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

 

The F20 is on the lowest level in the Performance series. As such, it has all kinds of great technology but limited means to control it. There are no manual or priority modes, but there are a few parameters that can be tweaked like ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation.

Focus
Auto Focus – The auto focus on the Fujifilm FinePix F20 seems to be reasonably snappy and responsive, and there are a variety of modes to help get the most out of it. The Center mode examines the center of the image and picks a spot to focus on, while the multi mode examines a number of spots on the image and picks one to focus on. The spot mode does what you would think: focuses in on whatever is in the center of the image.

Manual Focus – There is no manual focus mode on the F20 – it’s all automatic.

Exposure
Although there is no full manual mode on the FinePix F20, there is an exposure compensation setting available, which allows for up to two stops of over- or underexposure, in one third of a stop increments.

Metering
Fujifilm refers to metering as photometry for some reason, but it means the same thing: measuring the amount of light in the frame. A standard selection of metering modes is on offer with multi, spot and average metering modes.

The dual shot mode is an interesting idea: when this enabled, the camera takes one shot without flash, then another with flash. That’s a nice idea for those situations where you aren’t sure if you need the flash or not: with the dual shot mode you get both quickly and easily. This would be helpful when a subject is backlit and you’re not sure whether to use the flash.

White Balance
The white balance controls of the F20 are above average: along with 6 presets, there is an option to get a custom white balance using a white card. There is no way to enter a white balance value directly, though, and you can’t store a white balance setting for later use. But the automatic white balance mode is generally good enough for most users, so this limitation won’t affect that many users. The preset modes include Fine, Shade, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, and Incandescent. There are several fluorescent modes that lean toward different shades of red and blue. It’s always tough to remember which is which exactly, but the live view in the menu shows how the lighting is affected anyway – which is probably more helpful than a name anyway.

ISO
In the auto mode, ISO settings in the range of 100 to 1600 are available, but this goes up to 2000 when you use the Picture Stabilization button. You can’t manually set the ISO higher than 1600. Two automatic ISO modes are available: Auto(400) and Auto (1600). The former keeps the ISO setting below 400, thus avoiding problems with noise if there is sufficient light. We’ve reviewed the Fujifilm FinePix F10 and Fujifilm FinePix F30 in our testing studios and both have performed extremely well when it comes to snapping a crisp shot without noise. We expect good things from the F20 because it is equipped with the same sensor and processor, but we’ll wait for the results when we get to fully review this camera.

Shutter Speed
The shutter speed ranges from 4 seconds to 1/2000th of a second, which is a good spread for most uses. Users cannot manually control the shutter speed, but can slow it down with scene modes like Night and Fireworks and quicken it with Sport and Picture Stabilization.

Aperture
The aperture range is from f2.8 to f8 at the wide angle setting and f5 to f8 at the telephoto end. That’s a pretty reasonable spread, but don’t expect pin-sharp images with great depth of field from a minimum aperture of f8.