Photoxels Editor's Choice Award - Beginner Compact
HANDLING & FEEL
The Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR is a beautifully designed compact digital camera that retains
a classy and elegant look. At only 23.4mm (0.9 inch) thin, it can be carried in a trousers pocket or purse. The
Fujifilm F200EXR is attractive in its black body (a Champagne version may also be available in some countres) with lots of shiny chrome accents. It uses the xD-Picture Card or the SD/SDHC memory card.
The Fujifilm F200EXR does not have a handgrip (or even "finger grip") but there's enough space on the front of the camera for your fingers to get a secure grip. Even then the use of the wrist strap is a good idea and the one included is a nice one with an eyelet to fasten the strap tightly around
your wrist. It is quite possible for your fingers to cover the onboard flash partly if you are not careful. There is an AF-assist Illuminator/Self-timer lamp above the lens. The microphone is a small hole near the bottom part of the lens and again ensure your finger is not covering it when recording movies.
Startup is slightly above 2 sec. (from Power ON to LCD ready for capture) and shot to shot times are also about
2 sec. (@ 5 shots in 10 sec. in P mode, if you turn Image Display to OFF). The LCD screen blanks out for about 1 sec. after each shot. In good lighting, there is no practical shutter lag and AF is fast and precise. In low lighting, AF takes about 1 sec. to lock. It can take up to 3 sec. to fully write a 4000x3000 (12M) image to memory card (though you can take the next shot after 1.5 sec.). There is no RAW file format.
STYLE
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Colors: overall black with shiny chrome
accents
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Looks: classy, elegant
FEEL
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Comfortable to hold and operate
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Controls and Menu are easy enough to use
DIMENSIONS &
WEIGHT
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Ultra Compact: fits in a pocket
or purse
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Dimensions: 97.7 x 58.9 x 23.4mm /
3.8 x 2.3 x 0.9 in.
Startup with lens extending and LCD
turning on in about 2+ sec.
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Shot to shot time about 2 sec.
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No practical shutter lag in good lighting
The Terminal compartment is located on the
right side of the camera (viewed from the back),
and the terminal cover opens up to provide unimpeded
access to the connector that is used for USB, A/V and HD devices. Note that instead of separate USB and A/V cables, there is a combined USB-A/V cable.
The top of the camera has the Power ON/OFF button, Shutter
Release button, and the Zoom control around the shutter release button. The lens extends about 24mm (0.9 in.) at wide-angle and 33mm (1.5 in.) at full tele. It takes about 1.5 sec. to zoom from wide to tele and I counted approx. 14 intermediate steps.
There is no optical viewfinder but there is an extra large 3.0-inch LCD monitor on the back of the camera with 230K dots resolution. The display is bright and clear and gains up in low light. I've found auto focusing to be quite fast
and precise in good lighting conditions. In low-light situations, AF takes approx. 1 sec. to lock and there is an effective AF-assist Illuminator
to help. It is not possible to select where on the screen you want the camera to focus.
As you can see, there is not much space to rest your thumb at the back, though there are five raised dots to help provide somewhat of a grip. The Mode Dial can be rotated with your thumb so you do have to be careful not to inadvertently rotate the dial and change shooting mode as you pick up the camera and especially when you retrieve it from your pocket or purse. Besides AUTO, P (Program AE or Aperture-Priority AE), M (Manual), Movie, SP (Scene Position), Natural
Light, and Natural Light & Flash, there is the brand new EXR AUTO shooting mode.
EXR refers to Fujifilm's new Extreme Super Sensor CCD EXR that captures images three different ways depending on the scene: "Resolution Priority" uses the full 12MP to capture the image in as fine detail as possible; “High ISO & Low Noise Priority” takes advantage of high sensitivity and FinePix's original pixel binning technology to capture the subject with minimal noise (6MP); the new D-Range Priority" simultaneously captures two images to produce a single image (6MP) with Wide Dynamic Range up to 800%. It's like having 3 sensors in the same camera. More information can be viewed on the Fujifilm Super CCD EXR Special Contents Site. Set the camera to EXR AUTO shooting mode and it will automatically recognize the scene and select the appropriate EXR priority.
Note that in EXR AUTO mode, ISO is AUTO, Film Simulation is OFF (i.e. VELVIA and ASTIA are not available), you cannot select Macro (the camera automatically determines if it's in a Macro situation). You can however still indicate that you do not want to use flash and set self-timer.
To turn ON/OFF the Sensor-shift Image Stabilization, you need to go into the Shooting Menu and turn Dual IS mode ON/OFF.
In Night scene mode, shutter speeds range from 1/8 s - 1/1,500 s; in Night Tripod scene mode, 3 s - 1 s; in
Fireworks scene mode, 4 s - 1/2 s; in
Manual mode, 8 s - 1/1,000 s; in
Aperture-priority mode, 1/4 s - 1/1,000 s; and in all other modes, 1/4 s - 1/1,500 s.
A nod to more advanced photographers is the Aperture-Priority
AE (there is no Shutter-Priority AE) and Manual modes. To set Aperture-Priority
AE, you set the Mode Dial to P and go into the Shooting Menu to switch the Shooting Mode from P to A. In Manual mode, you can set both shutter speed and aperture; an Exposure Indicator gives an approximate indication of under- or over-exposure.
This probably won't matter to point-and-shoot photographers, but a note to advanced photographers: in all the shooting modes, aperture is all of 2 values at any focal length, e.g. f/3.3 or f/9 at wide-angle, f/5.1 or f/14 at full tele. This tells me that for all intents and purposes there is probably really only one aperture and the other one is effected by the use of an internal ND filter.
Tired of being limited by short clips? On the F200EXR, you can record movies with monaural sound until the memory
card is full at either 640 x 480 or 320x240 pixels
@ 30fps. You can preset optical zoom before movie
recording but cannot zoom during movie
recording.
Video Storage Capacity
(min. sec.)
Internal
Memory
(48MB)
1GB
640x480
30fps
42s
14m35s
320x240
30fps
1m24s
28m50s
About 48MB of Internal Memory comes with the
camera and no memory card is included. Only
8 sec. of movies can be saved in the 48MB of Internal
memory. If you plan to do lots of movies, best to use a large capacity xD-Picture Card or SD/SDHC memory card.
As the above chart shows, at L 4:3 (12M) image quality,
only 10 images can be saved in the 48MB of Internal
Memory. We recomend that you purchase a 1GB SD memory card (or xD-Picture Card) or a higher capacity one, depending on the
number of images you normally shoot in one session.
FUNCTIONS ACCESSIBLE
BY CONTROL BUTTONS (clockwise starting from
the Mode Dial)
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Mode Dial: AUTO, EXR AUTO, P, M, Movie, Scene Position, Natural Light, Natural Light & Flash
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Playback: If you just hold it down for
about 1 sec. without turning on the
camera, it will automatically go into
Playback mode
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Photo (F-mode) button:
=
ISO: Auto, Auto 3200, Auto 1600,
Auto 800, Auto 400, 12800, 6400, 3200, 1600, 800, 400, 200,
100
= Dynamic Range: Auto, 100%, 200%, 400%, 800%
=
Image Size: L 4:3, L 3:2, L 16:9, M 4:3, M 3:2, M 16:9, S 4:3, S 3:2, S 16:9
= White Balance: Auto, Custom, Sunlight, Shade, Fluorescent 1 (Daylight), Fluorescent 2 (Warm White), Fluorescent 3 (Cool White), Incandescent, Underwater Lighting
=
Film Simulation: PROVIA/Standard, VELVIA/Vivid, ASTIA/Soft, B&W, Sepia
DISPLAY (Info, No info, Best Framing, HD 16:9 Framing) / BACK
CONTINUOUS SHOOTING
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Accessed in MENU.
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Final 12: max. 5fps
Top 12: max. 5fps
Long Period: @ 0.5fps
Final 3: max. 1.4fps
Top 3: max. 1.4fps
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The drive mode is kept after each shot but not when the camera is turned off.
EXPOSURE COMPENSATION
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Exposure compensation is accessed
directly by pressing the Exposure Compensation
button
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Once set, the Exposure Compensation
Indicator conveniently stays displayed
on screen until it is reset to "0"
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Range: -2 EV to +2 EV (1/3 EV increments)
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The screen brightness will increase
or decrease to reflect the value you
use
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Note: the exposure compensation value
selected is retained even when the camera
is turned off (so remember to reset
to "0" after using it or the
next time you turn the camera on, your
shots may be over- or under-exposed.)
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No Histogram is available, either Live in Shooting mode or in Playback
DISP/BACK
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Besides acting as a Display button
to select whether info is displayed
on screen or not, this button also serves
as a "Back" button to back
out of MENU choices -- something like
the Cancel key on your computer keyboard
On the bottom of the camera is the metal tripod socket. Just besides it is the Battery / memory card Compartment. There is a small latch to secure the battery from falling when the door is opened. You will not be able to change battery or memory card while the camera is mounted on a tripod.
Included in the box is a rechargeable Li-ion
battery that can take approx. 230 shots with
LCD on (CIPA standard) on a fresh charge and a battery charger (that plugs directly into the wall outlet) that
will recharge a new battery in-camera in approx.
2.5 hrs.
The Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR is well-built in construction
and design. Controls are logically placed and
intuitive to use, with only a few niggles that
should not detract from either the capability
of this camera or the enjoyment of its user. It retains good low-light capability and now adds wide Dynamic Range. The FinePix F200EXR is a great take-anywhere
digital camera for the point-and-shoot photographer
in your family.
