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Category: Point-and-Shoot

IMAGE QUALITY

The Fujifilm FinePix Z35 is targeted to point-and-shoot photographers desiring an affordable entry-level digital camera. It has 10 megapixel resolution on a 1/2.3-in. CCD image sensor, and a 3x optical zoom lens (35-105mm equiv.), with a maximum aperture of F3.7(W)-F4.2(T).

We find the overall image quality of the Fujifilm Z35 to be average to good at ISO 100 for a camera in its category. At higher ISOs, images suffer from noise and loss of detail.

3x Optical Zoom
Wide-angle 6.5mm (35mm, 35mm equivalent)	Telephoto 18.1mm (105mm, 35mm equivalent)

The Fujifilm Z35 has a 3x optical zoom lens. In the above pictures, we show the coverage for 35mm and 105mm. There is no optical or Sensor-shift image stabilization.

Macro

6.3mm [35mm], AUTO, Multi-Pattern, 1/26 sec., F3.7, ISO 100 Macro ON, Self-timer 2 sec., Tripod Used

Macro can be as close as 8 cm (3.2 in.) at wide-angle.

AF is fast, works very well in good light, not in low-light. There is only one metering mode: Multi-Pattern, which works very well in all lighting situations.

White Balance Indoors
AWB	Tungsten WB

As the above two pictures show, the Auto White Balance (AWB) is not quite accurate indoors under artificial lighting [I have two energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs on the ceiling]. The Fujifilm Z35 does a very good job using Tungsten WB (which seems to return the best results even though the bulbs are fluorescent). AWB works very well in natural light.

ISO Comparisons
ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1600

You can set the ISO on the Fujifilm Z35 from 100 to 1600. The 100% crops above (area delimited by the white square) demonstrate that noise at ISO 100 is under control. Noise starts to be visible at ISO 200 but is still usable, and ISO 400 is also quite usable at small prints and for Web display, though there is detail loss. At ISO 800 and 1600, the presence of noise is clearly visible at full image size and with visible loss of detail.

ISO 1600

ISO 1600 is usable at small sizes. Note that we are unable to take our usual low light ISO test shots since the Fujifilm Z35 shutter speed range returns under-exposed images at the low ISOs.

Chromatic Aberrations

CA is not really a problem in everyday shots but can appear in high contrast shots. In the above photo, the top right area delimited by the red square, and reproduced at 100% crop at bottom right, shows slight purple fringing.

The Fujifilm Z35 is supposed to allow the use of a long shutter speed of 3 sec. in all modes. We have been unable to verify this and the slowest shutter speed we have encountered in any mode is 1/4 sec. [We have seen the camera select a shutter speed of 1 sec. once but have been unable to get the camera to select that speed again.]

Overall, average to good image quality as long as you stay at base ISO and shoot in good lighting.

The pictures in the Fujifilm Z35 Photo Gallery page provide a good sample of what the camera is capable of. I have provided samples at 800x600 pixels (compressed to Quality 60/100 in Photoshop Elements) as well as the 3648 x 2736 pixels original size (click on the image for the original version).

You can safely assume that most macro shots and slow shutter speed shots required the use of a tripod (due to the effective image stabilization, the use of a tripod was restricted to the long shutter speeds). Any image that is adjusted for levels in Photoshop has "_adjusted" appended to the file name (though the original sized image is, of course, not adjusted).

I have defaulted the image size to 800x600 pixels. For those who have their monitor resolution set to 1024x728 pixels, everything should snugly fit and you should not have to scroll to see the whole image. If your monitor is set to 800x600 pixels resolution, start the slide show and then scroll to the right to position the image within your screen width. Then, press F11 (if you are using Internet Explorer) to switch to full screen mode, and the image should fill your screen nicely. Press F11 again at any time to switch your monitor display back to normal mode.

To return to this page from the Photo Gallery, click on the animated graphics of the camera.

Please open and download the original size version only if you need to and only once to your hard drive -- and save me some precious bandwidth. Thanks!