Fujifilm Finepix F31fd Review
Review Date: January 6th 2007
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Conclusion
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Ratings (out of 5) |
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| Design | 4.5 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Ease-of-Use | 4.5 |
| Image Quality | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 3.5 |
The Fujifilm Finepix F31fd is an incremental upgrade of what is already a great camera, the Finepix F30, adding just a few new features and quite a significant increase in price. Face Detection is the main addition, making it easier for the beginner to achieve better portrait shots. It works well in the right situations and is also quick, something that other competitors system's struggle with. There are some limitations to the system, however, which make it most suitable for posed group shots where your subject(s) is standing still at a moderate distance. Also, Fujifilm have inexplicably limited its use to just half of the available shooting modes.
This compact camera still has no rivals in terms of low-light performance. If you want a digital camera that can easily cope with indoor and low-light shooting, then the F31fd is the one for you - currently no other compact digicam comes close at ISO 400 and above, and the F31fd also delivers perfectly usable photos at ISO 800 and 1600. Even the fastest setting of 3200 will be fine for smaller print sizes. The new anti-blur and intelligent flash modes are useful automatic additions to what is already an impressive low-light package. The Fujifilm Finepix F31fd is a pocketable, responsive digital camera that can be used in most photographic situations and which delivers very good image quality - only some purple fringing in high-contrast situations spoils an otherwise excellent performance. It also provides almost full creative control via the aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes, and battery life has been further improved to an impressive 580 shots.
There are still a few downsides, however, which Fujifilm have inexplicably decided not to fix. The F31fd retains some notable flaws from the older F11. There is still no histogram available, either in shooting or playback mode. This is an important feature that every enthusiast will sorely miss. The Fujifilm Finepix F31fd also lacks manual focus, which you will miss most when the camera's auto-focus fails to lock onto your intended subject. The lack of a RAW mode might also put you off the Finepix F31fd, something which is exacerbated by the lack of a histogram. And there is a 3 shot limit in the continuous mode, which might put off sports-shooters.
With the addition of Face Detection and Infra-red, the Fujifilm Finepix F31fd is currently the new best compact, carry-everywhere digital camera for the discerning photographer. There are still a few unnecessary faults though that are retained from the F11 model (come on Fujifilm!), and all that new technology has made the F31fd quite a lot more expensive than its older sibling, the F30, which is overall a more economical and sensible purchase.
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