Introduction

The FinePix F600EXR is Fujifilm's latest small-body, long-zoom camera. It's a replacement for the six-month-old F550EXR, which was a solid performer with a loyal enthusiast following. Fuji has never been shy about flooding the market with tons of cameras, though, and decided that it was already time for a new shooter.

Looking at the body and spec sheet, the F600EXR is almost identical to its predecessor, sporting the same 1/2-inch CMOS sensor, 15x Fujinon zoom lens, EXR processor, built-in GPS unit, body, and, uh, pretty much everything else. But Fuji claims that there are a handful of improvements under the hood: much faster autofocus, re-tooled motion detection and "intelligent" digital zoom systems, and added a landmark navigation function. Those sound like updates that could've been accomplished with new firmware rather than a separate camera, but nevertheless, the F600EXR is here, we've tested it, and found some promising results with a few "ifs" and "buts" to juggle.