Review Date: October 15, 2012
Category: Beginner Amateur
Photoxels Silver Award – Compact Superzoom
HANDLING & FEEL
The Fujifilm FinePix F80EXR is a compact superzoom that packs a 20x wide-angle optical zoom. The build and construction is good. There is a small handgrip that works well. It is light and you should be able to carry it comfortably enough into a trousers pocket.
When I started zooming on the F800EXR, I was surprised that the zoom extended so far out. Thanks to sensor-shift image stabilization, you should be able to hand hold the camera at some of the long focal lengths, though at maximum zoom, it does get challenging and pressing the shutter release button introduces additional camera shake. A tripod or other flat and steady surface should help tremendously at the long focal lengths.
On the front of the camera, there is an AF-assist Illuminator/Self-timer lamp above the lens. The stereo microphone is the 2 small holes at each side and near the bottom part of the lens. You can’t see them too well in the photo above so here’s a close up:
Startup is quite fast at about 1.5 sec. (from Power ON to LCD ready for capture, i.e. time-to-first-shot) and shot to shot times are about 1 sec. (@ 10 shots in 10 sec. in M mode, 1/125sec.).
In good lighting, there is no practical shutter lag and AF is fast and precise. But if the light is not sufficient and you zoom in, focus may take about 1 to 2 sec. to lock. In low lighting, AF takes about 1 sec. to lock with the help of the AF-assist illuminator at wide-angle and longer at the longer focal lengths.
TIP: If you find yourself unable to lock focus on a subject that is close by, just remember that as you zoom in, the minimum distance from camera to your subject increases. So, you can’t zoom in on a close subject and expect to lock focus. Zoom is to bring far away subjects close. For close subjects, switch to macro mode instead.
Included in the box is a rechargeable Li-ion battery NP-50A that can take about 300 shots (CIPA standard) on a fresh charge. A battery charger BC-50B comes with a plug adapter that allows you to conveniently plug it directly into the wall electrical outlet; it recharges a depleted battery in approx. 110 min.
The Fujifilm F80EXR uses the SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card.
The top of the camera has, from right to left [viewed from the back], the Fn button, Shutter Release Button with the Zoom lever around it, the Power ON/OFF button and the pop-up flash at far left. It takes about 2.5 sec. to zoom from wide to tele and I counted approx. 27 intermediate steps. You can also see the Mode Dial which is angled; it can be rotated with your thumb and is stiff enough that you won’t inadvertently change shooting mode.
The Fn button can be customized to set: exposure metering mode (Photometry), AF mode, Face Recognition, Face Detection, Landmark Navigation, Location Info Search, ISO, Image Size, Image Quality, RAW, Dynamic Range or Film Simulation.
There is no viewfinder but a large 3.0 in. LCD monitor with 460,000 dots resolution. The LCD has a fast enough refresh rate for a smooth display. The LCD monitor’s brightness can be adjusted in SETUP. The LCD does not gain up in low-light.
There is a thumb rest that is perfectly positioned. It may seem like a small matter but as they say, perfection is in the little details. On many compact cameras, you do not have a safe place to rest your thumb and end up inadvertently pressing buttons. This tells me that Fujifilm designers have put some serious thought into designing a comfortable to hold and handle compact camera.
The Mode Dial is thankfully free rotating, i.e. you can rotate either way to select a shooting mode. Besides AUTO, you can also select: EXR, P, S, A, M, SP, Adv., and Movie. Adv. mode allows you to select a filter (from Toy, Miniature, Pop Color, High Key, Partial Color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Purple), 360° Panorama, Pro Focus (sharp subject, blurred background), Pro Low-Light, Multiple Exposure, or 3D. All in all, these are great practical choices.
Most of you will probably leave the Mode Dial on EXR and select AUTO in the menu (3 other options are: Resolution Priority, High ISO & Low Noise, D-Range Priority).
A nod to more advanced photographers are the PSAM modes, directly selectable from the Mode Dial.
There are a number of Continuous Modes: AE Bracketing, Film Simulation Bracketing, Dynamic Range Bracketing, Continuous (Top n), and Best Frame Capture.
TIP. Here’s how you set/select Continuous shooting (Burst): Menu or F button – Continuous – Continuous. Then, in shooting mode, press RIGHT on the Selector to bring up the frame rate options. The frame rate you select here will become the default for Continuous shooting.
There is a dedicated Movie button but it is flushed with the body so it is easy to miss by touch alone. The Selector has: UP = Exposure Compensation/Delete, RIGHT = Flash, DOWN = Self-timer, LEFT = Macro. F button offers ISO, Image Size, Continuous, Landmark Navigation, Geotagging Setup and Film Simulation. I like the fact that in Playback mode, you can press UP and get a choice to delete one, many or all right there instead of having to scramble into the Menu to delete many or all.
You can record HD movies at 1920 x 1080 @ 30fps with stereo sound. You can zoom while filming videos, but you will also record the zoom noise. You can set focus to Continuous in movie mode so the camera refocuses as you zoom; again you will record the auto focusing noise. Both the zoom noise and the Continuous AF noise are pretty low compared to some other cameras we have reviewed, but you will hear them unless the ambient noise can mask them.
A couple of nice features: the hinged plastic Terminal door opens up wide to allow unimpeded access to the USB multi-connector (one socket used by both USB and A/V cables) as well as the HDMI connector. There is a latch to keep the battery from accidentally falling. The tripod socket at the bottom is metal; you won’t be able to change battery when the camera is on a tripod.
The Fujifilm FinePix F800EXR is well-built, compact and light for a 20x optical super zoom. It is intuitive to use. There are lots of features and it pays to read up on them in the Owner’s Manual and set them up how you want in the Menu. Performance is quite good for a super zoom and makes the FinePix F800EXR a great take-anywhere digital camera for the point-and-shoot travel photographer in your family.
Next: Fujifilm F80EXR User’s Experience
