Fujifilm ups the ante for enthusiast digital cameras with the FinePix 6900 Zoom by equipping it with fully manual controls and a sharp f2.8 Electron Beam Coated (EBC) Fujinon 6X zoom lens. EBC theoretically increases light transmission. Utilising Fujifilm's 3.3-megapixel SuperCCD, this heavy-hitting digicam captures clear, crisp images that explode with colour. Aimed at photo enthusiasts, it's an excellent choice for indoor and outdoor portraiture and studio work, but lacks the speed that advanced shooters need to capture fast action.
Borrowing from the design of its predecessor the FinePix 4900, the 6900 Zoom features a moulded grip that helps keep the camera firmly in hand and your index finger comfortably on the shutter release button. At about a pound with the battery installed, the 6900 Zoom has a typical weight for its prosumer class, but its compact ergonomic design lends it a better feel than many other cameras have. Although it's sturdily constructed, one design flaw we noted was the cheap plastic door on the left side of the camera that covers the USB, video, and power ports. A piece of flexible rubber would have been a much better and more durable alternative.
Thoughtfully located buttons make it easy to operate the camera and reach frequently used settings. The zoom control buttons are well placed where the fingers of the hand supporting the lens fall on the camera's left side. Around the program control dial, where the right thumb rests, there's a command dial for manually adjusting settings. This allows you to change aperture and shutter speed without moving your eye from the shot. Similarly the incorporation of a grooved manual focusing ring on the lens barrel gives the user more photographic control allowing you to focus on your subject quickly and accurately, SLR-style (Single Lens Reflex).
Employing a through-the-lens (TTL) electronic viewfinder (EVF) instead of an optical one, Fujifilm avoids the parallax problem that plagues some digital cameras, especially when coupled with lens attachments. A focus magnifier helps alleviate the difficulty of focusing manually with the EVF by displaying an enlarged view of the area of sharpest focus in a small inset box. Unfortunately, the scene in the EVF tends to jump around when the camera moves, which we find annoying when panning for the best composition for the shot. On a brighter note, the lens zooms and focuses smoothly.
The 6900 Zoom comes with all the standard features enthusiasts have come to expect. There's 1/3-, 2/3-, and 1-stop exposure bracketing, as well as more-than-adequate flash options, including slow sync with red eye reduction. The longest exposure time available is 3 seconds, a major disappointment since a longer bulb mode is a must for serious photographers. A shutter delay of about a second makes the 6900 Zoom ill suited for action shots. A fast burst mode lets you take up to five shots in quick succession, but you have to wait for the images to record between bursts, which limits the feature's usefulness if you want to shoot extended periods of action. The 6900 Zoom doesn't record uncompressed images either, and that may detract from its appeal to advanced photographers who would otherwise appreciate it.
The test images we took with the 6900 Zoom were crisp and clean, though they exhibited some noise in shadows and dark corners. This camera captures brilliant, accurate colours, and offers a broad dynamic range. Colour balance tends to be quite warm, but tweaking the white balance helps remedy the problem, and the camera lets you save two custom white balance settings. Some high-contrast shots reveal noticeable chromatic aberration and blooming, which cause fringes of colour to appear along dark edges and bright areas to bleed into dark ones. The lens also exhibits slight pincushion distortion when zoomed in, and barrel distortion when zoomed out.
Interestingly, we didn't notice any increase in image quality when saving a shot in the camera's interpolated 6-megapixel mode; nor did we observe greater amount image noise. Since the 6900 Zoom ships with only a 16M SmartMedia card, we recommend shooting in the 3.3-megapixel mode and saving the media real estate for more images.
Clearly the 6900 Zoom's manual control set is one of its key selling points; they offer the potential for photographic manipulation comparable to older SLRs. The camera's well-placed controls promise a gentle learning curve, and the sharpness and brilliant colour of the images it captures is impressive. Although priced at the high end of its class, this FinePix model offers a combination of flexibility, excellent image quality, and comfortable handling that will ensure it won't be left on the shelf.
Fujifilm FinePix 6900 Zoom
Company: Fujifilm Australia
Price: AU$2,599
Distributor: Fujifilm Australia through Harvey Norman and Disney Powerhouse
Phone: 1800 228 355
