Fuji FinePix F20 First Impressions Review

by Richard Baguley
Published on October 10, 2006

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion

 

No optical viewfinder is present on the F20; everything is done through the LCD screen. 

The amorphous silicon TFT LCD screen is a sizeable 2.5-inch TFT model with 153k pixels. The resolution is much less than other similarly sized screens, and this shows in the image quality: images look grainy and lack detail. The screen does have a nice anti-reflective coating which works well, blocking all but direct sunlight from blanking the screen out. This screen is also unusual in that you can control the frame rate: you can set it to display 60 frames per second, 30 frames per second or a power saving mode with an unspecified frame rate. This is very useful, as the lowest mode is noticeably jerky and wouldn’t work for sports photography. But you could run it in the power saving mode most of the time to save battery power, then speed it up when you need it. The LCD screen’s brightness can be automatically boosted with a touch of the top of the multi-selector when in a recording mode. This is especially helpful for snapping shots outdoors when a little extra light and contrast is needed.

The small flash is located above and to the right of the lens. Fujifilm claims a range of 2-21.3 ft in wide angle mode, and 2-11.5 ft in telephoto. In the macro mode, the flash is effective from 1-2.6 ft. These stats are coming from an automatic ISO setting, so this is quite impressive for such a small flash. The Fujifilm FinePix F20 is equipped with a more sophisticated flash system than most compact digital cameras. The i-Flash system has a longer range than most, but we were not able to test the veracity of these claims within the confines of the convention center. The power of the flash can be ramped up or down by two stops with the flash compensation menu option too. The i-Flash system is credited with measuring ambient lighting and adjusting the flash output automatically to keep details in the background. The Fujifilm FinePix F20’s flash has the following modes: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, On, Off, Slow Sync, and Red-eye Reduction with Slow Sync.

The 3x zoom lens is a Fujinon model with a focal range of 8-24mm. That would be equivalent to a 36-108mm range on a 35mm camera: an acceptable, if slightly limited, range. At the wide end of the scale, it’s not wide enough to capture a large family group shot, and the telephoto isn’t long enough to pull in distant objects.