Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd First Impressions Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on January 11, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design/Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion

Model Design / Appearance
Fujifilm’s Z-series is all about appearance. It comes in three colors: red wine (if you ask me, I think this looks more like really hot pink), chocolate brown, and lustrous brushed silver. This FinePix is very thin and flat and comes in a metal body. This may be the trendiest Fujifilm yet with its hot design and wireless-friendly capabilities.

Size / Portability
The skinny Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd is very portable with its flat metal surfaces; it fits nicely in a pocket. It seems fairly sturdy with the metal body and lens cover, but I wouldn’t chuck it against the wall to test this. The wrist strap eyelet is internal and located on the right side. It is composed of two holes that connect beneath the housing. The Z5fd measures 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches and weighs a mere 5.2 oz without the card and battery.

Handling Ability
There aren’t that many handling features on the FinePix Z5fd, but there are some subtle grips. There is a tiny ledge on the side of the sliding lens cover that aids ever so slightly as a finger grip. There are three rubber-like ovals on the back of the camera below the zoom control that help the thumb to grip that area (these ovals also emit a soft LED glow when reading/writing to the memory card). The Z5fd’s flat surfaces aren’t made to be comfortable to hold.

Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The controls on the Z5 are small but typical. On the top of the camera are the smallest buttons: the face detection button is about the size of a pen tip, the still/movie mode switch isn’t even the size of an eraser, and the shutter release button isn’t what I’d call spacious either.

There isn’t a mode dial on the camera body. Instead, there is the tiny mode switch on the top that moves from still images on the left to movies on the right, and then users must push the Menu button and navigate through the Shooting Mode portion of the menu. This isn’t as easy as rotating a dial. Fujifilm tried to make things a little easier by adding a designated button that accesses the Anti-Blur and Natural Light & With Flash modes. This setup of finding the modes in two different places could be confusing for beginners.

Besides that issue, the controls are fairly intuitive especially if familiar with other FinePix digital cameras. Newcomers may wonder what the “F” button does, but they will soon find out it is where the frequently used settings reside.

Menu
With menus typical of FinePix digital cameras, the Fuji Z5fd has a system split between the “F” and “Menu” buttons. They are both composed of text for the most part with very few icons. All of the text is capitalized and in a font that looks like it is a tribute to electronics from the 1980s. In the still image shooting modes, this is the “F” menu that appears.

ISO	Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Quality	6MF, 6MN, 3:2, 3M, 2M, 03M
FinePix Color	Standard, Chrome, Black & White

There are live views available when looking at the ISO and FinePix Color sections of the menu. When the so-called “Manual” mode is enabled, the most complete menu appears. Here is the shooting menu.

Shooting Mode	Manual, Auto, Natural Light, Natural Light & With Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower, Text, Anti-Blur
Exposure Compensation	+/- 2 in 1/3 steps
White Balance	Auto, Fine, Shade, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent
High Speed Shooting	On, Off
Continuous	Long Period, Final 3, Top 3, Off
AF Mode	Center, Multi
Setup	(portal to setup menu)

Most of the items are self-explanatory, but the Illumination was a little ambiguous. This allows users to choose whether or not the Z5 logo on the front of the camera lights up for a moment when turned on; it is a cosmetic choice. Menu navigation is done with the multi-selector on the back of the camera that has an interesting shape which makes it less prone to accidental navigation.

Ease of Use
The Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd is fairly intuitive, but some users could have hang-ups about the split menu system, the ambiguous nature of the “F” button, and the designated Anti-Blur / Natural Light & With Flash button since those modes are already located in the menu. These don’t take much getting used to though. And the same users will appreciate features like live views in the menu and a slew of scene modes that don’t require intervention to take a good picture.