Fujifilm FinePix F30

Reviewed July 2006

Characteristics

Equipped with a 1/1.7-inch Super CCD HR (High Resolution) that has a 6.3 million effective pixels, the FinePix F30 is able to produce an image size of 2848 x 2136 pixels.

CCD sensitivity, which can be manually set when the camera is used with the Manual, Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority modes, covers a range that starts at 100 ISO, and extends to 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 ISO. In addition, 2 Auto ISO settings are available, Auto 400, which allows the up to 400 ISO), or Auto 1600 (up to 1600 ISO). Sensitivity is automatically set when the camera is set to the Auto shooting mode, or any of the Scene modes, and when the Anti-Shake mode is used, which can increase sensitivity up to 3200 ISO.

A 3X optical zoom with a focal range of 8 to 24 mm, equivalent to a 36 to 108 mm lens in the 35 mm film format is used with the F30. The lens has apertures that start at f2.8 through to f8 at the wide angle end, and from f5 to f8 at the telephoto end.

When activated in the Setup menu, a 6.2X digital zoom is also available, increasing the overall zoom effect to the equivalent of 18.5X. The digital zoom magnifies the centre of the image, progressively cropping a smaller and smaller section and interpolates it to the currently selected image size, resulting in a noticeable lower image quality.

Although it depends on the shooting mode, the F30 has a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2000 down to 3 seconds and, if enabled in the menu, which can even extend to 15 seconds using the Long Exposure Night scene mode.

With the FinePix F30, images can be recorded at any one of 5 resolutions, but only the highest resolution, 6-megapixel, provides a choice of compression levels:

• 6M: 2848 × 2136 pixels, can be saved as Fine (F), or Normal (N).
• 3:2: 3024 × 2016 pixels, records an image that is proportional to standard photo prints (4x4 and 5x7).
• 3M: 2048 × 1536 pixels.
• 2M: 1600 × 1200 pixels.
• 0.3M: 640 × 480 pixels.

As with other recent Fujifilm digital cameras, the image resolution is selected in a menu Fujifilm calls the -Mode menu, a menu that also provides settings for sensitivity when the mode allows it, and colour:

• ISO to select the sensitivity of the CCD when the camera is set to Manual, Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority (see above).
• Resolution/Quality: serves to set the image size (see above).
• FinePix Colour controls the image colour:
  • Standard: the default, captures normal colours;
  • Chrome: accentuates colour saturation and contrast, much as Fujichrome film does;
  • B&W: captures a black and white image.

All the other camera settings for the F30 are found in the Photography menu, which appears on the monitor when the MENU/OK button is pressed. The content, if any, of the Photography menu changes according to the mode in use, and with the Auto Mode, only 3 options are offered, with the Movie mode, only an access to the Setup menu is shown, while the Manual, A and S modes provide the most settings:

• Shooting Mode (only when the Mode Dial is set to A or S): selects either Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority.
• Scene Position (only shown when the Mode Switch is set to the N/SP position): allows selecting one of the 15 scene programs (see the Ergonomics section of the review for more detail).
• Photometry (only when the Mode Dial is set to A or S) serves to select the metering pattern: Multi, a 256-segment pattern, Average, which is similar to a centre-weighted pattern, or Spot, which only evaluates the centre of the frame.

• White Balance (only when the Mode Dial is set to A or S): Auto; Custom, which allows setting the white balance under ambient light; Sun; Shade; Daylight Fluorescent; Warm White Fluorescent; Cool White Fluorescent; Incandescent.
• High-Speed Shooting (available in all modes):limits the focusing distance to a range of 1m (3.3 ft) to infinity, reducing the time required for the camera to focus, and capture the shot.

• Continuous Shooting (available in all modes) provides three shooting modes:
  • Long-Period: captures images while the shutter release is held down, until the camera runs out of memory.
  • Final 3: captures up to 40 images at 2.2 frames per second while the shutter release is held down, saving only the last three frames.
  • Top 3: captures a maximum of three images at 2.2 frames per second.
• AF Mode:
  • Centre: the camera focuses on whatever is at the centre of the frame.
  • Multi: the camera focuses on any strongly contrasting subject anywhere near the centre of the frame.
  • Continuous: focusing is continuous on the main subject at the centre of the frame.
• Set-up: accesses the Setup menu. (See the Interface and Software section of the review for more detail.)

With the F-30 in Playback mode, a different menu appears offering the following options:

• Erase: to delete one or all images on the memory card.
• Image Rotate: to rotate an image 90° to the right or left.
• Protect: is to select images for protection from accidental erasure. Frames can be selected one at a time, or all selected, or all reset.
• Copy: serves to copy one or all images between the internal memory (see further) and a memory card, or vice versa.
• Voice Memo: serves to record a voice annotation (WAV format) that will be attached to an image and which can be up to 30 seconds long.

• Trimming: allows zooming into an image and saving the zoomed image as a new image. The cropped image can be saved at a 3M size, or 2M, or 0.3M.
• Set-up: accesses the Setup menu (see the Interface and software section of the review for information about the options contained in the Setup menu).

The F30 has a 10MB internal memory, and is compatible with xD Picture cards. As retailed in North America, the FinePix F30 comes without a memory card.

The card slot is located underneath the camera, next to the battery, both being covered by a solid door. The card is ejected by pressing on its end.

The chart below provides approximate quantities of images and the length of video clips that can be saved using the 10 MB internal memory, and using an optional 256 MB card:

The FinePix F30 is powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion (NP-95) battery that fits in a slot next to the xD card slot, and which is held in place by a spring-loaded latch.

At the top is the USB/AV out connection, the function depending on the cable used, and both are supplied with the camera. The USB connection is (Hi-Speed) and the communication protocol is automatically configured by the camera, depending on the device it is connected to:

• Mass Storage when connected to a computer, allowing it to see the camera as a hard disk.
• PictBridge when connected to a compatible printer to print photos directly.

Similarly, the Audio/Video out signal is also set in the Setup menu either as NTSC or as PAL.

The bottom connection is for the AC-DC adapter (AC-5VC) which is also included with the camera. The adapter is used to recharge the battery while the battery is in the camera and takes approximately 4 hours to recharge a completely discharged battery.