Fujifilm FinePix F610

Anyone who’s followed the development of
Fujifilms’ SuperCCD imaging chips will know
that they characteristically produce image files
with twice the resolution of their ‘raw’ data capture. The
chip in the F610 captures 6.3 megapixels of data, but
the camera’s internal processing system uses it to
generate 12-megapixel image files. Is this just plain oldfashioned
interpolation? Well, yes, but Fujifilm’s CCD
design offers certain technical advantages over the
conventional sort and, it’s claimed, produces ‘better’ raw
data, hence justifying the increased image sizes.
You can save 6-megapixel files, too, and you may
see little decrease in practical image quality and save a
lot more files on your memory card. Other image sizes
include 3 megapixels, 2 megapixels and 1 megapixel.
The high resolution of this camera comes about
through Fujifilm’s 4th Generation SuperCCD HR design,
which allows smaller, denser photosite arrays on the
chip, and hence higher resolution in smaller cameras.
And the F610 is certainly small. Not as small as
Canon’s Digital Ixus i, for example, but small enough to
fit in a shirt pocket, nonetheless. What’s more, it
includes lots of photographic features designed to
appeal to enthusiasts, not just point-and-shoot novices.

What does it do?

As well as a standard program AE auto-exposure mode,
the F610 includes aperture-priority, shutter-priority and
manual control, plus a small selection of ‘scene’ modes
where the camera’s set up for specific types of shot,
including Portraits, Landscapes, Sports and Night Scenes.
Fujifilm is claiming this is the smallest compact digital
camera to offer 6-megapixel resolution. It’s a successor
to the F601 model, which sported a 3-megapixel
SuperCCD, so it’s quite a hike in resolution. It’s also
claimed that the upright design is less prone to camera
shake when you’re shooting one-handed.
The SuperCCD design has advantages beyond sheer
resolution. It allows a super-smooth movie mode (30fps
instead of the usual 15fps in digital cameras), and 640 x
480 camcorder-quality resolution. It records sound with
your movies, too, which makes the FinePix ideal for allround
snapshot use.
You’ll need a big memory card to capture more than
a few seconds’ of movie footage, though, and the
16MB xD Picture Card supplied is far too measly even
for still shooting. Fortunately, xD cards are now proving
to be one of the cheapest formats on the market, and
large-capacity cards aren’t especially expensive.
There’s an interesting sequence-shooting mode
exclusive to Fujifilm cameras, whereby you can shoot in
‘Top-5’ or ‘Final-5’ mode. The ‘Final-5’ option is the most
interesting, because it lets you keep shooting until
you’re sure the action’s finished, then it saves the last
five shots in the sequence.

Ease of use

While the F610 offers a lot of technology in a small
package, the design and handling are a bit of a mixed
bag. A vertical sliding switch on the back switches the
camera on, with positions for playback and shooting
mode, which is nice and easy to remember. And the
start-up time – a common bugbear with digital cameras
– is barely more than a second. The AF system is pretty
quick, taking only half a second to focus at the wideangle
end of the zooming range, and maybe a second
at the telephoto end. It’s positive, too, with no ‘hunting’
and a good audible focus confirmation ‘beep’.
The rest isn’t so good, though. The main mode dial at
the top of the camera is very small. It switches between
the movie mode, manual, fully automatic and scene
modes. This last option shares a peculiar design
feature with other current Fujifilm cameras –
although it appears to have settings for each of the
scene modes, you can’t turn the dial to these
positions. They’re illustrative only, and you have to
use the menus to swap between them.
There’s more potential confusion to follow. Below
the LCD on the back is a secondary LCD, which
displays additional shooting options and a row of
buttons below for selecting them. This will be
familiar to anyone who’s used a FinePix S2 Pro
digital SLR, but may prove confusing to anyone else.
Why? Because some options (EV compensation,
flash mode, exposure mode, sequence shooting) are
accessed here, some are accessed via the main
menu system (self-timer, white balance, metering
pattern) and still more are controlled via the
camera’s ‘Photo Mode’ button, another item
common to all current Fujifilm models, and which
lets you adjust the image size, ISO and colour mode.
Why are these here and not on the menus with the
other options? Why separate out certain functions for
the secondary LCD display? How many people are
going to get the hang of all this in a reasonable
amount of time? The F610’s complex and dispersed
controls mean it’s more likely to dazzle and confuse.

SuperCCD quality

This level of photo-gadgetry is all very well, of
course, but the F610 still has to deliver the results
photographically. It’s not especially cheap, after all.
And it has to be said that the results produced by
the 4th Generation SuperCCDs are a little
controversial. Some find the level of noise
objectionable, and it’s true that if you look closely
enough at the F610’s images the fine detail is
breaking up. But these are big files, and you’re
unlikely to be examining them at a pixel-level,
except for technical comparisons. With normal-sized
prints and at normal viewing distances, many
people will find the images the F610 produces are
crisp and colourful. Indeed, it can inject life, contrast
and colour into the most unpromising conditions.
Can you get better image quality, colour and
definition in any other camera of this price and size?
Take a look at the sample images on the coverdisc
and decide for yourself. Good as they are, the F610’s
images aren’t perfect. They are prone to flare around
highlights and some magenta fringing.
It’s difficult to say whether the F610 is the best
compact digital camera on the market right now,
because its price and resolution are both higher than
its major rivals’. Considering the prices now being
asked for Canon’s excellent PowerShot S50, and
exceptional value of the Minolta DiMAGE F200, the
F610 looks a little on the pricey side, at least for the
time being…

Fujifilm FinePix F10

Fujifilm describes the
FinePix F10 as ‘the
24-hour’ camera, referring
not only to its ability to shoot
under lighting conditions four
times dimmer than its rivals, but
also its exceptional battery life.
It achieves these features
with new Real Photo processor
technology and a 6.3-megapixel
Super CCD sensor. This uses
Fujifilm’s trademark octagonal
pixel technology (the company’s
abandoned its double-sized
interpolation system), so the output
resolution’s 6-megapixels.
So how useful is the ability to
shoot at ISO 1600, and what on
earth does this do to the quality of
the pictures?

Using available light

This level of sensitivity represents
a kind of watershed, where shots
you wouldn’t have attempted
before now become possible. The
F10 crosses the threshold where
it’s possible to take hand-held
shots indoors without fl ash, using
available natural light or artifi cial
lighting. It produces better colours,
better lighting and, if you’re
photographing people, far better
‘environmental’ photos, where you
show them in their surroundings,
not illuminated by harsh fl ash.
After a short time with the
F10, you fi nd yourself taking
photographs you’d never have
attempted before. This is helped by
a Natural Light mode that switches
off the fl ash and uses an extended
Auto ISO range of 80 to 800. You
still have to select the maximum
ISO 1600 value manually, but
Natural Light mode nevertheless
exploits this camera’s remarkable
low-light performance in an
instantly accessible way.
The technology that produces
usable ISO 1600 images has a
knock-on effect down the ISO
range. At ISO 400, for example, the
tonal smoothness is vastly superior
to that of any similar compact
model. No other compact camera
has an ISO/performance ratio that
even comes close to the F10.
Compared to that, the 500-shot
battery life is a rather less dramatic
innovation, but it shouldn’t be
overlooked. Most compact cameras
are doing well to reach 200
shots, and even ordinary one-day
outings can leave your camera
exhausted before you’re ready to
stop shooting. A combination of
a fat battery and power-saving
technology gives the F10 greater
stamina than most, and you’ll
especially appreciate it on trips
where you’re away from your base
for extended periods.
But this is where things start
to take a bit of a downward
turn. Apart from the sensor’s
extraordinary sensitivity and the
extended battery life, the F10’s a
with standard snapshot features
and no more, including an ordinary
3x optical zoom, Program AE and
Scene modes.
The F10’s nevertheless a nice
camera to use. The big Mode dial
on the top switches between the
Scene, Auto, Manual and Movie
modes. The Manual mode doesn’t
give direct control over shutter
speed and aperture, but it simply
enables the white balance, EV
compensation and metering pattern
options, which are disabled in Full
Auto mode.
The 2.5-inch LCD could do with
a few more pixels than its 115,000,
because at this size the pixel pitch
becomes more obvious and the
display’s got a slightly granular
look. But it’s extremely bright and
colourful, and it has a 60fps refresh
rate that updates it smoothly, even
when the light’s poor.
You don’t get a live histogram
display for judging exposure
compensation, though, and
compensation control’s tucked
away in the menu system. The
image quality is patchy, too. On the
one hand, you get typically Fujifi lm
colour, which gives very pleasing,
‘clean’ colours, good saturation and
an ability to add colour to even the
dullest conditions.
Fine detail’s okay for a 6MP
chip. If you compare it with a
top 5MP camera like the Nikon
CoolPix 5900, you’d fi nd it hard to
decide which had the best outright
defi nition (maybe even the Nikon).
Fringing fl aws
The F10’s most serious issue,
though, is its fringing. This may
be due to residual chromatic
aberration, a lens defect which
worsens towards the edge of the
frame, but the main cause seems to
be sensor ‘blooming’, where bright
highlights overload neighbouring
pixels and produce characteristic
blue/magenta patches. All compact
cameras suffer from fringing to a
degree, but in the F10, with certain
types of shot, it becomes a problem
that’s a bit too serious to overlook.
That and the camera’s basic
photographic features take the
edge off the F10’s exceptional lowlight
performance and battery life. It
surely can’t be long, though, before
Fujifi lm’s ISO 1600 technology
fi nds its way into a model that’s
more able to do it justice.