Fujifilm FinePix F30

Reviewed by: Dan Havlik
Another brand of Digital Camera with dynamic innovation comes again with FinePix F30 series.
FinePix F30 camera's respectable 6.3-megapixel imaging capability is discreetly etched along the Fuji F30's front grip which is, of course, covered by your finger every time you take a picture. Even the little green and white promotional sticker Fujifilm has placed on the camera highlighting its most important features doesn't say how many pixels the camera has. Just a few short years ago this sort of approach would have been downright bizarre.

Back then, everyone knew that megapixels meant imaging power, and the more you had the better. So if your camera came equipped with a fine 6.3MP Super CCD HR, like the Fuji F30 has, you put that information front and center on the camera for all the world to see.

Times have changed, though, and 6.3MP Super CCDs don't impress like they used to. With consumers now all too familiar with the perils of putting so much emphasis on pixel power, manufacturers have had to re-tune their camera's bells and whistles to attract savvy buyers considering an upgrade. In the case of the F30, Fujifilm is pushing the camera's extraordinary low-light shooting potential. Fujifilm is not alone in taking this tack. Several manufacturers have been emphasizing the expanded light sensitivity of their compact cameras with their ability to reduce blur thanks to new image stabilizer technology. (See my review of the Canon SD700 IS, for example.) The Fuji F30 ups the ante, however, by offering an eye-popping light sensitivity rating of up to ISO 3200 equivalent, a level not even seen on many digital SLR cameras; and as of this review, not on any competing compact digital cameras on the market. According to Fujifilm, the camera's "sixth generation Super CCD sensor" produces a lot less "noise" (i.e. that fuzzy stuff you see in some digital images) than its predecessor, especially when shooting a higher ISO settings.

But does the Fuji F30's ramped up light sensitivity and added features like Picture Stabilization technology, and an "intelligent" I-Flash -- all of which Fuji has marketed under the umbrella rubric of Real Photo Technology -- add up to better pictures? Read on and find out if there really is life beyond megapixels.

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