Fujifilm FinePix F470

Manual Control Options
In the same menu with the ten scene modes is a manual mode, although it is not nearly as ‘manual’ as most manual modes. Users cannot adjust the shutter speeds or apertures, but they can activate the burst mode, set the ISO, adjust the exposure compensation, and tweak the white balance.

Focus
Auto Focus
Users cannot adjust the auto focus mode on this digital camera, which is terribly unfortunate. The contrast detection auto focus system did have trouble in low contrast situations – and just about every other situation as well. The F470 tries to focus in the center of the frame, but sometimes "breathes" in and out; the camera will focus and then go out of focus again and lock in its blurry state. When it did this, a red ‘!AF’ would appear; this appeared again and again. The Fujifilm F470 can normally focus from 2.3 ft. to infinity (in theory). In the macro mode, the camera can focus from 3.9 inches to 2.6 ft. at the widest focal length and 1.3-2.6 ft. at its most telephoto. However, the focus here "breathes" too. All in all, the auto focus will drive users crazy and cause many missed photo opportunities. It’s a shame, too, because…

Manual Focus
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 is not equipped with manual focus.

Metering
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 has a 256-zone metering system, but there are no metering options other than the multi-zone average mode that is automatically used. This through-the-lens system works well for most situations, but doesn’t handle extreme situations like bright lights and night skylines very well. Users can opt for some of the scene modes like Beach & Snow or Night to remedy this problem.

Exposure
No shutter speed or aperture adjustments can be made, but users can access an exposure compensation scale in the recording menu. It is a standard +/- 2 EV scale with 1/3 steps. There is a live view in the menu, so as users scroll to -2, the image grows darker and darker. This exposure compensation feature will come in handy for overly dark or overly bright lighting.

White Balance
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 is equipped with an automatic White Balance mode and six presets. Sadly, there is no manual White Balance mode. Even sadder for the automatically oriented target audience is that the automatic mode isn’t very accurate. It cast a yellowish hue in fluorescent lights. The following presets are available: Fine (daylight), Shade, Fluorescent Daylight, Fluorescent Warm White, Fluorescent Cool White, and Incandescent Light. Luckily, the presets worked much better than the auto mode.

ISO
The ISO feature is found within the elusive ‘F’ Photo mode. There are no live views as users scroll through the Auto, 64, 100, 200, and 400 options. This range is standard for compact digital cameras and as the F470 is a bare bones model, it doesn’t go beyond the standard range.

Shutter Speed
The F470’s shutter speeds range from 2-1/1500th of a second. This is quite a short range, as many compact models slow down to at least 6 or 8 seconds or speed up to 1/2000. Users cannot manually adjust the shutter speed, but can indirectly choose it by selecting a scene mode geared towards the desired shutter speed. For example, if a fast shutter speed is desired, the Sport scene mode would be a good choice.

Aperture
The F470 has a Fujinon 3x optical zoom lens on its front that has a wide f/2.8 maximum aperture. This is great for an ultra-slim digital camera. When the lens is at its most telephoto focal length, the maximum aperture shrinks to f/4.9. This is pretty typical. The apertures cannot be manually selected on this FinePix.