Released
at the same time as the FinePix
A101, the FinePix A201 is basically the same camera but equipped
with a 2-megapixel CCD. The FinePix A201 is one of the lowest priced 2-megapixel
cameras currently available on the market.
The
power switch, the shutter release and the mode dial are all on top of
the camera. The power switch instantly turns on the camera, and opens
the barrier that protects the lens when the camera is not in use.
The Mode dial has three positions:
Record
Playback
Movie
An optical viewfinder with an 80% frame coverage is provided. It is flanked
by a LED that: glows green when the camera is on; blinks orange when an
image is being stored; and blinks red when there is a problem, such as
no memory card present.
The back of the FinePix A201 has a 1.6 inch, D-TFT LCD screen with 55,000
pixels; sufficient for image previews, but a bit hard to see in sunlight.
Four
controls, including the 4-direction control, are aligned on the right
of the LCD screen. The 4-direction control, primarily designed
to navigate the menus, is also used to manipulate 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.
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.
Further down is the
Menu/OK button, which is used to call up the menu and confirm selections;
and last is the Back button, which is used to cancel a selection,
or back out of the menu.
Although the FinePix A201 is simple to use, it offers a manual mode,
which permits adjustments to some important photographic settings such
as white balance and exposure compensation.
