The
Fujifilm FinePix A200 (A202 in Europe) is the newest revision
in the entry-level A-series cameras (A101,
A201). The A200
is effectively the same camera as the A201, but unlike the A201 which
uses SmartMedia cards for storage, the A200 is xD
compatible. Unlike SmartMedia memory cards which topped out at 128MB,
xD is already well past that and promises capacities over 1 GB in the
very near future.
In
addition to xD compatibility, the A200 also offers a slight redesign for
the front of the camera, making it a bit more stylish, and a sharper looking
menu system. These three items aside however, the A200 is effectively
the same as last year's A201. Mode Switch that has the shutter release in
the middle.
Three modes are provided:
Still
photography mode
Playback
mode
Movie
mode
An
optical viewfinder with an 80% frame coverage is provided to reduce the
need for the 1.5 inch LCD monitor; and nearby an LED shows power on (green)
and flash charging (orange).
All
the remaining external controls of the A200 are arranged on the right
of the LCD screen. First, a 4-direction control serves to navigate the
menus, but also can be used to activate the digital zoom. The digital
zoom is only available if the image size is set to 1280 x 960 (1M) or
640 x 480 (VGA) as it simply crops the central portion of the 2 megapixel
frame.
With the image size set to 1280 x 960, the digital zoom provides a "magnification"
equivalent to 1.25X, while with an image resolution of 640 x 480 it produces
the equivalent of 2.5X.
Immediately
below the 4-direction control is the [DISP] button which turns
on the LCD screen and can be used to overlay framing guidelines on the
screen.
The remaining two buttons below serve to call up the menu [MENU/OK] and
cancel a selection or clear the menu off the screen.
The FinePix A200 is
an entry-level camera, but unlike a number of others in that class, it
offers some basic controls over the image.
Moreover, although it uses a fixed-focus lens, it offers sharp images
and a macro mode which yields excellent images.
