Is FujiFilm's FinePix F30 the Best Point-and-Shoot? : Great Images At A Very Low Price
1. Great Images At A Very Low Price
FujiFilm is one of the more creative digital camera makers. The Charge Coupled Device (CCD) image sensors in it's SLRs use a combination of what the company calls "S" and "R" pixels that when, combined with a well designed digital processor, produce images of exceptional quality. While this technology isn't used in the FinePix F30, Fujifilm has created a CCD-digital processor combination that yields excellent quality photos under almost all lighting conditions.
I have been so impressed with the F30's images that I'm ready to call it the world's best point-and-shoot digital camera. Read on to find out why. Oh, before you go, take a look at the prices for this camera. Imagine the best point-and-shoot at such a low price.
The Specs Chart
OK, keeping the price of the F30 in mind, take a look at its features. I'll discuss them just below.
| Effective Pixels | 6.3 million |
| CCD | 1/1.7 inch ("Super CCD HR") |
| Storage Media | xD-Picture Card up to 1 GB; 10 MB internal. |
| File Formats | Still: compressed Exif v. 2.2 JPEG format
Movie: AVI format, Motion JPEG Audio: WAV format (monaural) |
| Number of Recorded Pixels | 6 MB, 3 MB, 2 MB and .03 MB |
| Lens | Fujinon 3x optical zoom |
| Focal Length | 8mm - 24mm (35mm equivalent 37mm - 111 mm) |
| Aperture | F2.8 - f8 minimum wide angle setting; f5 - f8 maximum telephoto setting |
| Focal Range | Normal: 2.0 feet to Infinity
Macro: minimum wide-angle 2.0 inches - 2.6 feet; maximum telephoto setting 1.0 feet - 2.6 feet |
| Focus | Single-Auto Focus (AF); Continuous AF |
| Exposure Control | Program Auto Exposure (AE); Aperture Priority AE; Shutter Priority AE; Manual (aperture and shutter are auto, metering, white balance and auto focus mode are all settable). |
| Shutter Speeds | 3 seconds to 1/2000 of a second; as long as 15 seconds in Night mode |
| Sensitivity | ISO equivalent: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200 |
| Metering | Through The Lens (TTL) 256 zones; multi, spot, average |
| LCD | 2.5 inches, 230,000 pixels, amorphous silicon TFT |
| Size (W x H x D) | 3.6 x 2.2 x 1.1 inches |
| Weight | 6.9 ounces with battery and xD card |
I can hear you scoffing already. "Six megapixels, hah! You can now get point-and-shoots with much higher resolutions for not too much more." To that I reply, "Six megapixels is more than enough for point-and-shoot photography."
My full-frame Canon 5D Single digital Lens Reflex (SLR) has over 12 megapixels and I use it to make 16 x 20 inch and larger prints on my Epson Stylus Pro 4000 and 3800 printers. My point-and-shoot is mostly for the web photos and for the 4 x 6 inch prints I make on my Epson PictureMate 240. I've pushed a 6 megapixel camera to 11 x 14 and even to 13 x 19, but that's not what it's for.
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