Fujifilm FinePix Z1

Reviewed August 2005

Ergonomics

The Fujifilm FinePix Z1 is flat, without any protuberances, and roughly the same size as a deck of cards. It offers a 5.1 megapixel resolution using a Fujifilm CCD HR and has a fully internal 3X optical zoom.

Fully metal-clad, the z1 is extremely compact and sports a black front, top and bottom while its back and sides are silver. The Z1 is turned on by sliding back its front cover, revealing the lens and flash and activating the bright white Self-timer lamp to the left of the flash for a few seconds.

The top right of the FinePix Z1 only has two controls.

The first on the left is the Shutter Release, a 2-stage shutter that locks the auto focus and auto exposure if held at mid-course.

The second is the Mode Switch which serves to select the capture mode, either Photography Mode, or Movie Mode.

The external controls of the Z1 are kept to the bare minimum, and the capture modes are selected in the camera’s menu (see the Characteristics section of the review for a listing of all the options contained in the menu).

The first option of the Z1’s menu offers a choice of seven shooting modes when the Mode Switch is set to the Photography Mode: Manual Mode leaves the selection of aperture and shutter speed to the camera, but allows access to Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Metering, and Auto Focus mode. Auto Mode is the simplest shooting mode as all photographic settings are under the control of the camera. The Natural Light Mode takes advantage of the CCD HR to capture photos without flash when the light is insufficient for standard shooting modes, by allowing CCD sensitivity to increase up to 800 ISO if necessary. Focus is assisted by the AF assist/Self-timer lamp that is next to the flash. Portrait Mode softens the focus slightly, and enhances skin tones. The Landscape Mode accentuates sharpness a little bit and prevents the use of the flash. Sports Mode attempts to maximize the shutter speed so as to freeze the action of moving subjects, using the flash if necessary. The Night Mode can capture an exposure up to 4-seconds long, and the flash can be used in slow synch mode with or without red-eye reduction to capture a subject in the foreground while also imaging a dark background. The camera needs to be placed on a stable surface however, as it is not equipped with a tripod mount.

When the Mode Switch is set to the Movie mode , the Fujifilm Z1 is able to video clips with mono sound. Two images sizes are available, 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels, and both are recorded at 30 frames per second. The zoom position is fixed at the first frame, and the digital zoom is not available. However, the white balance and exposure are adjusted as the recording progresses, and the length of the recording is only limited by the capacity of the memory card.

Because of its very compact size, the Fujifilm Z1 is not equipped with an optical viewfinder. Instead the majority of the camera’s back is occupied by a large 115,000 pixel 2.5-inch LCD monitor.

All the remaining external controls of the Z1 are positioned on the right of the monitor.

Starting at the top, the first control is for the zoom, which controls the lens in the capture modes and allows zooming in (up to 4.1X at the highest resolution) and out of an image in the Playback mode.

Directly below the zoom control three small rubber discs help secure the user’s grip on the camera, and the first on the left hides an LED.

The disc lights up green when the camera has achieved auto focus; blinks green when the shutter speed is low and the image might be affected by camera shake; blinks orange while an image is being stored and lights red while the battery is charging, or blinks red if the camera experiences an malfunction.

Next are two oval buttons, each identified by a coloured icon:

Places the Fujifilm Z1 into Playback mode when it is already powered on. Moreover, pressing the button for more than 1 second when the camera is turned off starts it directly in the Playback mode, avoiding having to uncover the lens.

The FinePix button — a button common to most current Fujifilm digital cameras — displays the FinePix menu. Although the content of the FinePix menu changes according to the camera’s mode, the menu serves to: Select the image quality and size, ISO sensitivity, and the colour setting in the Still image capture modes (see the Characteristics section of the review for more details). With the Movie mode the menu only serves to select the frame size. While in the Playback mode it presents a DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) menu which serves to select which images will be printed, and how many copies of each photo will be made.

The most dominant control is next, a large shiny ring encircling the MENU/OK button which serves to call up the menu appropriate to the mode in use, and confirm selections.

The ring control consists of 4-directional controls, used to navigate menu options and images when the camera is in Playback. In addition, each of the four directional controls accesses other functions:

	The UP arrow provides a boost to the LCD monitor’s brightness for a short period to assist framing when the light conditions are overwhelming the LCD monitor.
	In Playback, the same arrow serves to delete the image on the screen.

The last external control is below the 4-direction control. DISP/BACK serves to either back out of a menu selection when a menu is on the screen, or control the way information is presented on the monitor.

By default the camera displays some camera settings superimposed on the image: capture mode, flash mode, image size and quality, remaining shots, ISO setting, battery state, and the focus brackets. In addition, when the shutter release is pressed halfway, aperture and shutter speed are also indicated at the bottom of the screen.

Pressing the DISP button a first time removes all superimposed information with the exception of the AF brackets and the focus confirmation.

Pressing the button a second time returns the information, and adds a composition grid.

Finally, a third press of the button changes the screen layout completely, showing the last 3 images captured in a column on the left of the screen while the shot being composed is shown on the right.

The same holds true for the Playback mode: by default the camera presents a captured image with, superimposed on the periphery: the image file’s name, the battery’ current state, the size and quality of the image, the ISO setting used to capture it, and the time and date at which it was captured.

With repeated presses of the DISP button, the camera first clears all the information off the screen, then presents a screen of 9 thumbnails of the images on the memory card, and then displays photos by capture date, 11 thumbnails per screen.

While we could have wished the FinePix Z1’s monitor to have a even higher resolution and an even better image, the Z1 is nevertheless an attractive camera: its finishing is flawless and its few external controls clearly designed for efficiency and ease of use. The Z1 starts up quickly — it is ready to shoot in under a second — and reacts instantly to its controls, including the shutter release.