Fujifilm Finepix F30 Digital Camera (6.3MP, 2048x2136, 3x Opt, xD-Picture Card)

Fujifilm FinePix F30

Finepix F30 Digital Camera (6.3MP, 2048x2136, 3x Opt, xD-Picture Card) Review, by Paul Jasper July 26, 2006

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• Latest User Reviews 2 reviews
• Reviewed by: pete1

  Duration of ownership: 3 Months

  Strengths: Well built. Excellent low light capability. Long lasting battery.

  Weaknesses: Physical profile is a little thick

  Overall: The F30 is one amazing little camera and a good value. I am very impressed with the low light capability. This camera will take better photos at ISO 3200 than many cameras will at 800. The manual mode will allow you to control aperture or shutter speed, which will appeal to the more advanced shooter. The auto mode will do a fine job for those who want to simply point and shoot. Color and sharpness of pictures are among the best from cameras of this type. Video performance is solid if not stunning. Software is simple to use and is capable of performing editing functions most people want. Prices must be coming down. I paid about $200 after a $50 rebate.

• Reviewed by: arnie

  Duration of ownership: 1 Month

  Strengths: fabulous lowlight performance, fast operation, surprisingly sharp lens for one so small, long battery life, quality construction.

  Weaknesses: bit too much flash on occasion, a bit too much contrast in strong sunlight on occasion. some CA and Redeye, though all are easily corrected in PS in post processing.

  Overall: It is my opinion that anyone who rates this camera less than surperior simply does not know how to use it's features to best advantage. My experience has been that manual settings with manual selection of the desired ISO setting produces the best picture rather than Auto setting. I also use what most expert reviewers considered the best prosumer camera of it's time, an Olympus C8080. It has a very high quality and far larger lens yet I see no difference in sharpness between the Fuji 6 megapixels and the Olympus 8 megapixels and have compared exact scenes several times printing as large as 11x14. The small lens on the F30 is surprisingly sharp and of excellent quality. What is the most surprising is that 1600 ISO pictures with the Fuji are surperior to 400 ISO pictures with the Olympus. I now use the F30 almost exclusively except when I need the wider angle lens of the C8080 and the power of my Olympus external flash.

• Reviewed by: jmsuh

  Strengths: Great picture quality. Build is solid. Manual controls. Super-long battery life. Great price even before $50 rebate.

  Weaknesses: Flash pictures can be somewhat overexposed in certain situations.

  Overall: I bought this camera for my wife in Nov.'06 and have used it extensively for the past several months. I got a great deal for slightly less than $200 after the $50 rebate from Fujifilm. I spent a lot of time researching different digital cameras in the compact to ultra-compact range and the F30 seemed to be the unsung hero of the pack and we have not been disappointed in the least since the purchase. The colors are very natural and it is just superb under low-light indoor conditions which is unusual for cameras in this class. Even the flash-shots look great with very nice detail showing up in the background, although sometimes at the expense of over-exposure in the closer subjects. The preset modes are very useful and they all work the way you expect them to and the manual aperture/shutter control is also useful on occasion when you venture to experiment more. I have not tested the macro function yet but I would assume it to be on par with the competition. The battery life is better than any other camera in its class by a large margin. If you want a solid compact camera that takes great pictures and costs nearly half the price of competitors, go for the F30 and don't forget the $50 rebate.

• Reviewed by: Good_Buy

  Strengths: Fast startup. Minimal shutter lag. Nice LCD resolution with anti-glare screen. Battery lasts roughly 500 shots! Excellent video (in stereo). Best low light camera for "still life" pics.

  Weaknesses: Flash recharging doesn't keep pace on a series of quick pics. Needs TRUE image stabilization. BAD redeye problem. Port cover doesn't move aside for connections ? might eventually twist off and break!

  Overall: To start off, I've been shooting digitally for about seven years. While I presently own Panasonic and Olympus cameras, I've also used the Fuji F10 and F20, Canon cameras, etc. A unique F30 feature is the Natural Light + Flash mode. It takes a natural light picture first, followed by a typical flash shot (prepare to keep that hand steady until both pictures are complete!). Over the holidays, I took over 100 indoor photos. For one reason or another, I dumped almost all the natural light pics. If they turned out at all, there was usually a room lamp in the background that threw off the auto exposure. Second, auto white balance is better than some cameras, but walls and skin tones still take on a mustard or orange cast indoors (without flash). Flash-free images are also somewhat soft or fuzzy, though not as bad as the F10. Still, it was enough to convince me to turn back on the flash in order to obtain the maximum amount of indoor image detail. Without flash, when left to its own default settings, the camera will pick ISO 3200 for a watercolor effect. Of course, you can force it down to a more realistic ISO setting ? say anything below 1,600 ? which is still very impressive for a camera in this class. Unfortunately, don?t expect to ditch that tripod quite yet; otherwise, images taken in natural light will never appear as sharp and detailed as those taken with flash (or under adequate sunlight). That being said, you can obtain nice low light pics if you adjust the white balance, make sure all light sources are at your back, make use of the manual shutter settings, etc. As you may have read, the F30, unlike the F10, offers "image stabilization" to help compensate for the length of time the shutter might otherwise stay open to let the small lens soak up all the low light. I did find it useful in some shooting situations. I obtained the best pics of a fireworks show by switching to the anti-blur mode (otherwise a tripod is necessary). Even so, out of 25 or so fireworks photos, only five were ?print worthy?. I also took the camera through some kiddie attractions at a theme park, and found that the F30, when left in Natural Light scene mode, is a particularly bad performer in challenging situations where the subject is relatively fixed but the photographer is moving. Low image noise, combined with the high ISO capability, makes for shots that are considerably better than competing cameras, but low light gains are offset by the tendency for the images to blur or lose detail under low light. Similarly, Fuji admitted that panning would cause motion blur in the F10 manual, and seemingly little has changed in this regard with the F30 ? at least not when the subject is close to the lens. In fact, the F30 is the worst camera I?ve ever owned for capturing fish swimming in an aquarium. Consequently, out of roughly 300 ?natural light? theme park photos, I felt only 25 were truly print worthy. Likewise, out of roughly 100 holiday photos I felt only half were ?keepers? (and the majority were flash photos). In general, the Fuji FinePix F30 is more reliable as a point-and-shoot (in full auto mode) than F10 because it is far less prone to exposure irregularities. Unfortunately, highlight clipping remains slightly above average. Highlights are even clipped near dusk under a winter sun. In one particular shot, white roller coaster tracks against a blue sky resulted in entire chunks of the track missing beyond, even, Photoshop recovery. By contrast, image details in the balance of the picture were outstanding enough to nearly cause me to overlook the blown highlights. As for the notorious purple fringing, it remains an issue with the F30, just as it was for the F10/11. I see chromatic aberration in nearly every landscape shot I take, particularly when tree branches are in close proximity. A lesser known image quality issue is this: If something in your picture has a tight pattern it will produce a moiré effect (mostly on clothing, but also to a limited extent on buildings, roofs, etc). On the plus side, Macro works very well. Close-up flower pics, and the like, never looked so good. BOTTOM LINE YOUR user experience will vary. Potential buyers should also be aware of the digital camera manufacturing phenomena known as ?sample variation?. To the Fuji?s credit, I?m shooting more ?keepers? than I obtained with the F10. Even so, genuine image stabilization would offer bigger gains still. In my experience, image stabilization is particularly useful when you hold your arms out over your head to get the camera above a crowd, or in those situations where you are aiming the camera close to the ground to capture pets, flowers, or even children (because holding one?s arms above or below normal picture-taking form makes bracing/holding still difficult). I?ve tried both types of cameras, and for all-purpose shooting those with gyroscopic image stabilization seem to result in a greater percentage of useable images.

• Reviewed by: mhafner

  Strengths: Great value for the $. Battery life is good and time between shots is quite short.

  Weaknesses: Nothing so far.

  Overall: I was ready to purchase a Canon digital camera when I came across a review for the F30. After some research this camera proved to give quite a bang for the buck. I already have an older Fuji FinePix A210, which is a good camera, but the features are quite basic. The F30 comes with so many features it is hard to believe the price. The battery life is great even with the LCD screen on. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who doesn't want to spend a fortune, but would like a nice camera.

• Reviewed by: xavier_pr14

  Strengths: Excellent picture quality, usable high ISO settings, very long battery life(better than I expected), Amazing video!

  Weaknesses: Purple fringing in pictures, but thats about it.

  Overall: I read so many reviews for this camera, that in the end I had this terrible urge to purchase it. Believe me, I am so happy with it! I have taken pictures that look so good I havent even considered post processing! You can take pictures so quickly thanks to the fast auto focus system it uses. The flash adjusts automatically and always delivers the perfect exposure. The ISO raises even with flash but it is to capture the background naturally (and it does). Ive taken pictures in the break room of my workplace, where there is dim light, and the pictures come out beautifully with and without the flash (thanks to its "Natural with flash" mode). The video is amazing! Ive read reviews saying that you can hear the camera focusing... well I personally havent, and I continously plug it in my TV with the included cables and people are just amazed at how good the video looks! Highly recommended!

• Reviewed by: Kysmom

  Strengths: Excellent service! I dropped my camera at Disneyworld and called Fuji for repairs. I received my repaired camera in a matter of days! Very professional company and service oriented.

  Weaknesses: none!

  Overall: I have now owned 3 different Fuji digital cameras. They outlast the newest technology so I keep upgrading. My daughter loves the other two cameras! These cameras are easy to use, take great pictures and hold up well. I am an avid photographer and I use this almost daily! Great job FUJI!!