Fujifilm Finepix Z10fd 7.2MP Digital Camera (Midnight Black) Review
I’ve been a Fujifilm faithful ever since my first digicam, the FP1300, seven digital cameras ago in 2001. With the Z10fd, it’s easy to see why; tiny, sleek eye catching design (curvy and retro looking), intuitive, easy to use interface, and great image quality.
The Z10 is a 7 megapixel camera with 25MB internal memory. I made sure I got a large memory card, a 1GB XD card (the camera also takes SD and SDHC memory cards) which stores 294 images at the highest resolution, and 18.7 minute movie clips (640×480 at 30fps).
Having owned two cameras in the Z series; the Z1 and Z3, comparisons are inevitable. The first thing of note is that you no longer require the cradle to charge the camera, or download photos/movies/sound clips. It was quite a pain having to lug that around everywhere.
As with those two, the camera powers on by sliding back the lens cover. One gripe I have though is that there isn’t a dedicated button for movie mode anymore. You must now go into the menu to access it, but I can live with that. There’s only one button on top of the camera, the shutter button, everything else in located on the back, beside the LCD.
The 2.5 inch LCD display is toughened and scratch/break resistant. The resolution is excellent. The camera has 3x optical zoom which it does without extending out of the camera body, like most other cameras.
The battery charges in about an hour, much quicker than the 140 minutes stated in the manual. Camera start up is very quick too, just under 2 seconds from my timing.
The menu is even further simplified. If, for example, you select one out of the 18 shooting modes (i.e. Manual, Auto, Natural & Flash, Natural light, Party, Sports -for moving objects, etc. There’s even a mode for Text), the screen displays text explaining what each mode is, with crystal clear sample images to illustrate. Each mode makes life easier for people like me who aren’t into much tinkering to achieve great results. Natural & Flash is one of my favourites as it takes two images; one with flash, and one with natural light near simultaneously, and you get to select one, or keep both. Most times, the photo taken in natural light comes out tops.
Movies are shot in 30fps, TV quality mode, which is becoming standard in digicams these days. You can select either the higher quality of 640×480, or lower quality of 320×240 (which gives longer clips). Quality is very good, and it’s amazing the way the camera adapts to changes in light intensity while shooting (e.g. moving from a darker indoors atmosphere to a sunny exterior).
Then we come to the major feature, face detection mode. This is a welcome feature for people like me who while handing my camera to strangers to “please take a photo of me”, hope and pray that the photo taken manages to come out focused and okay at least. In this mode, the camera locks onto facial features, up to ten faces at a time, and automatically selects the best exposure for the shot as well as eliminates red-eye, enabling great shots to be taken every time. You can also use face detection mode with the self timer, ensuring those shots you take of yourself come out great. You can still use AF/AE lock as well.
You can edit photos too; clip, rotate, and even send or receive images with other IR enabled cameras by infra red. I tried it with my PC (which is IR enabled) and it didn’t work though, shame!
The camera comes in a range of colours; black (my favourite), red, green, pink, blue, and orange.
There’s an AV cable to connect to your TV to view images or movie clips (it uses the same port as the USB and has a nice little cover for the port), and as ever, the Finepix software is first class. Photos up to A3 size can be printed in crystal clear resolution.
This camera will not please those who are used to extensive manual settings and loads of tinkering with ISO levels, white balance, and other photographic jargon, but if you’re like me, and just want to be able to whip out your camera, and without much fuss, capture the moment, this camera is for you. My current favourite gadget along with my iPod classic!
Product Description
The Finepix Z10fd Digital Camera features Face Detection of human faces in the frame, up to 10 faces and in real time for the absolute best results possible in any shooting conditions. The LSI chip behind Face Detection technology lets the FinePix Z10fd Digital Camera perform like never before, along with sophisticated, intelligent software algorithms that detect and correct red-eye. Picture Stabilization reduces camera shake, freezes subject movement and improves low light background detail. FinePix IrSimple infrared technology lets you transfer images to a friend’s IrSimple equipped camera easily. The convenient and flexible capability of xD, SD and SD-HC slot gives you a wider variety of applications to choose the media that is right for you. The Z10fd features a Blog Mode that will automatically resize any image you’ve captured to a VGA 640×480 or 320×240 image size with the touch of a button, perfect for Blogs, Websites, Auctions or email with ease. Your original high-resolution image is saved and an additional VGA image file is created for use in web applications or email where smaller file sizes and faster load times are needed.Shutter speed -3 seconds to 1/1000 second Red-eye Reduction Auto, Red-eye Reduction & Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Red-eye Reduction & Slow Synchro Shooting Modes -Auto, Manual, Natural Light, Natural Light with Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Auction, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower Close-Up, Text, Picture Stabilization and Movie System Requirements -USB port, IBM PC/AT compatible computer, CPU Pentium, 200MHz or higher, Windows 98, 98SE, 2000 Pro, Me, XP SE, Pro, Power PC, Mac OS X 10.2.8 to 10.3.7, 128MB RAM or more, 400MB free space and CD-ROM drive Dimensions -Width 3.6 x Height 2.2 x Depth 0.7 (91.2×56.6?18.8mm) Weight -120 grams
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