Conclusions
7. Conclusions
FujiFilm's FinePix F30 point-and-shoot digital camera is a wonder. Some of its features rival those of a prosumer or even professional digital SLR camera. One of these relates to noise. The camera delivers very low noise at ISO 100 and 200, low noise at ISO 400 and 800 and moderate to acceptable noise at 1600 and 3200 ISO.
Another feature you'd expect to find on higher priced more pro-oriented cameras, especially SLRs, is aperture and shutter priority. While some mid-priced point-and-shoots offer these two exposure control methods, they are still rare on cameras in the F30's price range.
The F30's very low shutter lag is also more typical on professional and prosumer digital cameras. And, one subtle pro feature I like is the way the camera quickly comes out of image view mode when you press the shutter button. This is the same as on most pro and prosumer SLRs.
The F30 produces photos with very good color, dynamic range and sharpness that print beautifully without any computer-based manipulation on 6 x 4 color printers such as Epson's PrintMate 240. I am impressed with the layout of controls on the camera. Everything falls neatly under my rather large fingers and I learned the controls very quickly.
Downsides of the F30 include the somewhat less than standard xD card, lack of a viewfinder, slow startup and very occasional purple fringing around such things as distant leaves on a tree. I've seen the latter problem in maybe 3 out of the roughly 1,000 pictures I've taken.
Though the F30 is available at this writing, FujiFilm has released an upgrade for the camera. It's called the F31fd. That lower case "f" tells most of the story of the upgrade. The camera has special technology to allow it to focus on human faces. There's also the F40fd, which is essentially the F31fd with an 8.3 megapixel CCD sensor.
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