My choice for a travel camera
Written: Oct 17 '02 (Updated Sep 14 '08)
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Pros: Small size, light weight, great photos, great video
Cons: Video out on docking station, lack of PAL, fast charger costs extra
The Bottom Line: I bought it after careful evaluation. It's not perfect, but it is a superb piece of engineering, and best of the lot currently available for my purposes.
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| Ames100's Full Review: FUJIFILM FinePix F601 Zoom Digital Camera |
I updated this review after returning from a long vacation trip where I used the Fuji F601z a lot. Overall, the performance of the camera was outstanding, and I was very happy with it. I upgraded my already-good rating in a few areas. Also, I've added some new comments at the end of this review based on using the camera for almost a year.
On the plus side:
- The camera proved sufficiently light and compact to slip into a pocket and go everywhere with me. I seldom noticed that I was carrying it - sometimes I even had to check my pocket to confirm that it was there.
- Photos taken under good light are outstanding. Everyone who saw them commented on how breathtakingly detailed and natural they are.
- The low light performance is quite good for the size of the lens - I got some good shots without a flash under fairly dark conditions (although inevitably a lot also end up blurred). The high-ISO mode helps. Surprisingly I even got some quite acceptable video by firelight.
- The camera has proven quite rugged in practice. I didn't attempt to baby it at all - I carried it unprotected in my pocket, I used it in ocean surf, blowing dust and sand, and tropical heat and humidity, and I let lots of people handle it. It even got a Coke spilled on it. Aside from a few small scratches on the plastic bits, and a slightly sticky flash pop-up, it seems to be fine.
- The battery proved good for up to a 3-day excursion, filling up a 128 Mbyte memory card with photos and video, along with lots of viewing on the LCD screen.
- I found the shape of the camera very useful. It's easy to hold it one-handed to take shots at arm's length, or discreet shots. It's also fairly quiet in operation, which is good for those discreet shots.
On the minus side:
- Low-light shots often turned out a bit blurred. After careful examination it's apparent that most of the time this is due to taking a hand-held shot with a slow shutter speed, rather than bad focus. All the same I wish the manual focus were more easily accessible and usable.
- Some of the user interface could be better designed, although most of it was fine. E.g., it annoyed me that after selecting self-timer on the menu, I still had to confirm that I wanted self-timer ON. Also I do wish that I could customize some functions, such as which settings are
"sticky" and which are not.
- I did manage to show some video on a TV, but I didn't like having to carry the docking station with me just for that.
I think the 2 main things that made me choose the Fuji have been confirmed: portability, and good video.
I used the video and sound recording functions a lot, and the results are great. It adds a lot to the capability of the camera to capture the experience of being there. The Fuji takes detailed, good-looking video clips with sound, and although most clips were short, at least I didn't have to worry about it cutting out at 30 seconds. The low-light video capability is good since it uses the high-ISO mode (see Fuji's site for technical details).
I don't use Fuji's software at all - I drag and drop the files in Windows, treating the camera as removable hard drive. I use Irfanview for viewing photos (steps through photos very quickly) and VirtualDub for showing the movies (fast built-in MJPEG codec).
One important recommendation: plan on discarding the ridiculous 16 Mbyte memory card which comes with the camera immediately, and budget for a 128 Mbyte memory card (or bigger if they are ever available).
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Before making my purchase I took home the Fuji F601 and a Canon S30 to compare for a few days. I carried them around with me, took lots of photos and videos under different conditions, and compared them closely to each other and to my old Olympus 320. I ended up choosing the Fuji primarily for its light weight and excellent video capability. Since then I've been using it a lot, getting used to the camera.
Both the Fuji and the Canon take excellent photos. The results weren't always perfect or identical, but I didn't have a clear preference. In direct comparison tests, I would say that the 6 Mpixel mode of the Fuji does show more detail than 3 Mpixel mode or the Canon's 3 Mpixel images, but I doubt I would use it often.
When examined closely, the Fuji photos seem a little noisier that Canon's. I felt that the Canon photos looked a bit too smooth by comparison, though - as if they had been over-processed for noise reduction to the point of reducing sharpness.
Both cameras are very fast in operation, with the Fuji edging out the Canon in most areas. I have found with more extended use of the Fuji that it continues to impress me as a very fast camera. I never seem to have to wait for the camera - it's always ready to take a shot, or take the next shot. Shot-to-shot time is about 2 seconds. There is the typical 1-second auto-focus lag unless you half-depress the shutter button to pre-focus, but it's not too bad. Viewing photos on the LCD screen is lightning fast - it steps through them as fast as you can press the button.
The Fuji and the Canon are both compact enough to slip into a (large) pocket, though they have different shapes. The lighter weight of the Fuji makes a difference over time though.
The Fuji has the very small 1.5" LCD screen typical of the latest cameras - Canon's is larger at 1.8", and my old Olympus was 2". But the pixel count is similar on all of them, so aside from having to squint a little at the small screen, the actual detail shown is about the same. Don't expect to read either of them in bright sunlight. That can be a problem for the Fuji, which relies more heavily on selection of functions on the on-screen menus. Sometimes I have to seek a shady area just so that I can see the LCD screen well enough to find a little-used function.
Fuji's 640 x 480 video is noticeably sharper than the 320 x 200 resolution of the Canon and other cameras. Rapid movement is a little bit jerky at 15fps, but overall I think it is very usable as a video camera for short film clips (with the addition of a 128 Mbyte Smartmedia card).
Be warned that the MJPEG movie format produced by the camera is not supported on all systems without an optional video codec, and the software Fuji provides to convert to other formats is pretty poor. (I can recommend VirtualDub as having a very fast built-in MJPEG player - it's a free download.)
The Fuji's slowest shutter speed is 3 seconds, but on the Night Scene setting it can take a pretty good shot of typical night scenes like city lights. For capturing faster action under low light Fuji has a unique high-sensitivity mode (ISO 800/1600) where it combines multiple pixels to improve low-light sensitivity, at the cost of dropping to 1/2 resolution. This is a genunine sensitivity boost, i.e. it actually increases signal-to-noise ratio, as opposed to the "fake" ISO sensitivity adjustment that most digital cameras have which simply boosts gain.
The Fuji has a reasonable set of functions and features, including manual settings for just about everything except custom white balance (it does have a wide choice of pre-sets). But it comes off second best by comparison with the rich feature set of the Canon S30. No question that Canon sets the standard for others to beat in the sheer number of features and well-thought-out implementation. The Fuji camera does about 75% of what the Canon does, about 75% as well.
The entire Fuji software package deserves mention as a weak point. The package is not very extensive, and the programs provided are generally simple and limited. There's a lot of broken links, outdated versions, and some functions that just don't work. No significant technical support or upgrades are provided. I felt it was below standard for a premium digital camera product. Also, there's no mention of any ability to upgrade the camera firmware, another weak point.
I also noted the following shortcomings with the Fuji by comparison with the Canon and other cameras I looked at:
- Fast charger is an extra cost option - it takes 5 hours (!) to charge the battery in the camera with the included charger
- No video output on the camera - you have to plug it into the docking station (an extra-cost option in some markets)
- Doesn't support both NTSC and PAL video out - it's strictly one or the other, depending on the country of sale
On the plus side, the Fuji also functions as a sound recorder and a web cam. I tried both, and they work fine, although I think Fuji could stand to kill the blinking lights on the front and the active LCD screen on the back when being used as a web cam. But you can buy a separate web cam for less than the small price difference between the Fuji and the Canon, so it's not really a significant feature.
Battery life of both the Fuji and Canon cameras in my initial tests seemed a bit short with the standard (proprietary) lithium-ion battery. Good for a single day's shooting as long as you don't leave the LCD screen on too long. These batteries do get better on the second cycle though, and I found the Fuji's was actually good for a couple of days of heavy use. I think it helps that it doesn't have to charge the manual pop-up flash every time you turn it on. But remember that you'll have to recharge the Fuji battery for 5 hours once it runs out.
So why buy the Fuji, which costs $40 more than the Canon S30? It boils down to the basics of what you want to use it for: both cameras take great photos, but the Fuji takes better video. Both are small, but the Fuji is also light. The Canon has great features, but they are mainly of the seldom-used variety. And the Fuji impresses in daily use by having slick packaging and fast operation. The user interface issues aren't all that significant, since I'll get used to it quickly (the Canon is not without faults - the 4-way toggle button is much harder to use than the Fuji's). The weak software bundle isn't a major point either, since I already have lots of alternative software. So, all that boiled down to the Fuji being the better choice for me as a travel camera to shoot still photos and occasional video.
Overall I like the camera hardware design, don't like the software bundle, and wish the Fuji engineers would attend the Canon digital camera firmware design school.
Additional comments after using the camera for almost a year:
- No problems with the camera or accessories, everything continues to work well.
- I continue to use the 3 Mpixel Normal setting, and I'm perfectly happy with the results. 8 x 10" prints are superb.
- I can recommend the Fuji forum at http://www.dpreview.com as an excellent source of user information on this camera.
- The barrel distortion of the lens at full wide angle is quite noticeable in some shots (the F601 lens has a little more barrel distortion than most). Fortunately it's easy to correct with a free Photoshop plug-in when it bothers me too much in a particular shot.
- I notice in comparison with other cameras that the color balance is slightly green, and most shots benefit from a slight shift toward magenta.
- Dust on the CCD has been an issue. Occasionally I will see the effect as little darker blobs against the sky that hang around in the same place for a while in all my photos. They usually go away eventually, but it can take a while. There's no easy way to get at the CCD to clean it. (This issue is common to most current-generation digital cameras - I don't think the F601 is any worse than others.)
- I've found a bit of a problem keeping my photos aligned exactly when I take a quick handheld shots. Because of the vertical shape of the camera, it's a little more difficult to judge when I'm holding it perfectly horizontally than a camera with a more traditional horizontal orientation. That often results in shots which are tilted slightly to one side (3-4 degrees). For a while I actually wondered if the CCD could be mis-aligned, but careful testing showed that it was me at fault. Oh well, once again this can be corrected by fine rotation on the computer later if it's a problem in a particular shot.
Other than that, no complaints. Still love the camera.
Final update Sept 2008: The F601z died quietly, just failed to turn on one day after 6 years of use. Not worth trying to repair since it has been relegated to a backup camera for some time. It continued to take excellent photos up to the end, rivaling and often bettering the cameras that came after it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 520
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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Epinions.com ID:
Ames100
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Member: Doug Ames
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
An engineer who likes thorough product research and testing
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