Fujifilm Z70 2 7 Inch Berry Red Survey I love Fuji cameras, this is my 9th one! This camera takes the best of the former Z-series cameras, (except this model is not waterproof), and combines it with an affordable price and HD movie capability. I love the fit and finish on this camera (I own the black one). The lens is protected by a sliding cover which also powers the camera on and off. It is sleek-looking and it's rare to find a fairly inexpensive camera that is made of METAL nowadays. The lens zooms in and out INSIDE the camera so you don't have to be as careful when you handle this. Unless you drop it you probably won't get a zoom error that commonly happens with cameras where the lens protrudes outward when the power is turned on. One thing I like better about this Z70 than some of the older Z series is the USB connector on this camera is not located inside the battery compartment, it's on the side of the camera where it should be. The older Z30 (and some of the other Z's) had the USB inside the battery compartment and that would have eventually caused the battery door to wear out from constantly opening/closing it. I didn't care for the buttons on the older Z cameras as they were too close together and it was easy to press the incorrect button, this new Z70 looks more like a conventional digital camera on the back, and the buttons are lit up, so if you're taking pictures in a dimly lit area, it's easier to see the buttons to press. I also like the feature that you can instantly turn it on to take a movie, there is a button on top - you just press it and start filming, it's next to the shutter release button. My only complaint with this camera is the start-up time when you first slide the lens cover open. It feels like a 3 or 4 second wait. So if that is a concern for you, you may want to avoid this camera, or just leave the lens cover open (but it may get scratched if you do). Pictures are sharp and the colors are, if anything, a little brighter than normal, but I like that. Response time after taking a picture without using the flash was just about a second; response time between pictures with the flash firing was around 2 seconds or less before ready to take another flash shot. . . this was a lot better than some other cameras I've tried recently. Response time also depends on the class of your SD card. The optical wide angle zoom on this camera is 5X (most cheaper cameras have 3X). It uses the standard NP45 lithium battery. I was able to shoot around 200 pictures and some short movies before it needed recharging - the plug-in battery charger comes with this and you can fully recharge the battery in under an hour. I love the lithium battery over AA-type batteries because you get so many more shots out of one charging. You just have to plan ahead in case you are going somewhere so you have a fully charged battery, or buy a spare. You can take the camera out of the box and be taking pictures as soon as the battery charges. SR-Auto automatically senses the scene and adjusts itself accordingly: Portrait, Landscape, Night, Macro, Backlit Portrait, or Night Portrait. There is no dial to change settings, everything is accessed thorough menu navigation, except for the movie button which is on top of the camera. This camera has a new feature called AF Tracking, which helps keep the subject in focus while the subject is moving. This works well sometimes, and at other times it doesn't. Sometimes I think it's "just me" not holding the shutter button down correctly so this will work the way it's intended. To have it work correctly, you have to remember to hold the shutter button down halfway, while continually keeping the subject in the LCD screen. This camera has Image Stabilization (somehow built into the camera's software), but it is NOT optical stabilization. Also you can choose this in the set-up menu to be "on" all the time, unlike other previous (cheaper) Fuji models, which is a definite improvement. Next, you have your movie modes - 3 to choose from - HD, 640 and 320 in the AVI format. The HD video with this camera is just as good visually as my Flip Mino HD camcorder. Optical zoom needs to be set before recording starts, it cannot be changed after the button is pushed. Focus is also set when recording begins, but exposure and white balance are constantly adjusting during the recording. If you want to play the movies back on your TV, you will need to purchase an additional A/V cable (AV-C1) if you don't already own one. If you want to play an HD movie back on your HDTV, you will need to purchase an additional HDMI cable. There is also an optional Model HDP-L1 player available on Fujifilm's web site, which includes an HD card reader and a remote.
Since I don't have an HDTV myself, I didn't purchase this so I can't comment on it. This camera comes with very basic Fuji MyFinepixViewer photo editing software. It's compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP and Mac. This is a new version of the Fuji software and it's better than the previous, but still not A lot apparently. I did some fishing around the net before I brought this camera. Not much info out there really. So I went to best buy and played with it a bit. I was not that impressed. But when I compared it to the other product in the same price range (as well as more expensive), it did stand out. After I got mine, I toyed with setting and read the menu, I'm loving it. Picture is very clear and in the same time very forgiving regarding imperfection on you face. HD movie looks great,very smooth, sound is good too. Just remember a mic is attached to the camera, you only going to give clear sound when you are close to it. I always been a Sony kind of guy, but now I think I'm in love with Fuji :) I bought this camera because of the price and since it can take HD VIDEO in 720p. Lets get to the deal breakers that I was unable to find anywhere I looked, unlike most camera that can take video, this one records in AVI format, not the MP4 / MOV. I like AVI because I can edit it very easily. AVI files cannot exceed 2GB in size, let it be on any camera or computer. On this camera you can zoom in and out while filming. A nice feature of this camera is the battery, its rechargeable. You can't recharge the battery while its in the camera, it comes with a separate charger and you need to take the battery out of the camera, I like this idea as I can buy multiple batteries and charge one yet still use the camera. . . Camera takes both SD & SDHC memory cards, if you do not have a computer drive that can read the more newer SDHC cards, the camera comes with a USB cable so you can transfer the photos/videos that way with or without using the included cd-rom. This camera has a ton of setting on it, so many I had to look through the manual thats on the cd-rom as icons were popping up on the camera screen that I did not know what they meant. My favorite feature of this camera is that it can take 2 pictures at a time, one with the flash and then one without so you can pick which one is better. The camera has other features too, but I have not yet played with them enough to see what they do. In terms of weight and feel, its solid, has a good weight to it so it does not feel like cheap plasic, parts of the outside are metal. It has a port on the bottom for a standard tripod. On this camera, don't worry if you break the battery / memory card off because it does not rely on that to keep the battery or memory card in place, I know lots of people worry about that. . . I had other camera with the same megapixel rating and the battery life was horrible! On this camera you can take many many pictures and HD Video with power to spare. Keep in mind though, I noticed some settings this camera has does indeed use more power (the fully automatic scene recognizer, dual image taker as I mentioned earlier) and flash usage all will vary the life of the battery before you need another recharge, the battery can recharge to maximum capacity in about 2hours. The pictures and video come out really clear. This is my first FUJI camera, I usually get KODAK & CANNON and I think I will always buy FUJI from now on. I would highly recommend this camera. Pros: - great pictures - audio notes/comments - the lens does not telescope out from the case good low light performance - large screen, but still room for buttons - great video - natural light/flash dual mode Cons - like all compact cameras, resolution is limited to about 3-5 MP - Under low light levels, auto white balance can be slightly off - no panoramic mode - no histogram - a little slow to turn on and store images - the audio notes is difficult to access NOTE TO THOSE WHO DISPLAY PICTURES AT 100% ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN: THE LIMIT OF RESOLUTION IS ABOUT 5MP FOR A COMPACT CAMERA First my standard comments about compact cameras with these tiny sensors (1/2. 33") - it is easy to show (I am an optical physicist, so at least it is easy for me) that it is physically impossible to get 12 MP resolution even if the lenses were perfect. In fact, the theoretical limit under the most perfect conditions is about 9 MP for this size lens. However, under average lighting conditions and lens settings, you can expect 3 to 4 times less. For example my test shots show about 2MP resolution for the Exilim z75 and nearly 4MP for the Fuji Z70. So if you think
you want to get a 12 MP camera as an upgrade to your 5 MP camera or even 3 MP camera, save your money. You need a bigger and much better lens. The high-end Canon SD4000is camera actually achieves 5MP with a larger lens, under ideal conditions, based on measurements. If you want a real upgrade in a pocket camera, look there. Contrast this with a full frame 35 mm DSLR. The theoretical limit is well over 100 MP and the achievable real life resolution is 8 MP, based on actual measurements with a Nikon D3s. WHY DO THEY PUT 12 MP SENSOR IN A CAMERA THAT CAN'T POSSIBLY TAKE A 12MP PICTURE? There are two reasons. The first is that 12MP sensors are cheap nowadays and you'd rather buy a camera that says "12MP sensor" than "5MP sensor. " Admit it, you would. But there is a second reason to have twice as many pixels as the measured horizontal and vertical resolution. Some things are on a diagonal. So you need more pixels. The other thing is, the pixels are not "color" pixels but either red, green or blue. In theory you need about 3 times as many pixels to get color pictures. But in reality, the camera processor synthesizes a color picture from fewer pixels by making good guesses about what the color of something is. So the bottom line is you probably need about twice as many pixels as the actual resolution limit. That means about 5 MP for a low end compact camera and about 10 MP for a higher end compact camera, and 16 MP for a high end full frame DSLR. So, in the Finepix Z70, 8MP would have been enough to get all the performance you'll ever get out of this one. The test photos (see comments) indicate that the FinePix Z70 easily beat the Exilim resolution and is close to 4 MP of resolution. THIS CAMERA (LIKE MOST COMPACT POINT AND SHOOT MODELS) LETS YOU TAKE A PICTURE EVEN WHEN IT IS GOING TO BE HOPELESSLY BLURRED The second drawback to the inexpensive compact cameras is the small lenses and cheap sensors combined with the point and shoot approach, can result in the user trying to take pictures under impossible conditions. The camera probably warns you with an icon in the viewscreen (such as a shakey hand) but you will ignore it and take the picture anyway and be disappointed and blame the camera. Indoors at night in natural light is always going to result in a picture with a lot of digital noise and probably a bit blurred as well. The flashes in these cameras are very low power because there is not a huge battery in the camera, so you really can't take acceptable flash pictures more than a few feet away. It is unrealistic to expect any pocket camera to take great pictures at a party. The best you can hope for are the typical flash pictures that have bright foregrounds and very dark backgrounds. With a stabilized DSLR at high ISO and a nice f/1. 4 lens, you can do natural light shots that compact cameras can only dream of. One way around this, is that the higher end compact cameras now take several short exposures and do a shift and add to synthesize a single picture. If things (other than your hand) aren't moving much, this trick works well, especially if you have optical stabilization. If you want to take low light level pictures in natural light, I suggest you look at the Sony DSC-TX7 or the Canon SD4000is or similar $300+ cameras. By contrast, a modern SLR can offer ISO ratings of several thousand, (compared to a few hundred for a pocket point and shoot) enabling handheld shots under low light conditions. BASED ON THE Z700 This camera, the Z70, is the non-touch screen version of the Z700 and has a cheaper sensor and a cheaper processor. The Z700 in turn, is "inspired" by the Sony DSC-TX7 which I have also reviewed. The Fuji lacks the panoramic mode, the high dynamic range mode, and the exceptional low light mode of the Sony, but it is about half the price. Of course, the Z70 is a I recently purchased this camera for everyday use. The picture quality is great as well as the variety modes for each type of event/scenery. The interface is a bit difficult to get used to, but I got used to it pretty quick even though I believe that its interface should be more user-friendly. The color is really pretty. it's like magenta/red, prettier than the picture on the website. The shipping was also really quick. I got the item in just two days. Pictures are very clear and pretty. it holds off person's flaws pretty well. moving face-detection is a great feature. I used Sony Cybershot in the past and wasn't very satisfied with the camera. It was heavy and bulky that made it hard for me to use it for everyday use. Fujifilm Finepix Z70 is lightweight and thin camera that's smaller than my blackberry. It's great for everyday use and just require a bit space in your purse or pocket. video quality is really nice to. VERY CLEAR. can't be more satisfied with this product with exception of the user interface. But the basic camera capabilities are extremely satisfying.
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