I am using a Fuji s602 as I have mentioned before in this forum. The problem I have got with it is quality. Even at it's highest quality I still get a lot of grain at ISO 200 regardless of any other settings, I have even played around with the ISO but to no great success in getting a better image. I know I can clean most of the noise up in photoshop but I would prefer it if the camera could deal with it. Anyone here have experience with this camera? At the moment I am trying to get to try out both the canon 300d and the 10d to see which one suits me.

Is there no option to put this cam to ISO 100? DigiCams in that class all do have their grain-problems which increase heavily with raising the ISO-value. I fear, you can't do anything against it on the cameras side. If you want, you may give neatimage a chance. It's a great software to eliminate digicam-grain .. and it's a lot easier than doing it with PS .. with almost the same result or even better, if one lacks the PS-knowledge. Here you go: http://www.neatimage.com/

Attached Link: http://http://img.photosight.ru/2004/02/03/402318.jpg

Noise, it is bad... But sometimes.... If you use and love B&W photos, noise can be very very expressive... ( look at link) 10d and 300d - Smart cam, in any case you should try them and to choose one of them for yourself.

I think dpreview.com still measures noise in their reviews. That would at least tell you if what you are seeing is normal for that camera, or if something is broken.

I can't help You....but, I have seen Your thread before...glad You still use the Forum, as the advice here is Golden :]

I have to agree with Raven on this with regard to ISO 100 and yes there is a lot of merit it the use of noise (grain) to add atmosphere etc to an image but needless to say not much use if you want Sharp results.. Other points to consider is not to save and resave Jpegs or else that will further degrade your images.. Certainly getting a better camera will improve matters but again dont expect wonderful results if you push the ISO too far even with those beauties..

Attached Link: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_s602-review/

I asked my friend Google about this camera ... this review http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/fuji/finepix_s602-review/ had something to say about noise ... "Unlike a regular CCD, the SuperCCD has hexagonal-shaped pixels, which allows Fuji to pack more sensors into the same area, which allows the sensors to collect more data. Using this data, the S602Z can produces those 6 million pixel images that it's famous for. Of course, there's some interpolation (the camera is guessing) involved in the creation of those large images, which is why they have noise and strange artifacts sometime." In addition, that review indicates that at the higher ISO values, the sensors are paired to gain that additional sensitivity ... the tradeoff is that the number of pixels is halved. Another point to consider ... Does the camera have a setting for noise reduction? That would be a place to start ... you might even make some comparison pictures. MGD

danob; I do not work with Jpeg unless I have to the cameras highest setting saves as a tiff. I only save as a Jpeg when posting to the net etc.. The cameras lowest ISO is 160. I have taken a good look around DPreview (thinks for tip Misha) and looked at all the data and compared it to the other 2 cameras I am thinking about. I am going away for a few days at the end of this week so I will take it with me and see what I can get out of it.