Fujifilm FinePix F60fd

Testing results for the Fujfilm FinePix F60fd were a decidedly mixed bag. On the plus side, the camera scored well in our resolution tests and managed color reproduction well enough. Image noise and white balance, though,were distinctly disappointing, and rapid-fire photography is not an option if you want to use the full 12-megapixel camera resolution.

Color (8.15)
For better or worse, there is no scientific test for what makes a photograph's colors pretty. Take the shot of the Frank Gehry-designed Stata Center at M.I.T. which leads off our sample images for this review. The yellow tower and brick look about the way we saw them, but that rich, deep blue sky is basically a work of fiction on the part of the camera. It indisputably looks prettier than the real thing, which was much less saturated than what you see here. But it isn't delivering the memory color we expect, and in that way it's a disappointing photo. In our lab testing, we check for color accuracy, and reward it in our scoring system. We'd rather get an image of the real thing for starters and, if we want better-than-the-real-thing, fire up some photo editing software.
 

For testing purposes, we shoot the industry-standard Gretag Macbeth color chart under tightly controlled studio lighting, at each available ISO setting, and run the resulting images through the Imatest image analysis program to determine how accurately the known values from the chart are reproduced. Along with reams of statistical data, Imatest produces two particularly useful visual reference charts to display test results. In the image below, the color as captured by the camera is shown in the outer rectangle of each colored box. The narrow rectangle on the right is the color value of the GretagMacbeth chart. The larger inner region is the same color, adjusted to match the luminance of the camera's captured color.
 

This chart represents Imatest color results at the ISO 100 setting.

 

The second chart, shown below, provides a more schematic guide to what's happening with the color reproduction. In this rendition, the circles represent the colors as recorded by the camera, the squares are the ideal chart colors (the numbers identify the related square on the Gretag Macbeth chart). In this chart, shorter lines represent more accurate color rendition, while longer lines indicate greater liberties were taken.

As shown here, the colors representing skin tones, water, sky and foliage shift toward richer, more saturated hues. This doesn't garner the F60fd a tremendous score for color accuracy, but for a point-and-shoot camera, there are greater sins than making the world look a little nicer.
 

The F60fd favors color enhancement over accuracy.

Resolution (11.52)
There's much more to image sharpness than mere megapixels. Several factors, including the image sensor itself, the camera optics and the image processing software inside the camera determine the quality of your final photograph. That's why we shoot an industry-standard resolution chart under bright studio lights and analyze the recorded images using Imatest to determine the true sharpness each camera can achieve.
 

The F60fd performed extremely well in this test. Resolution is measured in line widths per picture height (lw/ph), and this camera delivered a maximum of 2314 lw/ph measured horizontally and 2245 measured vertically, both high figures. According to Imatest, the internal software applied just the right amount of sharpening to the image. Too little sharpening and a digital image looks washed out, too much and you start seeing mathematically generated artifacts and imperfections.
 

The highest resolution scores were achieved with the lens set near its maximum wide angle setting, though the figures remain relatively consistent across the 3x zoom range.
 

A section of the chart that we use for testing, shown actual size

Compared to the other cameras in our test group, only the Samsung NV40 produced a better result, and the Fujifilm was markedly superior to the other contenders.
 

White Balance (5.95)
White balance is a tough test for even pricey digital SLRs, and many an inexpensive compact reveals its true colors here by producing a host of untrue colors. The problem is that our brains do a particularly good job of adjusting for the different colors inherent in varying types of illumination: household tungsten bulbs throw off an orangish light, for example, while fluorescents tend toward greenish hues, but when you're reading your newspaper under either, the background strikes you as white, because your brain adjusts for the difference. To capture an accurate image, a camera similarly has to adjust to differing lighting conditions, but the digital brain is a poor substitute for the flesh-and-blood variety in this pursuit.

To test a camera's white balance capabilities we shoot our color chart under a variety of lighting conditions, generally including flash, tungsten, fluorescent and shaded sunlight. Nearly all digital cameras offer both an automatic white balance capability and the option to choose a labeled preset to match the lighting conditions. We compare the results produced using both settings. In the case of the F60fd, there is no preset for flash photography, so we've eliminated this category from our scoring.
 

Auto White Balance (3.91)
The automatic white balance capabilities of the F60fd are distinctly lacking across the board, with a particularly unfortunate performance in outdoor shade (which is certainly not an uncommon shooting scenario), and indoor tungsten bulbs didn't fare much better. Note that the color differences shown in these charts are exaggerated to show the kinds of shifts occurring: you won't see this level of difference in actual photographs taken with the F60fd.
 

Preset (7.98)
Taking a few extra moments to set the camera's white balance system manually for the current lighting conditions pays off handsomely when shooting using either standard household incandescent or fluorescent bulbs with the F60fd, both of which moved from unacceptable automatic white balance performance to impressive results. The presets didn't help noticeably when it came to shooting in the shade, though.
 

Exaggerated White Balance Errors (Presets)

Fluorescent Preset WB - Fluorescent Illumination

Cloudy Daylight preset WB - Daylight illumination

Tungsten preset WB - Tungsten illumination

White balance performance is a low point in the F60fd's overall performance, lagging the competition by a degree that would be clearly noticeable to the critical viewer.