Fujifilm FinePix Z30

Auto Mode

In an effort to make things simpler, auto mode on the Fujifilm Z30 locks you out from adjusting certain controls (like white balance and exposure compensation). This is good, especially since the menu system on the Z30 doesn't have the best setup. Fujifilm also includes a number of scene modes and an auto scene recognition feature that will let the camera automatically select a scene mode for you to use. A face recognition feature is available on the camera as well.

Movie Mode

The Z30 includes a movie recording mode, although it can only capture standard definition video. Footage can be recorded at sizes of 640 x 480 or 320 x 240, both at 30 frames per second. Mono sound is captured along with the video and movies are recorded as AVI files using the Motion JPEG compression. Optical zoom cannot be used during video recording, but digital zoom is available.

Drive/Burst Mode

There are three continuous shooting modes on the camera. Long-period begins taking photos when the shutter button is pressed and doesn't stop until you release the button (or the memory is full). There's also an option called Final-3, which takes many photos but only saves the last three images. Top-3 is another continuous mode that only captures three images. According to Fujifilm the Top-3 and Final-3 modes run at a maximum of 0.6 frames/second.

There are also four self-timer options available: 10 seconds, 2 seconds, Couple Timer, and Group Timer.

Playback Mode

Fujifilm built a ridiculous variety of playback options into the Z30. Firstly, the camera has all the basic options: slideshow, red-eye removal, rotate, copy, etc. Images can also be displayed as 100 thumbnails on a single 10 x 10 grid on the LCD.

The camera also includes a number of post-processing picture effects that Fujifilm strangely calls Blog Mode. Images can be trimmed to fit specific aspect ratios (4:1, 8:3, 16:9, 3:2, 4:3, 1:1, 3:4, 1:3) and effects can be applied to adjust the brightness, contrast, and color of your images. There are also options called illustration, painting effect, miniature effect, face mosaic, and drop shadow.

Custom Image Presets

The camera has the following scene modes: Auction, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Night Tripod, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower, and Text. There is also an auto scene recognition mode that has the camera analyze the frame and automatically choose the correct scene mode for you (the feature only chooses from portrait, landscape, night, macro, backlight portrait, and night portrait).