Fujifilm brings us the FinePix F470, yet another compact 6-megapixel camera with a 3X optical zoom lens, a 2.5-inch LCD, and few distinctive features. This middle-of-the-road snapshooter shares the same basic specs as Fujifilm FinePix stablemates, the F10, the F30 and the A600. If you want better videos than the A600 offers and don't need the higher ISO sensitivity of the F10 or F30, this economical camera may be your best bet from Fujifilm's crowded line-up.
At 19.7mm thick and weighing only 122 grams, the Fujifilm FinePix F470 is suitable for one-handed shooting. It sports a fairly standard 35mm-to-105mm-equivalent zoom lens and a fine 115,000-pixel, 2.5-inch LCD screen. The display has a ghost-reducing 60fps refresh rate and a backlight boost that keeps it viewable under direct sunlight. The sunlight-friendly LCD is a welcome feature, especially since the F470 lacks an optical viewfinder.
The back-panel zoom rocker is easy to thumb when your index finger sits over the shutter release. The same finger can hop between auto, scene, and movie modes via a switch that encircles the shutter button. The power button is the only other control on the top edge of the camera.
Controls and indicators are clustered on the right of the LCD. Among the buttons on the back is a standard four-way-plus-OK menu control, as well as display, review and function keys. The control pad and the function button offer easy access to flash, timer, ISO, white balance, EV and other features. Beyond these easy-access options, the F470's manual settings are sparse; for example, the manual scene mode merely provides exposure compensation.
The FinePix F470's minimalist feature set includes 256-zone matrix metering that sets exposure between two seconds and 1/1,500 second. Beyond a standard automatic mode, the camera has 10 scene modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Sport, and Museum. The camera can record VGA movie clips at 30fps until the camera's xD memory card is filled -- about 18 minutes on a 1GB card. The camera has 16MB of onboard memory, hardly enough for more than a few photos or a few seconds of video; you'll definitely want to invest in an xD card for this camera.
We found the FinePix F470 to be a generally average performer, powering up for its initial shot in 2.2 seconds and subsequently snapping off photos every 2.1 seconds. Zippy flash recycling kept that time down to a flash shot every 2.4 seconds. A basic but serviceable burst mode shot images at about 1.8fps. Shutter lag was acceptable under high-contrast lighting at 0.6 second but slowed to a frustrating 1.6 seconds under low-contrast illumination as the autofocus struggled to lock in. A focus-assist lamp would probably have helped.
Image quality was reasonable, with solid colour reproduction. Unfortunately, severe artefacts crept in. We noticed heavy vignetting (the darkening of the corners of an image) and distinct chromatic aberration (purple fringing between contrasting objects). The camera favoured shadow detail, leading to frequently washed-out highlights. Noise was acceptable, though it started at low ISO speeds. Even at ISO 64, we noticed speckling in our photos, while noise at ISO 400 was distinct and grainy, although the images were usable.
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 is a decent digital camera, but nothing sets it apart from the countless other compact cameras out there. Its standard feature set and middling image quality make it just another camera on the shelf.
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Toofaani
12/09/2006, 05:42 AM
rating
8/10
First DigiCam - Satisfied with results so far
while i have been looking for sometime to get my first digicam, one of my friends reffered me to fuji website, looked over there and looking at F470 I knew this is going to be my cam for the coming time. In the last 15 days I must have taken some 1500 pics from this cam and I am satisfied with the performace. It has got the perfect grip for my hand, neither to slim nor to big. the buttons are placed at right position for me to change the option just using the thumb. the video gives good quality picture, though as it is nornal, night movie is dull. One thing missing is video zoom. In the imaging section I have taken closeups, long shots, scenes, night shots, b&w, total dark room. Picks come good in all of them. Dont think of capturing the entire hall full of people in dim lit area. But in morning works fine. I got 512mb of card, generally i have around 150 pics or so and rest is in video this is on single charge on the battery. If you plan to go for 1gb module, got for extra battery as well. Didnt get much chance to use the provided software for redeye reduction, however would have loved the in built feature of red eye reduction. As any time you go for close up in dim lit area, straight for the face or people looking right in front of the camera you gonna get red eyes. Though I tend to change the angle of camera and take care of that as well. Apart from that if my dad can use it, it means it is easy to use.
Pros: Big viewfinder, video quality is good, easily placed buttons, good grip, picture quality is fantastic in daylight, in dark lit areas party scene or auto gives good quality,
Cons: no in built red eye reduction, no video zoom, number of scenes less compared to some other models,
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