Auto Mode (7.5)
As the name implies, Auto Mode gives the user a break from decision-making and pretty much takes control of shooting. There is still the option to choose image quality (1M, 2M, 3M normal, 3M fine), and Macro mode is still available. As far as the flash is concerned, the user can choose among Auto flash, Red eye reduction, Forced flash, and Suppressed flash. Focusing is the same in any mode; the shutter button is pushed halfway to activate auto focus and lock the focus.
Movie Mode (5.0)
The movie mode can be found with all the other shooting modes in the main menu of the FinePix A330, with the option to shoot JPEGs without sound at either 320 x 240 pixels or 160 x 120. According to the manual, the camera can record up to 60 seconds in the 320 mode or four minutes in the 160 mode, but that figure could be much less, depending on available memory. Although it is a nice little gadget to play with, it only records 10 frames per second.
Drive / Burst Mode (6.5)
The Fuji FinePix A330 is capable of shooting continuously at 1.5 frames per second.
Playback Mode (7.0)
Just like the button layout, the playback mode on the FinePix A330 is intuitive and easy to navigate. Pressing down the playback button for one second activates the mode (which can also be activated while the camera is supposedly off, oddly enough) and photos are easily switched via the three buttons in the top right. By pressing the display button, you can toggle through viewing modes. The first has the photo info, the second has no text, and the third shows a thumbnail view with nine photos. While an image is selected, it is possible to zoom in and pan across the image from 8x up to 13x, depending on photo resolution. While in the playback mode, hitting the menu button brings up the following options: Erase, DPOF (digital print order format, which records printing specification for images), Protection (locks frames you select and protects them from being accidentally erased), Autoplay (four different slide show options can be selected), and Trimming (which allows you to resize and crop a photo and save it as a new image).
Custom Image Presets (6.0)
The Fuji FinePix A330 has four different preset shooting modes besides Manual and Auto, each of which is controlled automatically by the camera, and each of which contains different flash options. The “portrait” mode is designed for reproducing better skin tones and has an overall softer tone, and all flash modes are possible. Portrait mode also minimizes depth of field to blur the background and cause the subject in front of it to stand out. The “scene” mode is designed for shooting landscapes in daylight and does not allow for any use of flash. The “sport” mode gives a higher priority to faster shutter speeds (the fastest being 1/2000) and allows only auto flash, forced flash, and suppressed flash modes. The “night” mode is the only way to take advantage of the 2 second long shutter speed, offering suppressed flash, slow sync, and slow red-eye flash modes along with it. There is also an impressive macro mode, which can be used both in manual and auto modes, that will focus as close as 3.9 inches from the lens (according to Fuji), though I managed to focus even closer than that.
Overall, I think the presets fit the bill; however, at some point, even beginners will want to expand. For this reason, I would have appreciated options for shutter and aperture priority in addition to the more basic presets, or at least something as simplified as the Canon PowerShot A80’s “slow” and “fast” shutter speed.
