Fujifilm FinePix Z1

Manual Control Options
The FinePix Z1 does not offer manual control of exposure. An EV adjustment menu allows exposure adjustments in 1/3-stop increments two stops above and below the meter reading, but users cannot control whether aperture or shutter speed is used to make the change. The EV control is unfortunately buried in the menu interface, when it would be far more accessible if it were placed on the four-way controller.

Users can manually select a white balance setting from among the five presets, but there is no custom white balance setting available. We ran into a problem with this, because the Tungsten setting does not match the tungsten lights we use in resolution and color testing.

The user can set the ISO on the FinePix Z1, with settings at 64, 100, 200, 400, and 800. It's common for compact cameras to limit ISO adjustments to full stops, as the FinePix Z1 does, but given that its ISO range is a major selling point for the camera, Fuji could have pressed its advantage by offering half-steps.

Focus
Auto Focus (7.0)
The FinePix Z1 offers three autofocus settings: normal, which allows focus from about 20 inches to infinity; macro for focus from about 3 to 31 inches; and Fast mode, which allows focus from 39 inches to infinity. Fast mode is supposed to make the camera quicker – there's no other advantage to limiting the close focus distance. The FinePix Z1 has a focus-assist light in the flash housing, and the Z1 focused as well as other compact cameras in low light.

Manual Focus (0.0)
The FinePix Z1 does not offer manual focus.

White Balance (4.0)
White balance controls are only offered in the manual shooting mode; however, the Z1 offers several white balance modes in addition to the fully automatic function. Users can select Fine for shooting outdoors in bright daylight, Shade for outdoors in cloudy weather or shady pots, three different Fluorescent light modes, and an Incandescent mode for shooting indoors. While this is not an overly extensive list of presets, it includes all the necessary options other than a custom setting.

ISO (8.0)
Most compact digital cameras offer a limited ISO range of 50-400; however, Fujifilm has equipped the Z1 with an ISO range of 64-800. While not as expansive of a range as the FinePix F10, which extends to ISO 1600, the Z1 does offer manual control over ISO in every shooting mode except "Natural Light." The ISO settings on the Z1 are in full-stop increments and the high maximum sensitivity rating provides a bit of additional low light shooting potential beyond most compact cameras currently on the market. There are some other models that are also beginning to include 800 and 1600 ISO ratings, but only at reduced resolution.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
Shutter speeds cannot be manually controlled on the Z1, but they range from 4 seconds to 1/1000 of a second, depending on the exposure mode. The "Night" shooting mode allows long exposures of up to 4 seconds, and when shooting in it there is also a slow sync flash mode, where a flash can be used with long exposure times.

Aperture (0.0)
Like shutter speed, users cannot manually control the aperture on the Z1. The maximum aperture when the lens is zoomed wide is f/3.5; f/4.2 with the lens zoomed to telephoto. While shooting with the lens zoomed out to wide angle, the camera automatically selected among three aperture stops: f/3.5, f/5, and f/8. The f/3.5 max aperture on the Z1 is about a 1/2-stop slower than most point-and-shoot models, which typically open up to f/2.6 or f/2.8. This will detract from the Z1’s low light capabilities and minimize the advantage of the ISO 800 setting.

Exposure (7.0)
The Z1's Exposure Compensation mode ranges from +/- 2 in 1/3-stop increments. It's only available in the camera's so-called Manual Mode. The manual mode is simply an automatic mode with methods to override some settings. Two stops above and below the metered reading is a typical range, and 1/3-stop intervals are fine enough to hit the proper exposure pretty much exactly.

Accessing the EV control is more difficult than it should be. Users are forced to scroll through the menu system to locate the feature. Serious users would have been better served if it were directly accessible through the four-way controller.

Exposure modes include: Auto, which allows the user to set the ISO, but nothing else related to exposure; Manual, which gives the user access to ISO and the EV setting; and the scene modes (explained in detail in the "Custom Image Presets" subsection of the "Modes" section).

Metering (3.0)
The FinePix Z1 meters 64 zones across the image to determine exposure. It compares the zones and is usually able to figure out that a large, bright area in the top of the frame is the sky, and that it should expose for the subject below, which is darker.

The FinePix Z1 does not offer other metering modes, such as spot or averaging, which are useful in cameras with more manual control and will generally yield far more accurate and controlled exposures.