At the very least, the clouds enabled some nice detail in macro photos.

Admittedly, I did add some Clarity, Vibrance, and Texture in Lightroom for these photos, but nothing overboard. I’m fortunate that the teeny 1/1.7 inch sensor is fairly forgiving of movement, as my shutter speeds just weren’t fast enough for most of the hike. This is because I really didn’t want to push to ISO 400 for fear of noise. Still, I should have widened the aperture more often. Perhaps I’m just too used to any form of stabilisation in my cameras.

Overall, a bit of a down day with the Finepix S7000. Today was as disappointing as last time was surprising. I’m pleased enough with the three photos that worked though. Looking at them now, they’re quite pleasant. My favourite is the arrangement of tree branches. I should certainly know better, of course, and I didn’t adapt. I was stubborn about my approach.

I suppose today just wasn’t the day for it. Next time I may take out the Sony RX100 and flip that to Vivid picture mode. No doubt, Sony’s sensor would handle a day like today with sufficient aplomb. I did also have my Olympus OMD EM5II with me, but it was the Finepix that I wanted to use, given the success I had the first time.

What did I learn today?

• Older cameras like this love a lot more light,
• Always watch shutter speed,
• Even when I think I can hold steady, watch the shutter speed!
• Be more flexible in my photographic approach,
• Don’t be too hard on myself because there’s nothing wrong with learning and experimenting.