The Fuji Finepix Z5fd is a compact 6.3 megapixel digital camera. This baby is really compact, small enough to fit in your shirt pocket. The 2.5-inch LCD screen is pin sharp too, which is a good thing, as you use this for framing up your shots as well and viewing playback of your photos.
A quick rundown of the specification of the Z5fd will help you to see just how featured packed this camera is. As previously mentioned you get a 6.3 megapixel resolution, a 2.5-inch LCD screen, picture stabilization and natural light modes, face detection, up to ISO 1600, 3x optical and 6.2x digital zoom. The camera has 26MB of internal memory, but no xD memory card supplied. It also has 14 quick scene modes, for things like portrait, night, and sports shots.
The Good
The z5fd has a lot going for it. The size is a massive selling point of this camera, it is not the thinnest on the market, but easily fits into a shirt pocket. The design is pretty much spot on too. The front cover slides to turn the camera on, and at the same time reveals the lens and flash. The 2.5-inch LCD is gorgeous, and make framing up an viewing photos a real pleasure. The focus is very quick and the pictures right up to ISO 800 are more than usable.
There are also some nice features for getting images ready for a website built right into the camera. When viewing photos, pressing the 'F' button presents you with a menu for 'Trimming for Blog' and it does just that. You can crop your image and then transfer it to your communication device or laptop over infrared. This is a nice feature that some users may find invaluable.
Picture quality was very good, with nice colour saturation and detail. The face detection is also a nice feature which ensures that faces are correctly exposed when taking group shots. I tested this out on more than one occasion and it actually does work, it is not a gimmick.
The Bad
There really wasn't anything to put in this category, other than something that effects most cameras of this type. The lack of optical viewfinder is a shame, I am sure with the technology available these days Fuji could have squeezed one in. It is not essential, but something that I personally like on ALL my cameras.
The Ugly
On first use, I put the battery in the camera and connected to the main power to charge. A few hours later, when I went to switch on, the unit would not turn on. After a quick bit of investigation I found that the battery was in the wrong way. Now, I should emphasise that I put it in the way the arrows printed on the battery indicated, but this battery fits and clicks into place both ways. Turning the battery round corrected the problem, so no big deal, but most manufacturers make their batteries so they are fool-proof and only fit in one way around.
Overall I was very impressed with the Z5fd. It fits into the compact sector of the market and is a very good quality digital camera that you can carry everywhere you go. You will have no excuse of missing that chance photo again.
Product: Finepix Z5fd
Price: £149.95 (Amazon)
Supplied by: Fujifilm UK
Contact: +44 (0)870 084 1310