Fujifilm FinePix F100fd First Impressions Review

Model Design / Appearance
The Fujifilm FinePix F-series has never been the company’s glamour line of cameras. Leave that to the Z-series with their slimmer bodies that come in bold colors. The F-series is marketed as the company’s smartest compact cameras: they are all about function. The functional and performance-oriented F100fd comes in a silver-colored aluminum housing. It has a few chrome highlights such as the rim around the lens barrel and the shutter release and power buttons, but the housing is otherwise quite plain.

Size / Portability
The Fujifilm F100fd has a flat body with soft, rounded edges. The camera measures 3.85 x 2.31 x 0.92 inches (97.7 x 58.9 x 23.4 mm), making it thin and flat enough to fit into a back pocket. This is a go-anywhere digital camera because of its measurements and unobtrusive weight of slightly more than 6 ounces (170 grams). It has a wrist strap eyelet on its right side.

Handling Ability
The size of the camera is very convenient, but the handling isn’t comfortable. Fujifilm made an attempt to address handling with the wrinkle on the back of the camera that provides a little bump to keep the thumb from slipping off. There isn’t a hand grip or anything substantial on the front to even call a finger grip. The flash can also be easily obstructed by the fingers of the right hand.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The new F100fd makes many changes in its control setup from the F50fd. The biggest change is that the mode dial disappeared on the new camera; it has moved to the virtual world. The exposure modes can now be found by pushing the menu button in the center of the rotary dial and then rotating the dial itself. This scrolls quickly through every exposure mode on the camera. This dial also has a position on it to access the Recording menu, which isn’t very intuitive. It isn’t very easy to get used to scrolling down on the rotary dial to access an option that is above where you are. The rotary dial is nice for scrolling through images in the Playback mode, though.

The other buttons on the camera are quite small and odd. There is a single button on the upper right corner of the back that rocks left for the FinePix menu and right to access the face detection and red-eye fix. This same rocker setup is used for the buttons on the bottom. The single-panel button is skinny, but seems to always choose the right option at the right time. It performs its function, but isn’t very comfortable.

Menu
The menu system looks the same as other FinePix models before it with its layout and archaic font. The easiest menu to find is the "F" menu with its designated left side of the top rocker button.
The other menus are more difficult to find. You have to push the menu button and then the virtual mode dial appears. All of the icons on the menu are shown in gray except for the menu position, which appears in light turquoise. It is always located just above the mode you are currently in. You have to scroll downward on the dial to move up; this isn’t very intuitive. This is what you’ll find once you’re there.

Exposure Compensation	-2, -1.7, -1.3, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1, +1.3, +1.7, +2
Photometry	Multi, Spot, Average
White Balance	Fine, Shade, Fluorescent daylight, Fluorescent warm white, Fluorescent cool white, Incandescent, Custom
Continuous	Final 12, Top 12, Long Period, Final 3, Top 3, Off
AF Mode	Center, Multi, Continuous
Setup	(portal to Setup menu)

This menu shows a live view for the exposure compensation and white balance. The Setup menu shows up with four numbered tabs. It’s hard to remember the differences between the options on page one and page four, so the tabs aren’t very useful unless you have an excellent memory.

Image Display	3, 1.5 seconds, Zoom, Off
Frame No.	Continuous, Renew
Save Original Image	Off, On
AF Illuminator	Off, On
Digital Zoom	Off, On
Long Exposure	Off, On
Date/Time	YYYYMMDD, set date and time
Operation Volume	Low, Medium, High, Off
Shutter Volume	Low, Medium, High, Off
Shutter Sound	Sound 1, Sound 2
Playback Volume	0-10
Blog Image Size	640 x 480, 320 x 240
LCD Brightness	-5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5
Format	OK, Cancel

The Setup menu is especially annoying because you can easily "fall out" of it. Once you go into a sub-menu, sometimes you can go back and sometimes you just get kicked out of the menu system completely. If you want to toy with more than one feature in the menu, you have to re-enter the Recording menu and then the Setup menu – and that’s time-consuming. However, bear in mind that the model we looked at was a pre-production unit: the menu and control structure may change in the final version.

Ease of Use
The Fujifilm FinePix F100fd isn’t as easy to use as its predecessor. The lack of a physical mode dial is confusing. When people pick up this camera, they wonder where the exposure modes are. The virtual mode dial is a cool idea, but takes some getting used to. For taking one picture, the F100fd is easy to use (it turns on in the Auto mode). For doing anything else, it will require venturing into the virtual world of dials and menus.