Fujifilm FinePix F470

Auto Mode
The auto mode is easy to activate with the mode switch that surrounds the shutter release button. Once in auto mode, the camera is the simplest of point-and-shoots. Users can still access the ISO, image size and color mode options in the ‘F’ mode and the burst mode in the main menu, but the camera is otherwise completely automatic. The auto mode isn’t completely reliable though. The automatic white balance doesn’t work very well and neither does the auto focus mechanism.

Movie Mode
The movie mode is also very easy to find on the mode switch. Once activated, it is as easy as pointing and shooting. There aren’t many options. Users can only choose the image size: 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels. Both resolutions operate at 30 frames per second. The optical and digital zoom cannot be used, so users must walk forward and backward to get the desired framing.

The camera’s focus system doesn’t work very well in video mode either. The F470 cannot focus closely in the movie mode, so subjects must be at least five feet away. The auto focus system seems to favor faraway subjects; it would keep the wall in focus while the subject was blurry, and this would happen even when the subject wasn’t close to the camera. The movie mode also records monaural audio, but the quality isn’t very good. When words were clearly spoken, it was still difficult to decipher them when played back. The camera picked up a lot of handling noise. Overall, the resolution is fine on the Fujifilm F470’s movie mode but every other aspect is not very good.

Drive / Burst Mode
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 has a decent burst mode that takes almost 2 frames a second. The burst lasts for 5 shots in the highest resolution and increases as the picture quality decreases. The 1.9 fps burst mode is decent for an ultra-slim digital camera, but the resulting pictures aren’t that great. The camera does not readjust the focus and metering between shots, so some pictures may be out of focus. It doesn’t take long for the camera to write the 5 pictures to the memory however; it only takes about 2 seconds.

The self-timer can be activated by pushing the bottom of the multi-selector. There are two and ten-second options. Once activated, the LED on the front lights up red every half-second and the camera beeps to indicate when the picture will be taken.

Playback Mode
The playback mode can be entered via the designated button above the multi-selector. Pictures and video clips can be viewed individually with shooting information or they can be viewed in frames of nine images each by pushing the Disp/Back button. Freshly captured images can be automatically viewed for 1.5 or 3 seconds – or not viewed at all – as adjusted in the setup menu. There is also a handy sort by date feature.

Pictures and videos can also be viewed in slide shows (this may be hard to find as the ‘Playback’ option is within the playback menu) with transitions. There are normal, fade-in, multiple, and clock transition effects. The interval times cannot be changed, but the pictures move at a decent clip. The slide shows cannot be looped, so it only plays once and then users must restart it.

Users can copy individual pictures and transfer them to the internal memory from a memory card or vice versa. Voice memos can be added to pictures in the playback mode, too. The audio isn’t very good and users must remember that the microphone is on the front of the camera, but the option to record 30 seconds of sound with each picture is still there. The playback volume can be adjusted in ten steps within the setup mode or when videos are paused. Playing back movies is possible, but again the audio is extremely disappointing. The only options users have are to play and pause movies. Overall, the playback mode is decent and easy to use, but not elaborate or interesting.

Custom Image Presets
The Fujifilm FinePix F470 was created for consumers who don’t want to mess with the shutter speed or aperture to take pictures. For this, the F470 has a ‘SP’ scene position on its mode switch. When the menu button is pressed in this mode, 10 scene modes and the camera’s so-called Manual mode appear. Portrait, Sport, Landscape, Night, Beach and Snow, Sunset, Museum, Party, Flower Close-up and Text are the scene modes available. The menu represents the scene modes as icons. When users scroll over an icon, the text title appears at the top. We couldn’t test most of the scene modes in the convention center because there are no indoor sunsets or landscapes at the Fujifilm booth. (Something we found particularly ironic for a company sharing the same name as one of Japan’s greatest landscapes.) The Portrait mode worked well, The Text mode showed noticeable lens barrel distortion, but the white balance was more accurate than in the previous model, the F450.