Overview
The Fuji Finepix F20 is a six megapixel digital camera with a three times optical zoom lens. It is a well made digital camera with a metal body and in terms of build quality the Finepix F20 is a step up from a standard point and shoot model. Its most eye catching features are those designed to help the camera overcome lowlight situations. The camera also offers anti blur (image stabilisation).
Main Features
Megapixels:
Zoom:
LCD Screen:
Dimensions:
Weight:
6
3x
2.5 inches
93.5 x 56.7 x 26.6mm
150g
Macro:
HD Movies:
Manual Controls:
Batteries:
Memory Cards:
5cm
No
No
Lithium-ion Rechargeable
xD-Picture Card
Image Quality
On the whole the Finepix F20 managed to produce a set of high quality test photos. The most noticeable feature of the photos was the levels of sharpness the camera was able to produce. The first outdoor test shot is taken with the zoom lens in use, but not fully extended. Normally this is the optimum setting for a lens, so I expect to see a good degree of sharpness in this photo.
Therefore it was the second and third outdoor photos that really took my eye. The second one is with no zoom being used and the third is with the zoom fully extended. In both photos the levels of sharpness throughout each picture are some way above the levels I have become accustomed to seeing. This means that any prints you make are likely to offer a really crisp definition.
Another plus point comes in the second outdoor shot. Many digital cameras show dark areas creeping into the corners. The Finepix F20 manages to avoid this and handles dark areas well in general.
No digital camera is perfect and I found two issues in the outdoor shots that I need to bring to your attention. The first one is that the Finepix F20 struggles where the sun is reflected off light areas. This causes a loss of detail on the boats in the first picture and also on the wooden beams under the roof of the building in the same shot. This can be excused up to a point by the time of year the picture was taken. The sun is lower in the sky and it is much easier for it to reflect straight back into the lens of the camera. Some of the other cameras I tested at the same time where much better at overcoming this problem though.
The second problem shows up on the second outdoor shot. This is where one of the swans has a purple line running down its edge. This is caused by the sun catching the side of a light object. It is rare to spot this problem in a camera with a standard 3x zoom lens. It highlights a small imperfection in the lens. As it is something that I can only spot once in my test photos it is not something I would be overly concerned about.
I feel the outdoor portrait has a dull feel to it. It is not a bad photo, but I would prefer to see a bit more life in it. This could have been achieved by the colours being a shade stronger with the skin tones being brought out more.
Moving indoors the camera performs very well. This suggests it should handle lowlight situations better than most digital cameras. The indoor portrait is sharply focused and well lit. My only complaint is that red eye shows up strongly in the shot. The picture of beer bottles is taken in very lowlight and again the Finepix F20 copes well with the difficult conditions.
For close up shots the camera is capable of taking a good macro shot. The camera produced a sharply focused photo once more and the shot is bright and clear.
The dedicated test for colour also works well. There is plenty of depth to the colours and they are well balanced with no single colour being dominant.
My final tests were for how the camera would react to high ISO settings. Higher ISO settings are normally used in lowlight situations and also to freeze any movement in a shot. It is an area where most cameras struggle. By contrast the Finepix F20 excels and manages to control noise levels very well. My test shot taken at ISO 1600 is better quality than I am used to seeing at ISO 400 with other models.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
I was able to take a single shot in 0.36 seconds and five shots in 8.35 seconds. Both of these times are about average.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The 3x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 36 - 108mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is F2.8 - F5.0. There is also a 6.2x digital zoom feature.
In terms of focusing there are two different methods (Single, Continuous) and two different areas (Centre, Multi) to select from. Manual focus is not available. For close up shots the Finepix F20 can focus from 5cm away from the subject.
For composing photos and accessing the menu there is a 2.5" LCD screen. This is made up of around 153,000 pixels. There is no viewfinder.
Flash works up to 6.5m when the zoom lens is not being used. When you are using zoom the flash range falls to 3.5m. The flash modes are Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Forced Flash, Suppressed Flash, Slow Synchro and Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro.
To help you take the best possible photos there is a set of pre programmed shooting modes available to you. When you select one of these the Finepix F20 will use what it considers to be the optimum settings for the shot. The scene available to you are Natural Light, Natural Light & with flash, Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower Close-up and Text.
When you would like to appear in a picture there is a self timer. The delay period can be set to either two or ten seconds. Another useful feature is the 3:2 aspect ratio. This allows you to take photos that will fit on 6 x 4" paper without the need for trimming.
If you would like to change the colour of the photos you take then black and white and chrome filters are available.
After a picture has been taken you can add up to 30 seconds of voice memo to it. You can also produce small copies and trim (crop) the photo.
There are a number of more advanced functions you can access. These include ISO equivalents (Auto /Equivalent to 100/200/400/800/1600/(up to ISO2000 on Anti-blur/Natural Light mode)), metering (Multi / Spot / Average) and white balance (Automatic scene recognition
Preset (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light), Custom).
Shutter speeds work in the range 4 seconds to 1/2000 seconds. Apertures work between F2.8 and F8. Both shutter speeds and apertures are controlled automatically by the camera.
There are three types of continuous shooting available. The first allows you to take three photos at a top speed of 2.2 frames per second. The next allows you to reel off a number of frames, but only the last three photos taken are saved. Finally there is a mode that lets you keep shooting until the memory card is full. This is at a slower rate of up to 0.7 frames per second.
Movies can be recorded at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and a top speed of 30 frames per second. The duration of each movie is only limited by the capacity of the memory card you are using. Sound can be recorded, but you are unable to zoom in and out while the movie is in progress.
Fuji supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Finepix F20 to a television, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.
Ease of Use
There were no problems encountered in finding my way around the camera. All the key buttons can be found on the back and top of the camera. When I did need to delve into the menu system everything appeared to be in the right place.
Cost
You can pick up a Fuji Finepix F20 for around £165. This compares to around £175 for a Panasonic DMC FX01, £145 for a Sony DSC W50 and £225 for a Canon IXUS 800 IS.
There is quite a difference in prices for similar six megapixel digital cameras. I think the Finepix F20 offers good value for money.
Style
I like the design and style of the Finepix F20. It appears to have a solid construction and although I would not describe the camera as spectacular it has a clean and simple design I find attractive. One complaint I do have is the fact that the back of the camera is quite busy. This meant I found it difficult finding somewhere to place my thumb when taking a shot without hitting one of the buttons.
The camera weighs 150 g and has dimensions of 93.5(W) x 56.7(H) x 26.6(D) mm.
Batteries and Memory Cards
A rechargeable lithium ion battery (NP-70) is used to supply power to the camera. Both a battery and a charger are supplied with the camera.
There are 10mb of storage built into the camera. Therefore Fuji does not supply a memory card as standard with the Finepix F20. I was only able to take six photos before the memory became full. This makes it difficult to even run a satisfactory test on the camera before buying a higher capacity card. The camera is compatible with xD cards.
Click here to save money on xD cards..
Points I like:
Indoor photos
Picture sharpness
Build quality
Where it is not so hot:
Small built in memory
Summary
If you are looking for a classy point and shoot digital camera then you could do a lot worse than taking a close look at the Fuji Finepix F20. I was very impressed by the sharpness of the images the camera produced. It is very good in lowlight situations and I like the way it looks as well.
Fuji Finepix F20 Front View
Fuji Finepix F20 Back View
Fuji Finepix F20 Top View
Sample Menus
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Related Pages
Fuji Finepix F20 Review Fuji Finepix F20 Specification Fuji Finepix F20 Sample Images
Review Date
October 2006
