Fujifilm FinePix T300

Handling (7.25)

The front of the Fuji T300 is rather nondescript except for a patch of soft rubberized material that is perfect for gripping the camera. The T300 is easy to shoot with just a single hand because of this section, though there’s not much real estate on the back of the camera for your thumb to rest. The natural place it falls is on the mode dial, which works for a thumbrest, except that it’s easy to accidentally change shooting modes when holding the camera in such a way.

For a camera providing 10x optical zoom, the T300 is very lightweight. As such it’s easy to compose with just a single hand. The lack of heft can make things a little less stable when shooting handheld at the full telephoto distance, but the lack of size and weight mean it’s a camera you can easily carry anywhere.

Buttons & Dials (7.00)

The buttons on the T300 are decent, offering decent response and an audible click when most are engaged. The camera uses a rear control pad that offers four-way directional control for navigating the menu. The shooting mode dial is a little loose, as explained above. It works as a place for the thumb to rest and pinch the camera for stability, but unless pressure is applied directly in the center of the concave dial the camera will likely slide into a different shooting mode than intended.

The T300’s shutter release is also a little finicky. The button itself feels a little lose, though it does have a noticeable “half-press” stop. It requires very little force beyond that to take an image, however, and as a result the camera will frequently take a shot before it has finished focusing completely.

Menus (6.00)

The menu on the T300 isn’t the most beautiful thing we’ve ever seen, but it’s functional for a point-and-shoot camera. The menu is divided into two tabs: shooting/playback settings and setup. The tabs are aligned vertically on the left side of the screen, with each tab offering multiple pages of options. This will require some getting used to, as this system requires users to scroll through each page. There’s no way to quickly navigate through pages using the zoom rocker as with other cameras, either.