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…