An ultracompact point-and-shoot that's stylish, quick on its feet, and gives generally good images.

The FinePix F700 is the first digital camera to arrive with the Japanese manufacturer's Super CCD SR technology that provides for better sensitivity range. With a sticker price of AU$1,099, this FinePix does not come cheap. Although this is partly justified by the stylish design, reasonably good image quality, and slightly better dynamic range from the fourth-generation sensor. Additionally, the camera is capable of capturing digitally interpolated 6-megapixel images.

Super CCD SR, HR, What's The Diff?
Unlike the Super CCD HR (High Resolution) sensor--that basically just records double the amount of effective pixels in a honeycomb structure--each pixel of the Super CCD SR sensor consists of two photodiodes. The primary photodiode, known as the S-pixel, is adjusted for high sensitivity, while the secondary set, the R-pixel, is tweaked for lower sensitivity, thus explaining the naming convention. Fujifilm has actually likened this concept of increased dynamic range to that of a set of audio speakers where tweeters are added for improved range and sound quality.

We did notice slight improvements over the HR sensor found on the older FinePix F410, A310 and even the recently released S5000. However, the differences can only be seen when the images are enlarged. Therefore, we doubt that you'll reap the benefits of the SR sensor unless you're into lots of digital darkroom work, or are fond of tightly cropping your photos.

It appears the boxy, brushed-metallic styling is popular among manufacturers for their high-end cameras. This FinePix looks--and to a certain extent feels--like the fashionable Minolta F series, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-F1 and, of course Kodak's LS633. Like the others, the F700's 108 x 54 x 28mm frame won't sit comfortably in your pocket. However, the camera does supply a wrist strap for you to hang this FinePix elsewhere.

While the compact form factor will lead you to believe this digicam is targeted at the point-and-shoot crowd, the feature set is rather extensive. There are provisions to manipulate your shutter and aperture settings, as well as the more common white balance and EV compensation controls. Neophytes need not worry, though. There are also four scene modes to cater to a variety of shooting scenarios, along with auto functions.

With the buttons and dials evenly populating the left and right side of the frame, one-hand operations are for the point-and-shoot only. The more advanced features are accessible only on the left side of this FinePix, and serious shutterbugs will be forced to use two hands for access to the manual functions.

On the movie clip front, the FinePix can capture VGA (640 x 480-pixel) video with audio at an impressive 30fps, limited only by the storage card capacity. Other things to note are the commonly supplied (and barely adequate) 16MB xD-Picture Card.

In our tests, we found the F700's performance to be zippy. The unit powered up just under 2 seconds--not as fast as Casio's QV-R40, but it's certainly peppy. Similarly, the shot-to-shot interval reinforced the zesty image, taking just over 1 second sans flash. Surprisingly, these timings held even with the bulb forced on, though for only three shots.

The zoom mechanism proved smooth and accurate (albeit noisier than we'd have liked). Auto-focusing (AF) performance was also good, taking about 1 second whether there's adequate lighting or not. Although under dim or bad lighting, the AF has the help of an illuminated beam of light, containing a pattern of a 2 x 2 checkerboard. In terms of low-light performance, the F700 has improved over its other ultracompact brethren.

If you're in need of fast consecutive shots, the camera features a continuous-shooting mode. We were able to capture five shots in 1 second. This is noticeably faster than the current crowd of compact offerings available on the market.

The power management of the F700 is good. If no buttons are depressed, the camera shuts off the LCD after 30 seconds. Similarly, after 2 or 5 minutes (depending on your customisation), it automatically powers down. Some users may find this annoying, as there's a need to slide the switch to the off state and then back on to use the digicam again. To save power further, a separate button for the continuous focus function is located on the right of the unit's face, needing fingers of your left hand to depress it.

In terms of image quality, the F700 delivered pleasant photos. The pictures recorded were sharp and detailed, although we preferred images with the in-camera sharpening set down a notch. The colours captured were vivid and the metering generally gave well-exposed shots. As always, on close inspection, we did find purple fringing in some of our pictures. However, the aberrations weren't particularly severe and didn't mar our shots. The camera's automatic white balance also proved adequate and able to handle most lighting conditions. Our only gripe was the lack of customisable sensitivity settings below ISO 200, but this has been the issue with most of Fujifilm's offerings.

The FinePix F700 is well-suited for avid shutterbugs who want creative features, yet aren't willing to compromise on form. We like the design and performance of this Fuji but find the prohibitive four-figure sticker price disappointing for an effective 3.1-megapixel camera. Nevertheless, if money is no object, we're sure you'll be pleased with this sleek shooter.

Fujifilm FinePix F700
Company: Fujifilm
Price: AU$1099
Distributor: Hanimex
Available: October 2003

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