Fujifilm FinePix F40fd

Reviewed April 2007

Image Quality

When Fujifilm introduced the first Super CCD, the technology was the subject of some controversy as it produced images that, for lack of a better description, were interpolated since they contained more pixels than were physically present on the sensor. Now, with the passage of time, the controversy has died down to a great extent, and the Super CCD's strength is recognized: it is one of the most accurate sensors when it comes to colour reproduction, a trait the FinePix F40fd inherits.

Designed as a point-and-shoot, the F40fd is clearly not intended for those that demand precise control over their camera. Although equipped with a mode that Fujifilm calls "Manual", the F40fd provides no possibility of adjusting shutter speed or aperture. In fact, the Manual mode is much more like a basic Program mode, offering controls over the image using sensitivity, exposure compensation, white balance, metering pattern, and the focus mode but little else. Moreover, the F40fd is limited to a maximum exposure time of 4 seconds and is not able to obtain photos at night without the use of the flash.

The ease of use that is evident in all aspects of the F40fd's design is also underlined by its Face Detection system. With this camera, the Face Detection system is now remarkably capable, and when active, picks out faces in the frame even before the shutter release is pressed, placing a green frame around them and following them until they move out of frame.

So effective is the Face Detection system on the F40fd that when the camera was being panned and it was accidentally presented with a framed photo of a couple, it immediately recognized the faces, framed each with a green rectangle and tracked them until they were out of range.

Unlike some other cameras, the F40fd 's photos seem to a always contain some residual noise, particularly in shadow areas as of 100 ISO, which is its lowest sensitivity level.

Past 400 ISO, however, only 800 is useable if the image size is reduced when printing. The 1600 ISO level, accessible in the Manual mode and by some scene modes, is quite noisy and looses a lot of detail, as do the Picture Stabilization and Natural Light modes, which can go as high as 2000 ISO. The images captured in these modes, particularly when seen at full scale on a monitor, resemble a pointillist painting and are devoid of any detail.

Following in the footprints of most current Fujifilm cameras, the F40fd does not offer much choice for compression.

Only the highest resolution, the full 8 megapixel, offers a choice of compression. The 8M Fine format uses a compression ratio that sticks to the 6:1 range, while the Normal level (8M normal) doubles the compression to a 12:1 ratio. Regrettably, the 3:2 image size, which has ideal proportions for printing images, is limited to the Normal compression ratio of 12:1, as are all other image sizes.

Still, albeit less detailed, even images captured with this level of compression are quite useable.

Flash photos also tend to turn out well, although the subject should not be farther than a couple of meters (6 to 7 feet). Zooming is best avoided when shooting with flash unless the sensitivity is set to Auto (400). At the maximum telephoto setting the camera only has access to a much smaller aperture (f5.1) and images can become quite dark if the flash is relied on as the main source of light.

In fact, the flash is most effective when it is used as fill-in light, adding a little direct light to an already well lit subject.

The only negative point in the F40fd's image quality is, in our opinion, that the images look a bit over-sharpened when examined closely, causing the appearance of a slight grain; and that there is no user control to reduce the sharpening. This said, this strong sharpening does not impact images negatively when they are printed, even up to an 8 x 10 inch (20 x 25 cm) size.

As a high resolution, very compact camera, the FinePix F40fd should satisfy the needs and requirements of most point-and-shoot users. Easy to use, it offers a compatibility with SD memory cards — a very popular format that seems to occupy the sweet point between size, practicality and cost — and with Fuji's own tiny memory card standard: xD. Moreover, it also offers an effective face detection system that goes a long way to ensure that photos of family and friends are correctly focused. All of which helps the F40fd produce good images from which users should get excellent prints.