Fujifilm FinePix Z700EXR review

The Fujifilm FinePix Z700EXR: GUI touch screen LCD and more…

Fujifilm’s FinePix Z700EXR caused a stir when it was launched last summer. Debuting the brand’s new class of EXR touch-screen technology, it not only allows users to select modes and view images via the 460,000-dot LCD, but also to select the area or subject that the photographer wants in focus. That’s not all that’ll get the enthusiastic shooter’s juices flowing, as the Z700EXR sports a handy new YouTube/Facebook easy web upload tool, ideal for the social network generation. There’s also a Fujinon 5x optical zoom lens, 12 megapixel resolution, 720p HD movie mode, an ISO range that extends to 3200 at full resolution and dual image stabilisation.

Conscious that the new model will be competing against an encyclopaedic array of curvy, svelte and sleek compacts, Fujifilm appears to have gone to great lengths to bestow an attractive contemporary design on the Z700EXR, while preserving the trademark aesthetics of the brand’s existing line-up. The 16.7mm slim metal body accommodates the familiar horizontal lens cover with wave detail, which also doubles as the unit’s On/Off switch, with the range’s iconic ‘Z’ motif that now illuminates when the camera is in operation. The addition of the 3.5-inch touch-screen GUI display means that only a few dedicated buttons remain on the unit, and so the top ledge only features the shutter release encircled by the lens’s zoom control, which is situated next to the Shoot/Playback toggle switch. Entombed within the slim metal chassis lies the Fujinon 5x zoom lens, which provides an equivalent focal length of 36-180mm. Altogether the unit’s design is not only attractive but practical, resulting in a tidy, and perhaps more importantly, pocketable camera.

Handling the device as a beginner is unlikely to faze users, as the Z700EXR’s menus and shooting modes are actually relatively straightforward to decipher and exploit. There is a handsome array of auto options and scene modes for eager shooters to trundle through, and the touch-and-shoot feature makes photography for newbies simpler than ever. More experienced users may also enjoy the tool as a new way of flexing their creative muscles, and during our tests we found the technology to be responsive and effective. As with a growing number of compacts, there is a Manual Override mode for more ambitious shooters. Though only the very basic of options are left in the hands of the shooter, it does include the ability to affect ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, AF mode and a handful of other less-important controls. The start up time of the unit runs just over a second and the shutter lag absorbs a negligible slice of time. Battery life is strong, with around 200 images captured before the unit’s icon showed signs of depletion.

Although the Z700EXR’s feature set may not be as stacked as that of its brand brother the Z800EXR, what it does have is enough to satisfy the demands of the modest user and operates in a logical manner, providing an enchanting array of exciting features here and there to make shooting easier and more enjoyable. However, unlike its brand stable mate, the overall image quality of images produced using the Z700EXR failed to graduate from an ‘adequate’ status. We discovered that pictures captured under controlled, soft or even light presented lifelike bright colours and good replication of details. Unfortunately shots claimed in low-light presented a strong level of noise from as low as ISO 400 with blur, muted colours and disturbed details, and although the camera does offer features to quash grain, we failed to isolate any that could adequately deliver a usable picture quality when the light weakened.