Digital Trends

 

The F30 is ready to go in less than 2 seconds, once the power key is pressed. Most of the time is spent waiting for the lens to extend from the body. As usual, I started off in Auto at maximum resolution (6MP Fine) then moved to the fun stuff. Initial set-up is a snap and the onscreen menus are logical and easy to read. In Auto the camera does all the work, which is how most folks take their photos. I took shots during a trip to Baltimore’s Camden Yards and around my New Jersey locale.

 

In Auto—taking single shots—the camera was fairly responsive, with little lag between shots. However, when you move into Continuous Shooting, the F30 is a bit pokey; a 3fps D-SLR it definitely is not. Still it’ll help you capture your kids on the run. One of my favorite Fujifilm features is accessed by pressing the “F” key. Under the FinePix Color heading there are options for Standard, Chrome and B&W (black-and-white). Basically you’re changing color saturation and I like the more vivid Chrome setting--but that’s just my taste.

 

Once bored with Auto, it was time to twist the mode dial and see what options Fujifilm engineers offered. In the original review of the F10, I complained about the lack of manual settings. Other than manual focus the F30 hits most of the high notes for point-and-shoot models: aperture- and shutter-priority as well as six white balance options plus custom and exposure compensation are all available. The LCD readouts turn red if you’ve chosen the wrong f/stop or shutter speed, a very helpful feature.

 

The LCD is quite good, offering a quick gain up off the controller and full adjustment once you enter the menu system. It worked well under practically all conditions. A quick aside: when you hit the Display key you can get grid lines to make sure you take level shots, another helpful feature.

 
Image Courtesy of Fujifilm

 

One of the real world improvements for this camera is a setting called Natural Light & Flash. With Natural Light the camera sets the ISO and takes a shot without a flash. In most instances this works well but sometimes it doesn’t because there’s just too much noise. With Natural Light & Flash, the camera takes two simultaneous shots—one with and one without a flash. Once you get home and see them a big screen, you can decide which one to print. Also new is the i-Flash that automatically adjusts to the scene rather than blasting the same amount of light for every subject. It worked nicely, especially with some indoor close-ups. Even with playing with the intensity of the LCD, zooming and taking loads of flash shots, the battery more than held its own. I really don’t see the need for a spare, unless you’re going into the wilderness with nary a power plug to be seen (just don’t forget for AC adaptor/DC-in cord).

 

Once we downloaded the images it was time to make some prints.  Your first question—as was mine—how were images taken with ISO 3200? In a word—poor—as one would expect. I’ve used a full-frame Canon EOS 5D D-SLR and there was noise at those nose-bleed levels. Realistically you couldn’t ask for a quality image at that setting, no matter what a manufacturer claims. ISO 1600 was mottled and dot-filled as well but you might squeeze out a 4x6. Noise was evident at 800 but you could live with it. Still the results at 800 were better than almost all of the compact digicams I’ve tested recently. For the record, these were indoor still life subjects shot with available light in Manual. However, once you switched over to Natural Light with Flash things got a lot better. In this mode, you can’t adjust the ISO as the camera does all the adjustments for you. I found them to be quite good as the i-Flash added just enough illumination to make for a pleasing print.

 

Outdoors, the FinePix F30 did a spot-on job. Colors were nicely saturated (in Chrome) and there was little noise to speak of. However, when I took at shot during a night game, noise again was an issue.  

 

As a final note: The F30 takes short video clips at 640 x 480 pixel resolution at 30 fps with mono sound; the zoom does not work when taking a clip. As mentioned many times before, digicam video capabilities are O.K. for taking a quick scene but stick to a camcorder for the real deal.